Apple reinstates matte display option on 15-inch MacBook Pro, charges $50 for it
By Darren Murph 
posted August 11th 2009 5:24AM
posted August 11th 2009 5:24AM
[Thanks, Pascal and Khattab]
posted August 11th 2009 5:24AM
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Thank the lord.
About time; just in time for back-to-school.
The Lord giveth a matte screen and a Lord taketh away £40. That's $66.60 at today's currency conversion rate. 666... coincidence?
Even taking off the VAT it's £57
That should be $57, not £57
It's $45 with the student discount... I'm not sure it's worth it though. Ahh decisions =(
I personally hate the "borderless" look. I liked my glossy 15" 2.33 C2D MacBook Pro, but I have the new one now and I'd be willing to go matte just to get rid of the black border. Give me back my silver keys too. These black ones blow, and they're already wearing down after 3 months.
All silver unibody is what I want.
Typical Apple.
totally agree with tou!
Apple is getting carried away here. Glossy finishes on monitors have been all the rage, and have been treated as a 'premium' option by those who enjoy shiny things for a few years now. The rest of us who just want to be able to see what's on the screen without swiveling our notebooks around like compasses have enjoyed matte-finish at lower costs, because it's the classic, old-style finish that brought notebooks to the dance.
So why the hell does it now cost more to have the cheaper, older finish? Because fanboys have short memories and the marketing machine never stops. 50 bucks more to downgrade. Ridiculous.
apple thinks a matte display is an upgrade. or maybe apple want their customers to think it is.
Don't worry. In a few months all Apple laptops will have matte display and than Apple will introduce new ClearSuperBright option for another $50.
Glossy screens used to be a premium because matte was the high volume seller. Now, glossy is high volume and matte is the option. This means the OEMs will charge a premium for matte finish. On the Dell Vostro 1220, both the matte and glossy screens are WXGA resolution, but the matte finish is a $109 option! Enough idiots like glossy better that matte has become the expensive option.
I was doing some research on my car before I bought it. In the US, the aluminum dashboard trim is standard & the wood is an upgrade. In Canada, it's the opposite: wood standard, sexy aluminum extra. It's the same german manufacturer in both cases - it's just about meeting local expectations.
@ Quix
Why is it always with you Apple niche guys one way or the other, black or white, Pepsi or Coke. If Dell is doing this @ $109, and Endgadget reported on them, and I read the article, my reaction would be the same. It's a bitch ass move. In the same way I wont buy Apple because of personal preference, I wont buy Dell because of reasons outside of the scope of the article.
Let me put it to you like this, and try to get through the RDF clouding your judgment. If Apple killed 1 person, and Dell killed 2.045 people, it doesn't make Apple any less wrong for killing the one person. $50 for charging for a simple downgrade because of manufacturing and production costs. How long ago exactly was Apple offering Matte for free? Last generation? Correct me if I'm wrong, cause I don't know, but this sounds a hell of alot like planned obsoleteness to me...
Do you own any Sony products? LG products? Samsung products? Do you always rush to the rescue to their stupid corporate moves?
Have any posts on Engadget were you exhibit the same zeal in squashing any difference of opinion?
Care to Share them?
You're a fanboy, and as you're reading this, you know it deep down inside. It's not some of us are Apple Haters; you just love Apple way too much to not being paid for it.
um, on the Vostro, the extra $109 antiglare screen is LED, while the regular one is CCFL. I just checked. Anyways, it's the principle. Why should I pay $50 more for something that was free a year ago? I'm sure most people can afford $50 extra, but why should consumers be nickel and dimed so much?
i dunno i actually kinda like glossy displays. and yes, i have used both extensively (not for media editing, obviously).
Apple Tax is increased - Recession is over!
Seriously?
How about extending the option for iMacs? Really, I used to like glossy, but after seeing myself on my iMac on dark backgrounds (especially when watching movies) a lot, it's getting annoying, and it's not like I can just move around my iMac like a laptop.
I have the same problem but on my TV as well as my iMac. But now I have moved the computer desk to another part of the room where I only see the reflections in the morning, while I'm usually out anyway.
Wish they would send one of those my way, strictly for testing of course.
Dang, the auto-fill password plugin automatically re-published that older post. Oh well, funny, but true, as I could always use a newer MacBook. The faster processor and GPU would certainly speed up my video editing. This thing can probably render film in half the time my 2007 15-inch MBP can. And when Snow Leopard gets here, I can only imagine the performance gain, with all the new Intel-optimized software. Ridiculous that the matte option is $50. I bet they save money taking that glossy panel off... But hey, higher profit margins right? Woo-hoo. Glossy displays are nice for media viewing and whatnot, but my iMac G4 and my 17-inch HP 1740 seem to have some great matte displays, and they're definitely easy on the eyes. Easier to clean too. Too bad you can't just switch between them depending on what you're doing. Of course, I've never had to deal with the ridiculous glare that the new Macs suffer from. Nothing some good lighting can't deal with though. Just blanket the room and you'll never notice a thing.
-MD33
Do you use 1pasword? The thing did the same to me and posted a saved message in a completely different post.
Guess this can't be retrofitted, shame. =/
Just splash out on another one then; cuz money grows on trees, shame Apples don't.
how bout this: http://techrestore.com/xcart/product.php?productid=18467&cat=0&page=1 but you have to pay even more for not holding out.
