Macopinion

Is The End Of Matte Notebook Displays A Problem For You?

The two most prolific complaints about the new MacBook and MacBook Pro models are abandonment of FireWire entirely on the MacBook, and cutback to just one FireWire 800 port on the MacBook Pro (which is backward compatible with FireWire 400 via an adapter dongle), and the discontinuation of a matte finish display option on the Pro (the MacBook has always has a 13.3' glossy display).

Personally, the FireWire issue is the more problematical one for me. Maybe someday, but I relay on FireWire too much at this stage of the game to give up on it and resort to the various inconvenient and inferior workarounds that have been floated. There's no substitute for FireWire Target Disk Mode, and I still have a bunch of FireWire peripherals that I won't ready to give up on for probably years to come yet. That factor alone will most likely be the tipping point in making my next computer an early 2008 model MacBook Pro. I'm torn, because I really an smitten with the engineering of the new unibody MacBook cases and a new MacBook Pro is too expensive for my wallet, but FireWire is close to being non-negotiable for me.

I'm more ambivalent about the matte vs. glossy screen issue. Refurbished old school MacBook Pros are available with either, and I haven't decided which way to jump, but I'm probably leaning toward matte without really strong preference. They both have their strong and weak points, and after all we used to live with glossy glass displays in desktop systems not so long ago and curved-surface ones at that. However, for some folks this is a matter of passionate conviction, and as with FireWire for me, is a deal-breaker that's settled them on grabbing one of the outgoing MacBook Pro models, with some even vowing to never buy a Mac portable with a glossy screen.

Another issue that's surfaced, so to speak, with both the MacBook and MacBook Pro unibodies is that even glossy screen fans are finding that while the brightly LED backlit displays go a long way toward overcoming glare and reflection off the display area itself, the wide black display bezel surround, likewise under glass, is of course not backlit and under certain light conditions essentially becomes a mirror surface aiming glare and reflections right at the user. Even in the Apple PR Press images that appear here, reflections are evident.

One potential workaround is Photodon's $15.50 anti-glare film ( http://www.photodon.com ) that can be used to cover the entire display surface including the black bezel surround.

The Photodon film uses a no-residue silicon resin adhesive, that can be removed without leaving sticky residue behind. According to a mini-review on MacInTouch this week Photodon film does indeed go a long way toward subduing glare and reflections from the unibodies' mirror-like screen surface, although they say it it adds some graininess to the image, making it a tradeoff. This is definitely a matter of taste, but if you can't abide the glossy reflections, the Photodon film redeems the new MacBook. For just, it's a very cheap way to vastly improve the MacBook's day-to-day usability.

Matte display advocates cite the lack of reflection and glare, and superior characteristics for color calibration, while glossy fans tout bright, more saturated and vivid colors and intense blacks.

Some have suggested that dumping matte displays is a cost-cutting measure. That could be a subsidiary factor, but the main reason as I see it is that the "under glass" motif is an integral design element of the new machines, and so far as I can fathom there is no practical way that could be made to work with a matte display option, so once again with Apple, form trumps function.

For that matter, the elimination of FireWire on the MacBook is also a consequence of styling rather than cost. FireWire ports, per se, are not that expensive. but the ultra-compact motherboard design necessary to fit inside that MacBook Air-esque, ultra-slim enclosure simply left no room for a FireWire port, or so they say.

I had been concerned about this ever since the MacBook Air rolled out in January, since it seemed virtually inevitable that future MacBooks and MacBook Pros would follow the design themes introduced with the Air. The shift to a Mini DisplayPort from the former DVI video port on the MacBook Pro is another example. As in previous instances, Apple will try to brazen it out and convince us that less is more, but it patently is not.

That said, I would rate prospects for restoration of either FireWire or matte displays as slim to nil. The only instances I can think of where Apple restored lost or omitted I/O support was in adding FireWire to the late 2000 iBook, a second USB port to the 2001 iBook, and a FireWire 800 port on the 15" MacBook Pro at its first or second revision.

With the under glass display motif pushing matte off the options list, the last of the Mohicans there will be when the 17" MacBook Pro gets replaced by a unibody model, probably in the spring of 2009, so if you really want a new Mac notebook with a matte screen, better grab one of the end-of-the-line old school 17-inchers while they're still available.



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cmoore@macopinion.com

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