More Apple Notebook Details: Clickable Glass Trackpad, GPUs, Pricing

[Lictor]

If you are really in a "professional" environment, isn't it possible to put a portable computer in a more favorable position, or adjust the lighting to your needs.

No, that's not always an option...

First of all, the point of a notebook is to be able to work outside of the work place. For instance, it's becoming increasingly popular to work outside - sitting at a coffee bar for instance. There, it's kind of hard to switch off the sun, and you might not want to have to fight with the other notebook users for the few reflection-free spots...

Likewise, a very popular work place is the train (or the plane). You can't adjust the lighting, you can't shift position and the lighting will just as the train runs its course. For instance, my girlfriend sometimes spends 6 hours travelling by train during a single day. She *needs* to be able to work during her whole trip - otherwise, she will need to catch up at home, and this is not fun, or, even worse, she won't be ready for her meeting.

Notebooks are really meant for that : having a computer in working condition anywhere anytime. Having a matte screen just widens the range of situation where your notebook will be able to work as a notebook. Having a glossy screen just makes it more like a transportable iMac.

Laptops are a trade off.

Exactly. The trade off is that I will buy an expensive and limited computer for the capacity of being able to use it everywhere. The matte screen is part of the trade off : I will lose somewhat on the quality of movies (anyway, you already lose a lot by watching them on a tiny screen) for the ability to really use the laptop everywhere.

The glossy screen trend is messing up the trade off completely, by attempting to make the notebook somewhat better at something it will always be bad at anyway (watching movies on a screen too small to even benefit from HD) while making it worse at being a notebook.

 

[MagicWok]

If there's no matte option - I think I'll be getting a refurb MBP as I just can't be doing with glossy displays in my line of work. And I'm desperate to get a new laptop.

Trying to angle the screen better for clients just doesn't seem professional at all.

I daren't believe it - I hope Apple isn't so stupid and devoid of logic now-a-days that they don't provide a matte option for their Pro-line of machines. We'll see, just hours to go now.

 

[Anuba]

So true! Those early 2000s laptops with the black ABS plastic cases! Those never look bad no matter how much abuse they go through.

Meh! Even the BlackBook plastic is lame compared to those.

Yep. A black plastic PowerBook G3 from 1999 looks less worn than a 2-week old MBA. Apple does this intentionally, the iPods are their guinea pigs for least durable materials. Once confirmed to be scratch-prone beyond belief, these materials are then migrated to their computers.

 

[icbreeze]

might wait out until they introduce the quad core for the pro line- need a faster computer

 

[pukifloyd]

wtf current macbook 2.1ghz for $999 and new 2.0 for $1299??!!
only glossy display is #%&^@...matte should be an option...
glass trackpad without button looks cool...but will take time getting used to it...hmm

if this is the update...guess i'll have to gift a crappy dell to my mother

 

[koobcamuk]

oh hum
Where is the tablet!

This sounds like another soft update
Apple needs to bring down the prices
Americans are seeing there bank accounts dwindle

Tablet!
Http://www.salvatorereda.com/wordpress/

Nice world view you have there.

 

[McBeats]

8 more hours to go!!!

 

[Big-TDI-Guy]

If they really don't offer a matte finish - make your own. It can be done, just requires patience, and a keen eye. Rough it up with some fine-grit sandpaper, and re-polish to a matte with some of this...

 

[GregA]

My girlfriend is in her third year studies of graphic design and she's using an iMac 24" at home for all her work. It's glossy and she doesn't seem to suffer from it being glossy? What in fact is there to hate about a glossy screen? I just don't seem to get it all.

You can calibrate a CRT monitor so the colours match printed colours, until recently LCDs couldn't do that (and only a few screens can do that now). This is very important in printing, as you want the client's big jobs to look the way you intend. The glossy screen seems to make colours more vibrant... again this looks good in some cases, but when it comes to showing your client a design and then having the print job look the same, you have to be REALLY careful. It's fine for making things look pretty good - just not as effective in knowing EXACTLY how something will print. It's also fine if you're just printing with your own printer, since you aren't committing to 10,000 copies.

For one of our machines, my wife replaced a PowerMac G4 & large CRT, with a 24" glossy iMac. The reflection does bother her occassionally but it's mainly the above issue that matters. She uses her old large CRT at the side of her iMac, and moves designs between the screens to get the colours etc right.

So anyway that's what your girlfriend might want to look out for. Even a 17" high quality CRT monitor on the side of her iMac would help her if she's involved with print.

As far as MacBooks go... I have a matte screen, I'm not sure what I think of gloss really. I'm not a graphic designer (my wife is) but if I'm adjusting a photo's colours, it's to show the photo on my plasma screen, not print anyway - so all this calibration goes out the window.