You have to wonder what's the next thing apple will think of charging for.
--maybe a keyboard that doesn't feel like used bubble gum?
Their keyboard feels like Bubble Gum?
I use one with my hackintosh,
my windows box,
and my mom uses one with her windows computer too.
The keyboard are amazing, I cannot find one that I like near as much.
Yeah I agree. Apple's new keyboards feel really good. Those mice on the other hand...
I am truly in awe of Apples ability to charge for what should be standard options.
Standard? The standard with most consumer laptops out there is glossy. Dell/HP don't even have an option anymore other than glossy on most of their consumer laptop models.
@pika2000: Why should I buy a consumer laptop anyway? Business models offer better build quality, better warranty, better customer support, matte displays...
But yeah, finally Apple offers it again. Now the 13" please...
They charge for something as basic as the Mini-DisplayPort to DVI or VGA adapters, which you automatically need if you want to use any sort of secondary display; that's how they roll.
@s.e.j.ramsay
You are indeed correct. Since I switched to the Mac about 7-years ago I have noticed that Apple is increasingly charging for things that used to come in the box and that you don't get a whole lot for what is essentially a premium price. This does indeed suck.
Not being an apple fanboy here, but how many people NEED an adapter because they have a secondary display. While it might be a large % of engadget users, the rest of the world isn't like us and that screen is all they need. Every adapter Apple thre in for someone that didn't need them would be costing apple money that they don't have to throw away.
Kelmon has always been a voice of reason within our Apple brethen on this site, along with iKurt and the like. He's a perfect example of someone who can like a product, promote the product they use, without trying to bash the skull in of the person he's discussing gadgets with.
My PB G4 came with an S-video to Composite adapter and a DVI to VGA adapter... why the F did they stop coming with adapters?!
Man, if they extended this to the 13", I might actually mull over getting a MBP, since Dell seems they wanna start overcharging for thier shit too; it might not be bad for a Windows-exclusive machine.
You'll get sick of that single mouse button pretty quickly if you plan on mostly running Windows. Anyhow, if you're just going to put Windows on it and not use OS X, why pay the price premium for a Mac?
@shifuimam:
The single button is not a problem at all. Simply place two fingers on the pad and click to 'right click'. Plus you simply have to drag two fingers along the pad to scroll, as opposed to trying to find the tiny strip (if there is one) that functions as a scroll wheel. Besides, if you are going to be doing anything more than light browsing, you should have an external mouse (I use the Logitech VX Revolution). I bought a Macbook Pro mainly so that I could have experience with the variants of Unix (including Mac OS X) and still be able to play games. Compared to other gaming laptops at the time (3 years ago) there really wasn't a premium, all were around $2500. Now, I am having a hard time justifying spending $2500 for a laptop that is comparable in specs to another at $1500 with the only added functionality being the 'legal' ability to run Mac OS X. I just don't see OS X being worth $1000.
(Slight rant...okay a big rant: Why the hell would you prevent the customer from easily removing the battery? I don't care if the purported run time is over 4 hours, I should be able to take the battery out and put in a fresh one with only a short down time. Also, what if I wanted to store the laptop for a month? I should be able to remove the battery to prevent it from decaying the lifespan. I used to love Apple's dedication to providing quality products that included almost everything you would need bundled in the box. If I remember right, there were only a few options when ordering: matte/glossy screen, 1GB/2GB/3GB RAM, 120GB/240GB/??? HDD, specialty adapters, and additional software. They included the remote and a Dual Link DVI to VGA adapter which would be around $150 in extras now, oh plus the $50 matte screen. Sorry Apple, you won't get return business from me until you focus on the consumer again. Thank you for the quality product back in 2006, it's still running strong...under Vista mostly, but the hardware has been wonderful.)
I like how they make it sound special by wording it as "AntiGlare screen" XD
Do you know that it's not an anti-glare screen?
There are all sorts of highly advanced and expensive optical films that you can use to reduce reflections by getting the light waves to actually go in anti-phase and cancel out.
A simple matt finish just spreads the light in different directions which means that your contrast ratio is badly reduced compared to a glossy screen when you get high levels of ambient light - your blacks become less black.
I'm not saying that Apple are definitely using the more advanced films, but don't rule it out as this is a high end product and they're charging extra for it.
Even if it's the simpler matt coat, then the fact that it adds a whole extra set of models to their stock that only a small minority of people will buy will add costs to them which, as a business, it's their duty to pass on to you if you desperately want that feature.
@Fnuky:
A small minority of people? Have you not been paying attention? The matte screen was the choice option on the early Intel Macbooks. Just because the less technically inclined gravitate toward anything that looks good on the surface does not mean that the majority will only want mirrored screens when presented with the option of a much more viewable screen.
Yessssss!
Only 1440x900 on a 15"? Tsk tsk.
well it used to be 1280x800 i'm pretty sure
1680x1050 is just about perfect on a 15" laptop. There really should be an option, it's standard on the Thinkpad W500.
@ Maccadude33
O Backlit Keyboard (Western Spanish) / User's Guide
O Backlit Keyboard (French) / User's Guide
O Backlit Keyboard (Japanese) & User's Guide
O Backlit Keyboard (English) / User's Guide [Add $25.00]
The best thing about this option is that improves the look of the computer massively. Who knows what they were thinking when they made the rim of the display black on the other models - they're so ugly.
Previous generation MacBook Pro ftw!