I couldn't agree more with the original poster and with dreyfus. It seems that if all you do is watch DVD's or play games the color vibrance might make those 'pop' more on the glossy screen.
Having had to use a MacBook on several occasions in the last year I can honestly say that a glossy screen makes the notebook nearly impossible for me to use. Yes, if you have complete control over your environment and lighting you might be able to make it work, but in many cases (most when using a laptop) you don't have any influence over the lighting, be it outside, at the airport, at the office or even in some places in your own home. Seeing myself in the screen is very distracting and I have been very happy to go back to my 15" powerbook (especially on my lazy boy in the living room, where the MacBook was nearly unusable).
I had been waiting to purchase two new laptops following today's announcements and as many here and on many other polls I will now most likely not purchase any Apple laptops, which is a very shame.
Adding to that is also the removal of the firewire port on the MacBook. We use firewire hard drives, firewire connected ipods and firewire dv cams. They are usually connected to the rear of the cinema display, which with the new ones we will also not be able to do anylonger, as they have removed the firewire ports from the new display. Not to count the target mode which has been a god send and being able to boot from firewire external drives.
Battery life has indeed staid stagnant with Apple. Were a couple of years ago they were the champions with battery life now they are falling further and further behind. So yes, in many ways we are now paying the same amount for less features and having to even spend more just to be able to achieve status quo with cable connectivities. Keeping the max memory at 4GB is not making our photoshop guy happy either.
The firewire issue with the MacBooks and the new Display would have been a major annoyance by itself but might not have prevented me of buying the new hardware, BUT, the removal of the matte option for the displays is definitely now putting the nail in the coffin for me. And yes, even if an add-on film/screen makes it bearable, that is not what I would want to again have to spend more money again after having to spend near to 3 grand just to achieve the status quo.
As many have said, our postings and feelings will not have any influence on Apple and very likely they will not come back on that decision. They didn't do it for the MacBooks and neither for the iMacs. So the only way we can let them know is with our wallet and keeping the Credit Card in there now and in the foreseeable future.
This was big enough reason for me to sign up for an account here to get my frustration out there with many same minded fellows and in the faint hope that maybe, maybe we can get enough voices out here that Apple might actually take notice that the 'vast' majority doesn't think that way (the majority maybe, but definitely not the 'vast').
Written happily on a 15' Powerbook G4 with matte screen.
BH
