Apple's new MacBook Pro. - (Credit: Apple)
Posted on 10/17/2008 1:33:45 PM PDT by Swordmaker
When Apple announced its new notebooks on Tuesday, it said the new machines would be in the company's retail stores the next day.
So I went to the Apple store at the Westfield Valley Fair mall in Santa Clara, Calif., after work on Wednesday. I got there a few minutes after 6 p.m. and discovered that an Apple technician was in the process of replacing an old MacBook Pro with the first one of the new models. I positioned myself authoritatively about a foot from the tech's left elbow, so when he was done, I was the first customer to get my hands on the new machine.
It looked as good in real life as it does in the pictures. The tapered edges make it look thinner than it really is, considerably more svelte than the older MacBook Pros like mine.
A few things struck me about the new design. There's no latch for the lid, but some kind of cam in the hinge keeps it snugly closed unless it's opened on purpose. I don't think this would work as well with the old lid style because there's enough of an edge on there for incidental contact to overcome the hinge tension. But with the new extra-thin edge, the lid seems to resist accidental opening.
Unfortunately, like older MacBooks and PowerBooks, the machine starts to turn on when the lid is opened only slightly. I've never understood why these switches are so sensitive. It seems to me it would be better to wait until the machine is opened more like two or three inches to avoid accidental actuation, especially when there's no latch.
The trackpad was very nice, easily the best I've ever used. It also doesn't look or feel like glass. I can confirm that Apple thought of the same thing that I did in my previous post--a click with one finger generates a left-click, and a tap with two fingers generates a right-click. Awesome. So now Apple has the world's only two-button mouse that doesn't have any buttons at all, and it isn't even a mouse!
(I also tried three- and four-finger taps, but I couldn't see any difference in the behavior of the Finder. I wonder if that's something applications can detect, though.)
Too glossy
As for the new glass-face display: I'm sure it'll be great for watching movies in a dark room. I'm sure it'll be fine for most purposes, if you're in a dark room. And wearing dark clothing, and nothing shiny. But wow, I really don't like to see windows or lights or my clothing reflected in glossy displays, and the only way this new machine's display could be any more glare-prone is if it were mirrored like a highway cop's sunglasses.
I picked the machine up and turned it around in my hands, somewhat constrained by the attached power and Ethernet cables. It felt good in my hands. The surface finish is good-- not slippery, but not rough either. I gave the machine some light tweaking between my hands--both the lid and the base separately, as well as the whole machine with the lid closed--and in all tests, the new machine seemed to offer more torsional rigidity than my old MacBook Pro. So that says the new manufacturing techniques have paid off, at least in that respect.
The bottom covers for the battery/HD and RAM felt very securely attached, not rattly, and the seams were remarkably tight. I hope they stay that way over time, always a difficult thing to achieve with sheet aluminum, which is not the most stable material. (Cars, for example, could be built with even smaller gaps between doors and frames, but makers don't do that because the inevitable shifts over time would then be more conspicuous--and most cars are made out of steel.)
Apple used its snazzy technology for nearly-invisible indicator lights on the sleep indicator; you basically can't see the light unless it's on. (The same technology is used for the "on the air" light next to the Webcam on older MacBook Pros like mine, and it's really almost like magic.) Oddly, however, there's a short slot next to the indicator on the new machine that compromises the clean look Apple was presumably seeking with this design feature. I don't even know what the slot is for! My only guess is that it might have the infrared receiver for the Front Row remote control behind it.
Out of respect for the store, I didn't pop the battery cover off, though I am curious how that latch works. The latch is at one side, but it has to seal tight across a very long edge. That's usually difficult to arrange.
Sharper feel
The edge of the aluminum around the keyboard and palm rests does, indeed, feel sharper than the plastic on the older MacBook Pros. Not physically sharper, but the low friction of the old plastic makes the edge feel smoother because skin is less likely to hang up on it. Skin doesn't slide over the new aluminum edge nearly as easily.
