Late 2008 Mac Product Updates

[ScarCrow28]

Talk about a bittersweet product release today. the new designs for the laptops look great except for a few flaws.

1. Glossy only displays. - major dealbreaker- I hate em. Last thing I need is to not be able to see my laptop screen because the sun or even indoor lighting is throwing reflections all across it. Function looses over form in this decision. Might even be a real deal killer on me updating my MacBook Pro anytime in the near future. Looks like they still have the 17s old style. But i don't need a giant 17" laptop. Nor do I want to pay for one.

2. FireWire 400 Gone -
MB Pro -Now those with FireWire drives that don't sport the FW800 port will be forced to buy new drives, loop through a FW800 drive, or buy an ExpressCard Adapter. Not a deal killer but annoying for sure. And why not two FW800 ports???

MacBook - They killed off FireWire completely!!! Not even adding FW800. What's up with that? USB 2 doesn't even come close to the performance of FW 400 let alone 800. I'm sure a handful of consumers won't notice or care. Especially those who are switching from Windows to Mac. But current Mac owners will more then likely be very very annoyed. Possible dealbreaker for many. Even more of an issue when trying to initialize Target mode. Which is useful for tech support & troubleshooting, wether the macbook is the client, or the controller. And how are consumers supposed to hook up their Camcorders and capture footage with iMovie now? Did apple forget that part?


3. DisplayPort problem. - While I'm not opposed to moving on to a new display technology, it irks me that they don't include a DVI converter adaptor. I got a VGA adaptor included when I bought my current MBPro. Now an adapter annoying extra 30 option.


The Apple gang also announced a new 24" Cinema Display conveniently overpriced at $900 bucks and only supporting the new DisplayPort connection. So those folks with pre-today Macs of any kind won't be able to plug an play with this one. Only the new laptops can. This is sure to piss off a lot of professionals with Mac Pros who have been waiting up to 2 years for new displays. And I'm sure it will piss off a hell of a lot of Laptop owners, and a few iMac owners as well.
Odds are an adapter will pop up in the store as an extra option of course. Yuck. Then apple kicks you while your down with the once again, glossy only screen. And I've heard one comment already about the hight of the monitor being lower then the 24" iMac monitor hight. Making a dual screen configuration for your iMac a bit awkward. Maybe thats a good use for the old hardcover book you stopped reading. To boost up the monitor hight a few inches.

No updates to the 30" CinemaDisplay which is now over 4 years old I believe. Pissing off yet even more professionals.

***

Now that we've heard the bad news. Lets finish with the good news.


1. Better graphics all around. Nvidia came up with a great new integrated graphics chip & chipset combo. And new faster dedicated graphics. sweet.

2. New "Buttonless" Trackpad. - the new trackpad has no button. Because it IS the button. the whole thing. And loosing a separate dedicated space for a button means a larger pad for fingering. Great for the new four-finger gestures added to the trackpad language library.

3. faster processors. Faster RAM. nice. but nothing revolutionary or un-expected.

4. All screens are LED backlight. I have this on my current MBPro. And I love it. BUT my MBPro IS NOT glossy. And thats they way I prefer it thank you very much. I hate glare on my screen. Especially when I'm trying to edit my photos. "Punchier color" and "customer prefered" is a load of bullshit IMO. (Sorry but i really really hate glossy.)

5. New design. Cool. Much needed to replace the ugly plastic Macbooks shells. But not really a feature to me. I quite like my current MBP the way it is. So no compelling reason for me to drool over the new design.




Conclusion: Honestly I'm quite disappointed. Too much form over function this time around. It used to be a good balance between the two. But not this time around at least. The real insults being the lack of FireWire Completely in MacBooks and glossy-only screens all around. There is a workaround with the display using adapters. But once again, no FireWire ports and Glossy only screens. (Old Displays had both features) Not to mention the spec sheet on the new display is a bit sub par on the brightness, contrast, and response time compared to the Dell 24" which is also at least a few hundred cheaper. (Which isn't LED powered. But thats minor considering the performance difference.)


Blah.