08-30-2009, 03:04 PM

Hey all! I recently received a 15" Macbook Pro (2.66 Ghz, 4GB RAM, 256 MB 9600M GT model) with an added Antiglare screen! I figured I'd give you guys a quick rundown.

The laptop I used before was an October 2008 13" 2.4 Ghz Macbook (9400M). This had the standard glass (read as mirror) screen. I loved every aspect about this laptop except the glossy screen. I'm very happy to have moved up to this Macbook Pro! I have a higher resolution and no glare!

After about a week of use, I have had no issues. The screen is absolutely gorgeous and I can use it outside again. One of my favorite things to do is go sit under a tree, listen to music and do my homework. It still boasts the 60% greater color gamut that Apple touts for the Glossy Screen. The battery life is outstanding! I'm getting between 6 and 9 hours on regular use (full brightness) which includes surfing the internet and listening to music (using the 9400M). I game on my windows xp partition with no difficulty. Left 4 dead, TF2, Mirror's Edge, Oblivion, etc...all work very well on highest graphics and native resolution. The built in speakers sound great as well. They have a slight edge over the 13" macbook that I had before. The trackpad works just as well as it did on the 13" and the keyboard actually has a little more feedback to it which I appreciate.

I passed my 13" onto my wonderful wife who was very appreciative. She was still using a 2006 White Macbook which has seen better days. She couldn't believe how bright the screen was! She's happy = I'm happy. Here are some comparison pics for your viewing pleasure.

08-30-2009, 03:10 PM

Thanks for this quick heads up.

I liked the images next to each other and have also ordered the same model as you apart from the anti-glare as I love my photography and know glossy helps colours.

08-30-2009, 03:17 PM

Great, so that worked out well for both of you.

Myself, I have the MBP with the glossy screen, and I chose it over the antiglare, don't ask me why.

And that is why we humans thrive in the way that we do... Diversity.
The world would be a boring one if that wasn't around.

Wonderful good luck with your new addition...

08-30-2009, 03:55 PM

I was wondering what they meant with silver border ... couldn't find it on google :p now I know
I think I'll be getting the Anti-Glare over the glare :p

08-30-2009, 06:23 PM

Originally Posted by Sur3Mac

Great, so that worked out well for both of you.

Myself, I have the MBP with the glossy screen, and I chose it over the antiglare, don't ask me why.

And that is why we humans thrive in the way that we do... Diversity.
The world would be a boring one if that wasn't around.

Wonderful good luck with your new addition...

Absolutely! I can see how some people would like the glossy screen over the antiglare. I'm an amateur photographer and about half of my photographer friends prefer the glossy and the other half prefer antiglare. There are definitely pros and cons to both.

Take care everyone!
Trent out

08-30-2009, 07:37 PM

Originally Posted by Andy_M

Thanks for this quick heads up.

I liked the images next to each other and have also ordered the same model as you apart from the anti-glare as I love my photography and know glossy helps colours.

Glossy is not a Designers/Photographers best friend. Especially if you need colors to be spot on accurate. What you see on the screen is not always what you will get in a print. Glossy distorts colors and make them appear to be brighter and more vibrant. It looks good on screen, but that isn't the case when your photographs are printed. Calibrating your monitor and printer is pretty much a given.

09-12-2009, 12:02 PM

Hey all. I've had a couple requests about the bag in the last picture in my PM box. It's a Triple Five Soul Coastline Laptop bag. I got it at 6PM.com for about 70% off of retail and unfortunately, it doesn't look like they produce that bag any longer. It's a great bag if you can pick one up! Take care.

Trent out

09-12-2009, 01:32 PM

Hey CS, I was wondering if you could hook me up with that desktop of yours in the prev. pics of the MBP's.

Not the actual picture on it, but the dock and the info on the bottom.

Thanks

09-12-2009, 02:50 PM

Originally Posted by Sur3Mac

Hey CS, I was wondering if you could hook me up with that desktop of yours in the prev. pics of the MBP's.

Not the actual picture on it, but the dock and the info on the bottom.

Thanks

Sure! The dock is actually a 2d version included by apple. Go into your terminal and type:

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES; killall Dock

That'll get rid of the 3d dock. To revert, just type "NO" where the "YES" is.

The info on the bottom is actually an awesome program called "Geektool" that uses scripts to display information at desktop level. Here's the download:
Tynsoe projects

Once you get into that, here are some tips for getting you started:
Geek to Live: Monitor your Mac and more with GeekTool - Desktop - Lifehacker
and
Mega Roundup of Geektool scripts + inspiration gallery. - FrancescoMugnai.com

It's a completely customizable thing, so let it be your own! I actually didn't like where I placed my stuff (next to the dock) so now i have it in the top left corner of my desktop. The picture of the weather is actually a custom php script. I don't remember how I did that anymore...but if you really want to know how, let me know and I'll try to figure out what I did. It pulls the picture from yahoo weather...weirdness.

Take care!
Trent out

09-12-2009, 04:50 PM

Thanks a lot for the dock adjustment, I love it.

Now, for the geek tool... either this is a really difficult app, or... I'm just really stupid!

I didn't get it... so... but I'm glad with my new dock, respect CS