 

[ra noodle]

looking at all the speculation...well..I actually didn't read everything but try this---compare what's happened in your nearest Apple store....now outside US it might be different but around where I am in the midwest you go into an Apple store and what have they done...what had been a free advice and consultation now is something you have to pay for, if you want to learn something you now have to hand over another $100 and that learning something in reference to any Apple product you also have to hand over another $100...your talking at least $200 if not $300 for services that years back cost nothing! Others have also said that Apple appears to be going off the deep end with their products and so forth and your damn right...Apple is becoming as crapy as Microsoft already is and eventually Apple is going to be all crap whether you look at this from a cost view or product performance and adaptable range of connectors its going down hill and Jobs is still thinking he can dump his crap on the suckers who have bought without looking at what they bought first....and I am not saying Apple hasn't come out with great products...they have except that last few years Jobs has gotten to fat a head....hell I go into my nearest Apple store and immediately someone semi-greets me and then immediately asks do I have a One on One card and down the line and when I say no to all of these ripoff costs....suddenly I'm standing there alone and then another "toughguy" that works at this store huffs and puffs at me well what do you want...since I don't have any of the cards apparently to them I have no valid reason to be in the store...I look at this and then all your comments and if all true Apples going to not just tank to the bottom but take as many customers down with it....because Jobs has gotten a FAT head about himself...but we'll see and I hope I am wrong.............

 

[JG271]

If this is true, what a terrible update. No matte? No firewire on the macbook? Its like apple have forgotten all about their core customers - graphics, video and audio people.

I don't usually complain about these events, but a slower processor speed on the MacBook for more money?

All will be revealed later i suppose, but i would have thought now is not the time to increase prices!

 

[suMMx]

but a lot of people hate the fact that you can't have a CHOICE between matte and glossy.

understandable, luckily im on the side that prefers glossy.

 

[imm22]

for me it's disappointment
So much waiting, and in the end:

No MBP 17"
and maybe the will come with gloss screen... that's a lot of BAD BAD news.
I don't want the current MBP 17" model, and I will no wait until January or more to get one.
Things said I'm getting another PC computer, but very frustrated

 

[jbrenn]

glossy

if glossy is the only option it will not take long before aftermarket matte screens become available.

 

[FreedomFighter]

What ever happened to the MB aggressive price point? $1299, nvidia GPU and 400 mHz taken of is ridiculous. To top it off not Matte on MBP and no FireWire on MB, sorry apple you've lost me on this one.

 

[edesignuk]

A great shame to see the matte screens go, though I'm sure people will grow to like the glossy over time. What choice do they have?

 

[koobcamuk]

Ever since SJ took control of Apple, the company has never been about choice (perhaps with the exceptions of Boot Camp and the Mac Pro.)

It's Apple's way or the highway, everything from wireless network to non-expandable iMacs to iTunes Store DRM to OSX86. And it doesn't look likely to change with regards to matte/glossy screens.

Sad, really.



Need or want? If you have a Macbook, why on earth do you need a new one? Not to sound like a cranky old gramps, but I made it through 4 years of undergrad with an iBook 600Mhz - and I graduated this past May!

Nicely said. Jobs has done a lot since his return though - some good, some not so good. Got to be said that it usually is Apple's way or the highway, but in a lot of ways that is what makes Apple, well, Apple. I am glad I can get a full package with Apple. It just might not contain every little thing I want...

I don't get this black keyboard look at all though.

 

[tremendous]

Everyone wants to be the first with an exclusive, soon to be proved correct, rumour. so everyone is 'confirming' things when they don't know any more than the rumour. it's easy. watch - i can confirm the new mbp's will have a black bezel and black keys. will they? probably. can i actually prove it? no.

I don't believe anything until i hear ol' jobsie announce it. then, THEN, i may get apoplectic and start screaming.

maybe. or i might just realise apple don't make the product i want to buy and go and buy something else.

 

[Tex-Twil]

It would be hard to believe that there wont be the matte option. This poll shows that more pple prefer matte. Ok, it is difficult to compare the preferences of the MR community to all the MBP users but I think that Apple will lose a lot of customers if this appears to be true.

 

[Lictor]

If they really don't offer a matte finish - make your own. It can be done, just requires patience, and a keen eye. Rough it up with some fine-grit sandpaper, and re-polish to a matte with some of this...

Right. So, I'm going to buy a $2000 laptop, and then I'm going to spend several unpaid hours of my personal life in an effort to void the extended warranty I will have paid extra for?

