New Laptop Improvements...

Dear Cupertino,

I love the new laptops. An excellent design coupled with unparalleled tech specs give a refreshed product line that Just Works.

I'm also a huge fan of the new 24" LED Cinema Displays - it's obvious that the same Jonathan Ive magic that went into the new laptops went into the cinema display, too - and I'm nothing short of impressed.

As with any Apple product, though, there are a few things that need to be considered about the new portables...

• Glossy-only displays. I don't understand this. Matte is an excellent choice for those requiring color accuracy. While the Mac market has been traditionally aimed at designers and those video/creative professionals, those that require definite colour accuracy now won't be looking at an Apple laptop, or even the new glossy-only LED Cinema Display. Sure, any serious designer worth their salt won't be using a Mac laptop as their main machine anyway - definitely not without a decent external monitor.
  While I can see why ordinary consumers would choose a glossy display over a matte one, I'd love to see comparisons on how many matte vs glossy MBP's were purchased. A good compromise on this would have been the option of a matte screen - even if the default was a glossy screen.

• The removal of firewire from Macbooks - forcing consumers to buy the MBP if they want firewire. Yet another decision I don't understand. Truth be told, Apple is no stranger to the tried-and-true technique of deliberately cutting features from a product in order to get buyers to grab the next model up, (as we've all seen with the mysterious xMac, that Mac model in between the iMac and the Mac Pro) but seriously - it's alienating switchers. I lament the loss of firewire from the Macbooks as it was integral part of the "target disk mode" feature - one that is essential for recovering data if your OS doesn't boot, or you're having other issues. However - you can still do target disk mode via ethernet or wireless - but only within a GUI environment. Sucks if your OS is broken.
  This is one choice I don't understand, at least from a technological standpoint. A good alternative would be to at least offer firewire on the top level Macbook - even if you charged for it, I'd pay, and I'm sure those people that don't need the added bulk (and weight) of the 15" screen would as well.
  I'm sure people will say that firewire is going to way of the dodo (and disco), and that it's only a technology that creative professionals use, but in reality, aren't all Macs aimed at creative professionals?
  This is one feature drop that emphasises how dedicated Apple are to sacrifing features for usability.
  

• No Blu-Ray. Now this one I do understand. As people have said, there are licensing issues to contend with even if Apple sits on the Blu-Ray board - so much DRM has been added to Vista as a result of support for Blu-Ray, and we just don't want that on our beloved OSX. Then there's also the issue of competition with iTunes HD movie rentals - as Apple don't want to cannibalise their own creations with third-party tech. I also understand how hard it is to find 9.5mm high Blu-Ray drives (let alone in bulk), given how uncommon "normal" 9.5mm DVD drives are...
  A good solution for this would be to offer Mac-compatible external Blu-Ray drives. Either that, or just stick one of these in every Macbook/Macbook Pro box.
  

• Price. US consumers mightn't care so much about the price, but Australian and UK users definitely do. AU $2100 isn't the best price point for a laptop with the same specs as the new Macbooks. I mean, when you can buy not one, but TWO same-specced Dell XPS 1530s for the same price as one 15" Macbook Pro, then I'm not entirely sure where Apple are going with these prices. Sure, the Australian dollar isn't that flash hot at the moment, but when it was hovering around 93 US cents, Apple didn't lower the price. Slow to drop, fast to rise.
  As a sort of justification, the there's only 11-12% of a price rise over the US stores, and when you factor in that the Australian GST (Goods and Services Tax) is included in the Apple store prices, and the US online store is free of any such taxes, then it starts to seem like Australian and UK customers are getting a better deal - a completely new design, new specs, for about 1-2% more than the US price. All in all, not bad when you consider that the Australian dollar dropped through the floor...

I'll be following this post up with one that outlines the positives of the new laptops in serious depth - so check back often! If there's anything negative about the new laptops, sound off in comments.

Thanks,
Benny Ling