Font size is not a night-and-day difference. In fact, even the hi-res 15" has still has a lower pixel density than the normal 17" model.
1440x900 @ 15" = lowest pixel density of all Apple notebooks.
If you're planning on using "pro" apps, I highly suggest at least the hi-res 15" model since these applications need lots of space (otherwise you'll end up scrolling a lot).
For people wondering:
- 13" 1280x800: 114 PPI (pixels per inch)
- 15" 1440x900: 110 PPI
- 15" 1680x1050: 129 PPI
- 17" 1920x1200: 133 PPI
- iPhone: 165 PPI.
A 15" 1920x1200 screen would be 147 PPI and the 13" 1920x1080 screen Sony offers is 168 PPI.
I don't hear many people complaining about not being able to read text on their iPhones. In fact, most people I've spoken with have been impressed with how sharp text looks.
Any modern web browser can scale up whole pages (images, text and plugins) so that it doesn't affect the layout and text looks significantly better on the higher resolution screen compared to a low resolution one when you do this. I can't think of many applications where you're working with text that don't allow you to scale it up either.
Higher resolutions mean much better looking text, images and video, and also allows for much more workspace for things like photo/video editing. If anything, 1680x1050 is not enough. It would have been nice to be able to watch high definition video (1920x1080) on a 15" MBP without a loss in quality.
Why do people go matte over glossy?
If you mouse-over the images at the bottom of
this page you will see why people choose matte over glossy. (especially now that Apple is putting glass panels on top of them)
High-res Glossy. I have a 15 inch matte screen already, I want glossy because I cant make out dark patterns on dark backgrounds. I think I read that glossy solves that..
As for the eye-strain, my eyes kill me with the matte.. I guess the glossy can only be worse..
Glossy panels are far worse for this - the first thing to disappear in a brighter room is detail near black.
If you are getting eye strain with a matte panel, you probably have the brightness set too high.