Why I decided not to buy (at this moment).

After a lot of research I decided NOT to buy a MBP, at least not at this moment. In my opinion, the high retail price is not justified by the build quality and the specifications:

• lower cost 6 bit panel that does NOT support "millions" of colours
• lower cost panel that results in uneven backlight, showing dark bands at the left and right sides
• graphic card could be way better for a laptop at this price
• keys touch the display when laptop lid is closed, risking to dirt the screen
• the use of mercury, highly toxic for environment and health
• not possible to remove hard disk without voiding warranty for upgrading yourself or before sending in your laptop for repair (I wonder whether this is done intentional so the "apple police" can inspect you hard disk when you send your laptop in?)

This is just my personal opinion! I don't mean to upset anyone. It is my impression though that a lot of Apple consumers are unaware of some of the listed things. Recently I talked with a graphic designer that used Apple products all his life that still thought that the MBP was made of titanium.

I am anxiously waiting for the new upcomming products and I'll be the first to buy one if the lower cost panels are dropped and steps to improve environmental issues will have been taken. But I have little hope.

 

Well, I agree with the graphics card and the mercury thing. Not so sure about the keyboard touching the screen when closed - could be true.
About the screen, it's 6 bit with dithering, which enables millions of colours. I don't think there currently exists a laptop LCD with > 6bit LEDs, unless the screen is much thicker than the MBP and therefore less portable.
The uneven backlight depends. Most of the MBPs my friends have don't have this issue. Or, even if they did, it is not very noticable.

 

Here's a good explanation of the different technologies used http://www.answers.com/topic/tft-lcd. As explained there, the simulating methods that you mention for these kind of displays are quite noticeable to the human eye.

Some thinkpads come with IPS screens without sacrificing portability. A 15" with IPS weighs 2.38kg. A 14.1" without IPS weighs 2.34kg. no difference!

Don't get me wrong. I can be totally fine with the MBP display as it is. After all a laptop display is a for when you're "on the go". You can always attach a cinema display when you're at home. However, what then justifies the very high price? It's probably the design then and the branding, but I don't want to pay for that.

 

I bought my MBP 3 weeks ago and i can't be hapier. Before i bought it, i was just like you finding all the little faults and just looking for an excuse to wait and buy the next model. After a while i got sick of waiting and i just went out and bought it. After purcahsing it i realized that a laptop isn't a life long object you keep. After 6 months theres going to be something "bigger and better". And after 4 or 5 years your going to ditch your out dated notebook and move on to something different. To nit pik all the faults in a notebook is pointless. Theres no such thing as a perfect notebook! I say dont buy a laptop till u need it and if u ned it just go out and get it.

ps:
I've yet to hear of some one dieing of poison which came off a notebook

My back light for the keyboard works fine

If indead the screen does touch the keys would u think there would be a huge recal or just in general way more ppl complaining about it??

About the millions of colours...Im a photo editor...Anything i do that actualy needs millions of colours ill use my external moniter...other wise unless you really know what your looking for you wont notice the difference between millions and thousands
my 2 cents

 

Good for you, and I hope that you're not trying to find an excuse to be happy AFTER you're purchase.

Now that's a bit naive, if you don't mind me saying so. It's just that WE don't die from it. But what happens after your old "recycled" Mac is dumped in Asia? Who do you think has to process all that electronic waste? http://www.greenpeace.org/apple/itox.html

I admit this issue is not my main concern.

The difference is beyond doubt noticeable. But that doesn't matter. Again, as I said I am fine with the display if the price would be a bit more reasonable. I still like the MBP, I just can not justify the price for what I'm getting for it. I don't know how much you paid for yours, but in my country your setup would cost me about 2800 USD with 1yr warranty and about 3400 USD with 3yrs warranty.

 

I would assume the MBP would have an equal or better screen then the macbook. the macbook screen looks just fine to me?

 

I am not entirely sure what the point of this thread is. I am sorry that you feel the MBP is overpriced. I assume you are looking at the 17" based on the price you have given, but you did not specify. I would recommend starting a thread in the What Notebook Should I Buy Forum instead of trying to instigate a flame war.

But please, everyone try to keep this civil. It will be on a very short leash.

 

The old Ti-books used to be titanium..now they're aluminum. Consumers in general who aren't aware of the MBP's features, probably wouldn't be any more aware of a PC's attributes or "pitfalls".

6-bit displays are the norm since everyone buys from the same LCD manufacturers. It sucks to a point if you're a videophile, but I'm still happy with mine. It seems their screen issues are on a limited few, not a norm. I used to be hesitant for that same reason.. But I'm a happy owner of one now. My screen is a very nice! (borat voice) The problems you listed are few and far between, and are easily corrected if brought to Apples attention.

The graphic card COULD be way better, very true. But it's not unusual to see notebooks in this segment with an x1600 or less. i.e. Sony/Lenovo. You won't have a portable battery life with an aggressive Video card unfortunately, plus x1600-x1700 is the fastest/hottest you can fit in a 15.4 form factor. The 17" is the only one that could perhaps.

Keys touch the screen? I'm sure they don't unless you apply very significant pressure to the screen while it's closed. It's designed with a close tolerance, but not that close. You can buy a microfiber cloth for your keyboard if you're worried also.. it's 10 dollars

The environment.. I know it's very sad. I wish every company could be green, but it's just not the way of this corporate world. In which case you should avoid a great many more things than computers. Even electricity hurts the environment unless it's solar or wind power, yet you can still argue oil was used to make those devices. One day I hope the world will solve this, but not today.

 

Even the 17" model would have issues with anything more than a X1600, since it's both thin and (largely) passively cooled.

 

Again, I don't want to upset anyone. I just want to discuss Apple products which I think this forum is created for and read other people's reactions which I can learn from. That's all.

About the price, actually I did specify, since I refer to scyzoryk_o4's setup in his signature. It's the lower-end 15" with an upgraded hard disk to 160Gb.

 

Not sure what ****ry u live in but wow I paid 2300$cdn(thats with taxes 10$ off because of student discount) which is like 2000$ american...um I say take a trip to canada And buy it here.

 

There are issues with every laptop being made right now. I've tried most of them and as much as I like my MBP, I'm sure there will be something better coming soon.

I spend most of my day in Windows XP using Parallels, but for me, I think the MBP is the best 15.4" laptop on the market. I used Thinkpads for years and as much as I liked them, the LCD's are not very good unless you get a IPS, which is no longer being made - consequently, you can't get them in their widescreen models.

Yes, the MBP is selling at a premium right now, but with the ability to run OSX and Windows XP/Vista, it should. At least for me anyway. You're situation may be different, and I respect that. For me, it's just what I need.

BTW, I ordered mine with the 120 gig hard drive and then replaced it with a 160 gig hard drive. I know, I know, voids the warranty. I kept the original should I have to send it in for warranty, but I'm not expecting that to happen. It's been very reliable and runs Windows better than any Windows PC I've used.