UK MacBook Pros are darker than US ones ;)

[jacobj]

Has anyone else noticed that the UK will be getting a darker model of the MBP?

Now I am a little sad for noticing this, but hey why not share it.

US

UK

 

[cwedl]

hey, can't see the pictures, can you try again?

 

[Platform]

No pictures ??

 

[jsw]

Go to http://www.apple.com/uk/, then, from there, go to http://www.apple.com, then use ⌘-<-; and ⌘-->; to toggle back and forth. Not only is the Pro darker, but the little Keynote pic is different.

 

[grapes911]

I'm going to assume the colors differences are due to lighting or something. I can't imagine doing something like this. It would be more expensive to have 2 different cases manufactured than one.

But hey, I've been wrong before.

 

[cwedl]

Yeah the Macbook pro also comes with a shadow in the UK, Bargain!

 

[jsw]

I'm going to assume the colors differences are due to lighting or something.

Oh, clearly you're right - there's a shadow of sorts around it on the UK page (note my obvious familiarity with graphics lingo: "shadow of sorts"). It's just interesting... sort of.

Edit:

Yeah the Macbook pro also comes with a shadow in the UK, Bargain!

Ah, I took too long to reply. 😉

 

[Kernow]

I'm going to assume the colors differences are due to lighting or something

I think you're right - it's probably due to the stupid weather we have in this country. 😛

 

[dcv]

It's because we have aluminium alloy in the UK, whereas the US has alooooooooooominum. 😀

 

[cwedl]

I find that interesting, are all the websites made in America or in each target country? Maybe the artwork produced centrally and given to different departments to modify? i.e. prices etc and someone may have thought, lets add a shadow?

 

[jacobj]

It's because we have aluminium alloy in the UK, whereas the US has alooooooooooominum. 😀

Aluminium isn't an alloy!!!!😱 But your point is still a valid one.

 

[NeuronBasher]

FWIW, the US site's picture was originally darker like the UK one. In fact, if you go to http://www.apple.com/hardware/, you can still see the darker color on the US site. I think they probably realized that the shadowed version didn't accurately represent the color so they switched it out, but they seem to have missed a few spots. That's my theory, anyhow.

 

[Jaffa Cake]

I find that interesting, are all the websites made in America or in each target country? Maybe the artwork produced centrally and given to different departments to modify? i.e. prices etc and someone may have thought, lets add a shadow?

Could an explanation be that fact that UK and US keyboards are slightly different in terms of layout, thus requiring different images of the MacBook Pro to be used?

EDIT: Scratch that idea – I've just taken a look and there's no difference in the keyboard. Maybe we're just special? 😛

 

[mdavey]

I find that interesting, are all the websites made in America or in each target country? Maybe the artwork produced centrally and given to different departments to modify? i.e. prices etc and someone may have thought, lets add a shadow?

Very confusing. Looks like each country might do their own. Certainly, it seems that each country site is not updated at the same time:

light:
http://images.apple.com/home/2006/images/intelmacbookpro20060113.jpg
http://images.apple.com/ca/home/2006/images/intelmacbookpro20060124.jpg
http://images.apple.com/au/home/2006/images/intelmacbookpro20060113.jpg

dark:
http://images.apple.com/hardware/images/macbookpro20060109.jpg
http://images.apple.com/uk/hardware/images/macbookpro20060109.jpg
http://images.apple.com/es/hardware/images/macbook.jpg *

http://images.apple.com/uk/home/2006/images/intelmacbookpro20060123.jpg
http://images.apple.com/fr/home/2006/images/intelmacbookpro20060130.jpg
http://images.apple.com/es/home/2006/images/intelmacbookpro20060112.jpg

webcast:
http://images.apple.com/home/2006/images/promokeynote20060111.jpg
http://images.apple.com/home/2006/images/promokeynote20060113.jpg
http://images.apple.com/uk/home/2006/images/promokeynote20060111.jpg
http://images.apple.com/uk/home/2006/images/promokeynote20060111v2.jpg


Obviously, this isn't every combination, but the results are interesting.

*The spanish site doesn't even use the 'correct' background! Go figure 😉

 

[TheMasin9]

macbook

those brits must use a diffferent grade of aluminum in thier Powerbook pros.😉

 

[thegreatluke]

If you take a look at the U.S. QTVR and the U.K. QTVR, the images are exactly the same.

I think they just took a picture in bad lighting, realized the mistake, and fixed it on the U.S. website. (I imagine the gallery + QTVR pics are the same files for the same-language keyboards.) Maybe they just forgot to update the U.K. one. Apple tends to do that a lot (there are still references to the "new iMac G4" on some pages) 😀

 

[SFNE Freak]

No, I think they're completely different pictures. If you look, the darker model has the "MacBook Pro" written in white, while the lighter one is written in the same color as the PowerBooks. That is not just a difference in lighting.

It's also quite apparent that Apple hasn't made an actual rendering of the MacBook Pro. You can see in some of the gallery pictures that the IR sensor looks very fake in the pictures and also doesn't even have a reflection in one of the pictures! In places where they are using actual pictures of the MacBook, you can actually see the different in thickness.