I would similarly expect such riots. Visual designer types are the ones you’d think would like the contrast ratio, but they’re also the ones who need a color on one part of the screen to match the same color on another part of the screen, and increased glare is going to screw that pooch right quick. (Of course, when color really counts, real visual pros are going to use CRT, but CRT ain’t portable.)

Kokorazashi, I agree, absolutely. I don’t get the glossy thing. These screens do look nice in the store, and that seems to be Apple’s rationale (along with many PC makers). I don’t agree with the Ars Technica writer that you can’t find PCs with matte-finish displays, though; even in Best Buy there are plenty of matte laptops.

As for reasons to buy a Windows laptop:
1. You never intend to use Mac OS. (True for many, making that issue moot.)
2. There’s a PC that has a specific configuration you need (I think the MacBook / MBPro line looks great, but this is possible)
3. You love tablets

I don’t see the fact that Windows is “supported” on PC laptops making much of a difference. I mean, support in general is pretty awful. If we’re talking phone support, Apple’s free support only lasts 90 days (unless you pay to extend it), and I’ve *never* gotten useful information out of tech support people at companies like Toshiba and Dell.

What many people have pointed out for a long time is that Apple’s laptop hardware is really, really great. The current case design I think is fantastic, little features like the sudden motion sensor, wide trackpad, backlit keyboard, and so on are terrific. It’s just a terrific design, which is as much about utility as it is aesthetics. The only thing they could do to screw it up would be, oh, I don’t know, to add a glossy screen? ;)

If MacBook Pros go glossy, I predict riots.

http://arstechnica.com/staff/fatbits.ars/2006/5/16/4004

And, just to stay on topic with this post, why would you buy a computer which only runs Windows when you could get one with comparable hardware which runs both Windows AND Mac OS X — AND IS CHEAPER?

http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=185893&cid=15341750

(caveat: if you compare Dell and Apple as manufacturers, Dell certainly has cheaper options)

(caveat caveat: you aren’t buying a company, you’re buying a computer)

Do you happen to have any online resources of real-world benchmarks, specifically for audio?

Swap in a 7200RPM drive, some third party RAM… that’s a half-decent and dirt cheap mobile DAW.

I’m more or less waiting to see what kind of price the next tower is going to be. If it has the power, and the price is right (are we now living in a parallel universe where Apple only moderately overcharges ala Alienware?), I might pick one up when I have the cash to spare.

ATA