Since the new machine had accumulated quite a crowd within just a few minutes while I examined these elements, I turned to a couple of guys on one side who had arrived shortly after I did, rubbed my palm across the edge of the new MacBook Pro a few times, did the same on the older model next to it, and asked them to do the same. Then I asked "does the new one feel sharper?" Both said yes. But we all also agreed that visually, they appeared to be about the same, so I think the answer is that Apple ought to round over this edge just a bit more.
And with that, I stepped back and let the rest of the crowd fight over the new machine. I didn't see any new MacBooks on that visit (and I couldn't get my iPhone power adapter replaced under the recall; they were out). But seeing the new Pro was enough to justify the visit. I love the looks, but I can't justify buying a new laptop right now. So I'll wait for the next refresh and hope those machines still look this good.
It is much more difficult to change a Matte screen to glossy.
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
“Note: It is easy to add a matte filter to a glossy screen, if one desires or needs a non-glossy surface.”
No-glare screens are still a BTO option, and one I hope won’t go away.
They need to offer both options. Pro photographers make up a big portion of the Mac’s devoted base and you can’t color correct photos with a a separate anti-glare filter on the monitor. It’s hard to color calibrate even the glass covered monitors of the current iMac.
Too often, photographers have to move images from ad hoc workrooms in gyms and arenas with terrible lighting and no glare control. A matte screen is essential. I made the mistake of buying a laptop with a glossy screen and have regretted it for two years.
I’m thinking about finding one of the last generation MBPs with a matte screen before it’s too late.
I think they did away with firewire on the less expensive macbook. If so, that sucks because if you have a firewire based video camera, you can’t use it now unless it also has a UBS connection.
There is NO matte screen option left on any Mac notebooks except the 17 inch MBP, which was left unchanged.
I was thinking about a new one, but I think I’ll wait for Snow Leopard and the ability to utilize both GPU’s at once (SLI).
I have a glossy WUXGA, because there are (apparently) no matte WUXGA displays available.
I am a little puzzled what the point of the glossy display is. It’s not awful, but it doesn’t really make a lot of sense to me. Maybe it’s more durable?
I was at that same store last night, and the new MBP's look great.
I’ve been thinking about upgrading to one of those MacBook Pros. I’m going down to an Apple store and check it out. :-)
Can you post some links of high quality matte filters, I have to tell you that I tried a new Sony Vaio with glossy display, in about twenty minutes in a normal lit room my eyes were burning, felt like I was on the beach, I returned the laptop because of that.
However with a matte Macbook Pro, I can look at the screen all day with NO eyestrain, I will never use glossy.
Predictable yawn material from CNet.
Apple has outdone itself with its obsessive-compulsive level of attention to detail. I mean, the attention paid to just the sleep indicator light? Spend two months getting the track pad texture right? Go though hundreds of versions of the thumb scoop where you open the display to get it right? It’s insane, and I love it.
I’m trying to think of any other manufacturer of anything in the world that does this and all I can think of is maybe a high-end Swiss watch maker like Patek Philippe.
TVs were glossy because the tremendous stress that the huge CRT vacuum display tubes were under required THICK glass. If the surface were matte, the image, maybe as much as 10mm behind the matte surface would have been muddied beyond recognition, not because there was something inherently good about the glossy, reflection prone screen.
And you say no one has complained!!!??? You have never been around my house. Complaints about the reflections were CONSTANT. When LCD monitors came out they were made matte, and for good reason - customer satisfaction. And, it was technically possible for the first time - the screens are not under a vacuum, and the distance between the matte surface and the actual image is maybe less than 1mm.
Frankly, I think making computer monitor screens glossy is just plain crazy. I certainly wouldn't buy one. The don't NEED to be glossy, so why do it?
At the very least, give us a choice!
You are woefully uninformed. Graphic artists and photographers truly NEED mat screens. Because the consumer public likes shiny things we now get these absurd eye straining and unprofessional screens.
Fine on an imac. Let the little people have what they think they want.
But to put them on ‘pro’ machines is beyond stupid. Its craven. Pathetic really. I’m ordering a 17inch macbookpro asap so I can get a laptop with the latest innards and a decent screen and when I order my new tower I will get another manufacturers 30” display.
If Apple continues to refuse to dance with the ones that brung em and does not accede to our demands in the next couple years or so I guess these will be my last Apple products.
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