Decsions, decisions

Strax

Strax

Strax

Associate
Joined
30 Apr 2003
Posts
813
Location
Scotland
I have just about convinced myself to get either a macbook or MBP. I know there is a chance of a MBP refresh tomorrow, which might affect the next couple of questions but I'll ask them anyway.

I am udecided which one to go for. The reflective screen could be an issue for me on the MBP as I like to use my laptop in my conservatory and I dont know whether I could live with it. I am sure I read somewhere that the backlight could be turned off? and this improved the use in bright sunlight. I'm not sure if that was a windup though? Of course if Apple offer the anti-glare screen in a new 13" then I would be fine.

Is there also an issue with poor wifi reception with MBP's compared due macbooks due to the aluminium case?
 
Personal preference to be honest, I hate natural light anyway so I'd go for the glass cover, shame my monitor I have now doesnt have a glass plane because I believe it makes the colours more vibrant.

I think the MacBook is more than enough for any computing needs today, I had a MacBook Air running the same platform with a slow CPU yet it ran my Mac games (EVE, Red Alert 3 etc) albeit low settings but ran great

It also handles HD, be that .mkv and flash hd.

Unless you want more with regards to the GFX in the form of the 9600 then I'd stick with the MB, unless you dont like the white plastic?
 
MB 13 has a 2.26ghz CPU, 250gb HDD, 2gb RAM, 9400M GPU
MBP 13 has 2.26ghz CPU, 160gb HDD, 2gb RAM, 9400M GPU. It also has an option to upgrade the CPU, HDD and RAM.

It really depends what your needs are. The other differences are that the MBP has a backlit keyboard, card reader, firewire 400 and will output to a higher external screen res (2560x1600) for 30" monitors.

Personally I think the MBP is the better buy for several reasons:

1) I prefer the look of the aluminium. I've seen the white plastic in a shop and I'd be worried about long term durability (scratches, etc).

2) I suspect that resale value might be higher.

3) The illuminated keyboard is fantastic.
 
I am not sure on the games front because I haven't really tested my MB on them but my MB does everything faster than my "gaming pc"...its quite bizarre. :p ;)
 
I'm not bothered about games. I only want it for the battery life and web browsing with some photoshop work on holiday thrown in.

I was more worried about not being able to see the glass mbp screen in bright sunlight compared to the macbook. As posted in the the first post, can the backlight be turned off through software or is this B.S.?
 
I've had my MBP for a few days. I've not found a way to turn the backlight off but you can turn it down so far that it's completely black (is that off?).

Also, I thought the new unibody MB had the same screen? I could be wrong on that one though.

I have to say, I'm finding the screen a little too reflective. But I'm used to matte screens. The quality of the screen really is superb though.
 
Comparing the two side by side in PCW. The macbook does not have glass covering the screen so is not as reflective than the mbp. Someone did say in a forum post that with the backlight out (or maybe just fully down) it was easier to see it in bright sunlight. As I am up here in scotland, bright sunlight only occurs for 2 days in July:). I was wondering if I could see the screen on the mbp on these 2 days.
 
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