Review: MacBook Pro (unibody) & 24" LED Cinema Display

I sold my 1st gen MacBook Pro on Craigslist last week and picked up a new facelifted MacBook Pro and a new 24" LED Cinema Display to go with it.

I just want to say that I have been pretty impressed so far and I was surprised that they both calibrated very well. The laptop, of course, doesn't have nearly the color gamut as the Cinema Display but it matches very well considering. It is surely usable enough to get relatively accurate results and the glass over the display isn't as bad as I thought it might be. I don't have any issues at all with glare or reflections in my office (mileage may vary...).

I have noticed a couple issues with the new laptop:

1. My display color profile is sometimes reset to nothing after waking the computer while showing the screensaver. Once I open System Preferences and go into Displays, the color profile comes back. This isn't a consistent problem though.

2. I get jittery 1080p playback in Quicktime. I haven't diagnosed this much and tried the integrated video card but I have heard that playback is smooth with the 9400M and the problem only shows up when you are using the 9600 card. Hopefully, there will be a driver update soon to address this.

Other than that, it has been a really good machine. The trackpad is taking some time to get used to and my only complaint is that the click is really hard and loud. I wish it was a bit softer and quieter.



I also wanted to point out that I posted a follow up regarding my color clipping woes with my D3 raw files and Apple's Aperture 2.0 (currently 2.1.2). Either in the recent raw update or during the computer switch, my files are no longer being rendered in the less-than-favorable manner. No more color clipping in the shadows. All is well... and just in time for the new year. What a great Christmas gift!