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MBP 17" high-res

C

cezza181

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 29, 2007
20
0
hey...

i am about to purchase a brand spankin new macbook pro 17" woohoo!!! :) but one question lingers... is it worth the extra $150 AUD to get the high-res display? is there anyone who has had experience using both? does the regular res of the 17" (1680 x 1050 pixels) still look great or is it very worth it to make the upgrade? i have only used a MBP 17" with the upgraded res so im really not sure how good the regular res looks. I'm buying the comp as im a video editor (so the extra 30% workspace is very appealing) however its not like i won't be using it dual screen when i'm working from home anyway... and i am very stripped for cash at the moment...

so yeah... is it worth it or not?? pleases help!! thanks!!!
 
If you're that tight for cash, it might be better buying a refurb 15.4" MBP and an external display. If you get the 23" ACD, you'll get the same number of pixels on a larger surface, which may be better.
 
If you're already dish'n out that type of cash for a 17" MBP, then in the grand scheme, 150 is chump change. Yes, I realize you may be stripped for cash, but really, being stripped is considering a 15" MBP, but to know you're getting the 17", throw down the extra 150.
 
yeah i guess... but it hurts!

heys

yeah i guess you're right... just hurts to see my bacnk account approach $0!! (im a student lol). ohwell cheers for that... still interested to hear from anyone who has a regular res 17" too .. but i guess i'll do it, getting a pretty great deal on it anyway

cheers

carey
 
I have a Rev. A 17" MBP and at times the screen can get a little tight when working with CS3 or FCP. I was looking at the hi-res SR MBPs at my local Apple store and all I can say is that the one I was on was amazing. Made me think of selling my current MBP as soon as possible just to buy the new one. I have come down from the res-hi that I got, but I still may do it cause the 2gb max RAM I can have isn't quite up to all the tasks I am throwing at my MBP.

I would spend the extra cash to get the hi-res if you will be doing substantial amounts of work on the go (25% at least). Otherwise go with the normal, save some cash, and use an external when at home.
 
The extra screen real estate is rather nice. I, like many others here I'm sure, usually have quite a few things going on at once. I rather like the extra space especially when working in Photoshop :)
 
Yes it is totally worth it, to be able to playback 1080p content at its native resolution is amazing and well worth the extra cash. I honestly don't think the 17 inch is worth it without the High Resolution display.
 
I am considering getting a 17" and am debating the high res screen. Unfortunately no one locally has a high res screen that I can look at, only the normal res screens.

Is it possible to run the screen at a different resolution (like 1680 x 1050) if it turns out to be a little hard on the eyes in reading smaller text etc?



Shorties said:
Yes it is totally worth it, to be able to playback 1080p content at its native resolution is amazing and well worth the extra cash. I honestly don't think the 17 inch is worth it without the High Resolution display.
Click to expand...
 
cezza181 said:
heys

yeah i guess you're right... just hurts to see my bacnk account approach $0!! (im a student lol). ohwell cheers for that... still interested to hear from anyone who has a regular res 17" too .. but i guess i'll do it, getting a pretty great deal on it anyway

cheers

carey
Click to expand...

want a $500 US discount on your 17' HD MBP?

two words

buy refurbished
 
mparkes said:
I am considering getting a 17" and am debating the high res screen. Unfortunately no one locally has a high res screen that I can look at, only the normal res screens.

Is it possible to run the screen at a different resolution (like 1680 x 1050) if it turns out to be a little hard on the eyes in reading smaller text etc?
Click to expand...

AFAIK, it is possible, but you won't be running at the native resolution of the screen, so things may not look right. I've done this on my 1680x1050 17" PB (taken it down to say 1152x720) and it looks kind of... fuzzy? No, it's not stretching the picture because 1680x1050 and 1152x720 are to 'scale' of each other.

I'd say go for the high-res. There's gotta be a way to change the default font size, etc.
 
mparkes said:
I am considering getting a 17" and am debating the high res screen. Unfortunately no one locally has a high res screen that I can look at, only the normal res screens.

Is it possible to run the screen at a different resolution (like 1680 x 1050) if it turns out to be a little hard on the eyes in reading smaller text etc?
Click to expand...

Yes of course, what I found works best is if you need to see certain things bigger you can Ctrl-Scroll to zoom instead of actually changing the resolution but a majority of things I guarantee you wont be too small and will not hurt your eyes.
 
The 17" high res is freaking awesome, especially if you have a lot of things open at once.

That being said, make sure your eyes are in good shape - mine aren't, and I often have problems reading text on my HR display. I find myself leaning really close to the screen at times to see something. I'll be getting a 23" ACD when I can afford it to relieve me of the eye stress.
 
I am nearsighted but fortunately my near vision is good, so I find a lot of times I take my glassses off when working on a computer. With that in mind I would think the highres screen should be fine. Thanks for the advice!

odinsride said:
The 17" high res is freaking awesome, especially if you have a lot of things open at once.

That being said, make sure your eyes are in good shape - mine aren't, and I often have problems reading text on my HR display. I find myself leaning really close to the screen at times to see something. I'll be getting a 23" ACD when I can afford it to relieve me of the eye stress.
Click to expand...
 
Hey, would anyone be able to post a screenshot of a high res 17"? I wish to compare it to standard 17". Would be could if a small window was open so I can seen its proportion. Many thanks! :)
 
I tried both the regular and high-res 17" MBP. In the high-res case, I often had to go to each application to increase the font size. Also, there were defects (dark corners, black line running across the screen, logic board problem) on the screens on both machines I received. I ended up getting the MBP with a regular screen. I have no regret on my decision. Somebody may be able to confirm this, does a high-res screen makes the GPU works harder and the machine becomes nosier because of the fan?
 
Go for the 17" MBP hi-res if you're using it primarily for video editing. I'm not a video editor but I'd want as much space as possible on screen.
 
hajime said:
I tried both the regular and high-res 17" MBP. In the high-res case, I often had to go to each application to increase the font size. Also, there were defects (dark corners, black line running across the screen, logic board problem) on the screens on both machines I received. I ended up getting the MBP with a regular screen. I have no regret on my decision. Somebody may be able to confirm this, does a high-res screen makes the GPU works harder and the machine becomes nosier because of the fan?
Click to expand...

For desktop use, there shouldn't be much of a hit (if any) on the GPU from using the high res screen.

When gaming though, running at a higher resolution does put more strain on the GPU, likely increasing temps. However, I'm not sure if it would cause the fan to be any nosier than it would during a 1680x1050 gaming session.
 
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