 

[Boyo]

My guess:
- MBA with a significant price drop (to current MB levels), also a small update
- MBP - new design, 15" and 17" , or perhaps 14 and 17, a couple of completely new features (lie that trackpad with no buttons)
- Macbook - either completely dropped from the line (replaced by MBA), or the old model would just continue to be sold for a while at 899$ with a minor update

The MBA is destined to replace the MB one day - all those ports and drives are being replaced by wifi anyway, and it's reasonable to make the laptop smaller finally (as the ordinary size has remained for so many years now, if not even bigger). Maybe that day is today

 

[DMC-12]

looking at all the speculation...well..I actually didn't read everything but try this---compare what's happened in your nearest Apple store....now outside US it might be different but around where I am in the midwest you go into an Apple store and what have they done...what had been a free advice and consultation now is something you have to pay for, if you want to learn something you now have to hand over another $100 and that learning something in reference to any Apple product you also have to hand over another $100...your talking at least $200 if not $300 for services that years back cost nothing! Others have also said that Apple appears to be going off the deep end with their products and so forth and your damn right...Apple is becoming as crapy as Microsoft already is and eventually Apple is going to be all crap whether you look at this from a cost view or product performance and adaptable range of connectors its going down hill and Jobs is still thinking he can dump his crap on the suckers who have bought without looking at what they bought first....and I am not saying Apple hasn't come out with great products...they have except that last few years Jobs has gotten to fat a head....hell I go into my nearest Apple store and immediately someone semi-greets me and then immediately asks do I have a One on One card and down the line and when I say no to all of these ripoff costs....suddenly I'm standing there alone and then another "toughguy" that works at this store huffs and puffs at me well what do you want...since I don't have any of the cards apparently to them I have no valid reason to be in the store...I look at this and then all your comments and if all true Apples going to not just tank to the bottom but take as many customers down with it....because Jobs has gotten a FAT head about himself...but we'll see and I hope I am wrong.............

+1. All of this is especially troubling for a person who needs to wait for an update in order to get the most value (in terms of current technology) for their money. As Apple's products and accessories are becoming less backward compatible, and as they are dropping not only quality but things like FireWire as well, it is becoming painfully more disadvantageous to wait for the next big thing. I'd love to settle for whichever past product was the better-designed, aesthetically or functionally, but as I need my products to be somewhat future-proof, I have to go for the bittersweet, newer product.

 

[Bobthemonkey]

I hope the glossy only is the wrong information.

I'm a professional photographer and I use a macbook *PRO* to do my work, which cannot be achieved with a screen that enhances reality.

I do no know *any* photographer doing editing on a glossy screen. This would be a serious limitation.

I sold my matte MBP just yesterday, knowing I would always have the option to re-buy the 'old' one at a discounted rate.... I may just have to do this as all the new features are offset by this glossy screen :-(

At a guess this is why they are keeping the 'old' 17' MBP around. Apple have done it before, keeping or even re-releasing one of the G4's for the OS9 crowd.

I am a bit stuck now. Was all set to buy a 15' MBP, but don't want to go glossy. A late model refurb is tempting, but the HE discount doesn't apply. To be honest, I was also expecting a stronger GPU offering in the Pro, especially as the MB gets a half decent chip.

Maybe the 17 will be a nice spec bump; if it does, why couldn't they just carry it over to the 15 as well, even as a BTO option not carried in store.

 

[Apple Architect]

Wah Wah Wah.

If this is true, what a terrible update. No matte? No firewire on the macbook? Its like apple have forgotten all about their core customers - graphics, video and audio people.

I don't usually complain about these events, but a slower processor speed on the MacBook for more money?

All will be revealed later i suppose, but i would have thought now is not the time to increase prices!

Wah wah wah is all I can hear.

Apples core user base is no longer professional "editors", it is students, casual computer users, hockey moms (although if that stupid women gets one i will not be impressed) and Mr Joe Public. Just look at the volume of devices being sold - for every Mac Pro I am sure the consumer devices sell hundred. It is all about imacs and macbooks. Sometimes I think that way too many people forget that it is Apple.com not Apple.org.

Before you all start posting "If it has a blue-ray disc then you can have my money" or "I want it to have a high def matte screen" just think. Is there a commercial market for this. If not, then assume it will not be available.

Market segmentation is key here. Apple has identified its market segmentations and will deliver products into those segments. The segmentation will have been undertaken with a view to being profitable.

Most professionals realise this - it is just the little whiney me-me-me crowd who forget it. You do not own apple (although you may have invested in them), apple does not OWE you anything (although you might have used the product for years) and everything they release does not have to be jsut for you.

Remember, you have a choice. If you don't like the product, then move along. Your choice. Maybe the product was not designed for you as your segment will just not deliver the returns apple is now expecting.

 

[Moks]

I'm off to check the refurb store...