As The Screen Turns: Steve Jobs And Apple Act As If They Are Mere Mortals!

By definition all Apple products look cool. Apple is by far the most stylish of the computer manufacturers. Aesthetic naysayers are few and far between. However, it looks like Apple might have crossed a line with the new MacBook Pro–the new laptop line Apple describes in breathless prose as, “sleeker, thinner, and years ahead of its time.”

It all sounded great, until a comment to one of our earlier entries caught my eye. “Christopher Irion” noted a problem with the screen.

“As a pro photographer the glossy screen only option will keep me at my current MBP for a long time. I know Steve replied that at the new light levels output by the LED screen are so bright that you won’t see a reflection. I do critical work on location and a hardware calibrated screen requires a light level setting of about half the maximum brightest level and at that level the glossy screen is a reflective non-start for me”

I’ll let the tweeters on Twitter pile on:

* whoiskevin: Stopped in to see a new MacBook Pro at the Apple store. Big problem. Glossy screen. Even in the store I had glare from behind.
* bjorg: i so hope that Apple keeps a non-glossy option 17″ macbook pro. i can’t imagine developing with a glossy screen in san diego… think glare!
* Runt : The glossy screen still bugs me

There is no matte screen! The MacBook Pro is only made in a beautifully glossy model. For photographers and graphic artists or people who like to be out-and-about where random light shines, concerns beyond Steve Jobs weight have begun to spring up.

I asked Josh Maready, another professional photographer from New York City and long time Apple user, what’s the big deal… and is it really a big deal? Yes!

“The glossy screen is for the game nerds..it makes their World of Warcraft look sweet. That’s the problem, the screen shows something that’s awesomer than what’s really there. So when I print out a photo, it looks nothing like what’s on the screen…the colors are off. When you’re on the go, all you have is a laptop, and if you’re a photog you’re traveling all the time and editing on the go. You need to be able to trust your laptop screen and that what’s on the screen is the real image.

Artists like me kept Apple afloat for many years because Apple catered to our needs, and now that Apple is turning to the general populace, a lot of us are angry. Like, am I going to buy a PC now because my only Apple option is glossy? That’s crappy.”

It’s also the only option currently available on the MBP–not that Apple hasn’t changed its mind in the past. Steve Jobs is widely quoted as saying of the iPod, “I’m not convinced people want to watch movies on a tiny little screen.” That was 2003–a lifetime ago.

As if this wasn’t enough, I found a critical tweet from “simonhowes” in Birmingham, UK who added the possibility of scattered legal problems!

“Comes under health and safety laws at work in many countries. Sweden for example.”

I’m no lawyer, but a Google translated read of these Finnish regulations imply the MacBook Pro doesn’t comport with some laws that apply to “work and workplaces where a significant part of the work is done at the monitor.” Though portable devices are specifically excluded, there’s no doubt many MacBook Pros will be primary desktop machines. Will the MacBook Pro be sunk in Helsinki?

“The screen must be free of reflections that can cause mixing and inconvenience to the user.”

This is not some software problem that can be easily patched. I don’t know what Apple can do. Design decisions like the ones that brought this particular screen type to the MBP aren’t made on the spur of the moment and aren’t changed easily. In the meantime the murmur of upset is getting louder.

[Via Gearlog]