Engadget goes hands-on with new Apple products

I am a graphic designer, i have to work on macs all the time, I love them they are amazing, I have always bought non glossy screens to have no glare!!!!! I hope on one of my friends notebooks that have glossey and I can say it is horrible,
I love the new macbook pros but only glossy screens is making me think twice for buying one. BOO to you apple viva la matt

My advice...rush out and buy the LAST version of MacBook Pro. They are going to be extremely hard to find and in high demand!

Or wait until Apple figures out the difference between selling cheap computers to home consumers (a la Dell) and professional users, and offers an alternative.

Even with some kind of anti-glare screen coating this still won't address the cheesy black frame and "throwback" black keys though.

I have used Macs since 1985 and have the highest regard for Steve Jobs and the company he built and then re-built however, what was Apple thinking with this design!!??

With the un-useable glossy screen and the cheesy black frame and black keys (circa 1998) these MacBooks look like cheap Dell or HP computers! Definitely a step backward.

Fine, if they want to go after the "cheap" market with the MacBook line but keep the MacBook Pro looking and performing professionally for the professional users.

And when you post on their "discussion" boards they delete your comments. Hundreds have been posting their disgust at this poor industrial design and Apple just keeps deleting their posts. Guess they don't want feedback. It seems they becoming like Microsoft.

"Matte is useless outdoors wherever you are!"

I'm not planning on using a pro MBP17 in any sunlight/outdoors. It'll be in the studio, in the living room or in clients offices.

This whole "glossy is great in the sunlight" isn't a world I live in at all. That's why a choice would have been great. Those sitting in the park can go glossy, the rest of us (used to the previous cinema displays in my case) can go matte.

The issue I decry is removal of option for what in my case is a pro use (not sure many graphic designers work in sunlight to be frank).

Blu-ray?

What has happened to Apple? Are they only interested in iPhone/iPod sales these days and have they forgotten that they used to make cutting edge computers?

Still no Blu-ray (The same old 8x SuperDrive, seriously?). Removal of FireWire (on non-Pros). Questionable aesthetic design. The entire thing seems designed mainly to silence Apple's environmental critics. I still need a new Mac laptop, and I now I still can't get one.

Why Apple, why?

o.k. - this may seem kinda silly for all the people who hate the glossy screens, but what if you place a matte overlay on top of the screen. i know that it's a hassle, but i used one on my iPhone and love it. No more dirty screen, oily prints or scuffs on the surface. This is the only thing I think would make people happy.

Here is my question... I have a 2.2ghz Core 2duo with 2gb ram white macbook. It is the white one that was just before the last update. I was looking at updating to the $1599 macbook. What is the difference and will I really notice that one is faster?

So I can't give an honest opinion either way until I get some hands on as well, but to be honest i'm a bit dissapointed by the poll in general. I don't think it's fair to ask for readers opinion VIA poll, than offer one "yes" option and 3 unique "no's." Perhaps a reason TUAW wasn't invited, a lack of a certain non-bias professionalism. I am, and will continue to be an avid TUAW reader but just a thought.

Back to the notebook lines upgrades, I agree that a glossy screen can be annoying in some situations but also agree that the point is to create a more vivid visual experience. I for one am not a "graphical design professional" or any other type of technological professional for that matter, but an average run of the mill consumer. That is why my opinion of the glass screen is still leaning more towards impressed than distressed.

I'm a software developer, mostly working in Java, but also C/C++ and slew of scripting languages. Not tied to Windows at all, either work or home (develop software for Win, Linux, Solaris, AIX, HP UX etc), but at home I decided to switch to Mac. I like OS X and I like my Mac Pro.

I wanted to buy a portable Mac too for some time now, but waited for the new chipset with 8 GB of RAM support.

But now I'm honestly shocked. I hate the glossy screens (my wife has 24'' iMac). When I have to use that thing, all I see is my own face and lights behind me. It's pretty much unusable for anything but watching movies. If I process pictures on it, and then look at them on my profiled screen hooked to Mac Pro, they look off quite a bit (even though iMac screen is profiled too).

This "move to glass across product line" quote from Steve is making me reconsider my entire Mac/OS X investment. Perhaps it's time to move back to generic PC hardware and Linux for software development and Windows (sigh) for Photoshop work.

I am older, I know that glossy screens are hard for me to work on because of the glare. (I do amatuer photo and graphic work.) I also know this because when i drive in a city on a rainy night with bright lights the glare and refraction and splintering of light is tremendous and makes it harder to drive. At the same time it makes Christmas all the more beautiful. I asked my eye doctor about this and he explained it to me partly as me getting older and my eyeballs crystalizing and partly just my vision. He made my prescription with anti glare coating which solved some of the problem.

However, I do not wear my glasses when working on the computer so this would involve getting another non presciption pair with the coating or getting the film on the screen. The good thing about this is that i can take the glasses or the film off and the screen is more beautiful than ever just for viewing. Best of both worlds.

My eye doctor did not offer me the solution to finding the money to buy the screen. Neither my banker. :(