New MacBook Pro Display/Font Question

Hello:

I really want to buy a new MacBook Pro and went to the Apple store in my city. Please note, I have never owned an Apple notebook before and am fully a Windows person. But now I want an Apple.

The store was very well lit and I got the opportunity to use the display model of the MacBook Pro. The weight was great. I had no troubles with the keyboard and I enjoyed the new trackpad as well. Everything was really great with the experience and then...

I noticed I had a very hard time with the fonts displayed on the screen. I fired up an application called Pages(?)...and practiced on a sample Resume template. First I could not get the window to go full screen but someone in the past told me Apple programs don't work that way and the window size was what it was. So I kept it but it was hard to see as the words ended up being small. But even beyond that, I must say I was a bit disappointed with the fonts. They didn't look clear to me. Its almost like I wish ClearType technology in Windows would be in the Apple...but it was lacking and I noticed.

Did I miss something? I just can't imagine this to be. I've never really ever heard anyone mention this. Honestly I never thought this would be an issue but I must say at $2500.00 or so that I would spend this would bother me.

Do you think the store just didn't have some setting turned on? Even my 7 year old Dell 8200 notebook I am making this post on is so much more clear than what I remember last night.

Please tell me I can try something back at the store to make the fonts larger and clearer. Is it also true what the Apple Store person said that the application I was using could not be maximized to full screen?

Otherwise I found the Apple to be a wonderful experience. I know it will take some getting used to coming from Windows but I look forward to that.

 

Apple renders fonts in a different way than Microsoft, so it might take some getting used to for people that have always looked at Cleartype fonts.
In System Prefs>Appearance you can change some settings as to the way fonts are rendered. Although I believe in your particular case it has more to do with the settings of the Pages app than OS X in general.
Applications in OS X cannot be automatically 'maximised' unless the app has the need to use the entire screen. You can of course always manually resize the window.

 

Okay also you could always bring up the text menu by using the top nav bar. Or you can bring it up with command+t (the key with the apple on it) most windows users I know confuse it with the windows start button key and go to use ctrl which isn't the case with macs ctrl+click is the equivalent of a right click. Hope it all works out for you an you're able to get it down, and that you'll buy a mac. I prefer it over Windows 100% and would swear by it.

 

Apple and Microsoft have two different ideologies when rendering fonts. Microsoft's ideology is to mutate letters until they exactly match the pixel grid on your monitor. This results in very sharp looking font, but may end up looking very differently then intended. Apple's ideology is to keep the integrity of the font. When a letter does not match the pixel grid of the monitor, the edges are blurred. This works kind of like anti-aliasing in computer games.

Personally, I don't have a problem reading the fonts in OSX no matter how small I shrink them. On the other hand, in Windows, I find it unprofessional looking when one letter is three pixels wide, followed by a letter that is just one pixel wide. It just looks off.

As for full screen apps, in OSX, the maximize button will make a Window as large as will fit the screen, but not cover a prexisiting Window. The idea is to have several windows open side by side. However the bottom right corner, you can stretch the window as large as you want to. The next time you open the application, this window size will be remembered.

 

I couldn't agree more with you Amarkap, Windows Cleartype fonts look sharper and are better readable. When I got my first Mac I started a thread about it:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=245012

I then sold the MBA. Now I got the new Macbook since yesterday. I hope I get used to it.

 

I love my MBP and I'm not sure about how I fell about the new MBP that just released. The only thing I want to upgrade as of now on my MBP is the memory to a 320gb HDD. I've got a 200gb HDD now and more then half of it used already and it just seems like a better idea to upgrade it. All personal preferences aside about the MBP's I agree with both posts about the windows font VS the OS X font