A Purely Fantastical Holiday Guide

Visions of sugar plums, MacBooks, PS3s and BlackBerrys are dancing through the Grouse's head as he unveils what he'd really like this holiday season

By Tom Conlon Posted 12.17.2008 at 1:39 pm 6 Comments

This week, as children across the land burden the laps of portly, temporary mall help to cast last minute wishes for footballs, tinker toys and Red Rider BB guns, I’ll be sitting at my desk, fingers-crossed with a few holiday fancies of my own. I’d like to think I’ve been a well behaved boy this year, so in addition to old standbys like world peace, good will toward men and a substantial lottery win, I’m asking for these five tech-related gifts—as infuriatingly unlikely as they may be.

Blind no More!: Apple/NOAA

1. A non-glossy-screened Macbook Pro
When Apple recently unveiled its line of newly tricked-out MacBook Pros, my bank account let out a sigh of relief—my savings had been granted a stay of execution. For me and for a large and very vocal contingent of MBP faithful, the lack of an option for the classic matte screen is a total deal breaker. I’ve loathed the glossy display since I first spotted it in the wild on a Wintel notebook some years ago. Good for watching a DVD in total darkness? Perhaps. Working in Photoshop in a well-lit room? Not so much. And there’s the irony: Where but on the sun is there better lighting than at an Apple retail store? That’s where I first played with the new MacBook Pro and that’s where I decided I’ll never buy one. If Apple is going to exterminate the matte display for good, it might consider a mood change for all of its 200+ retail locations around the world. But, I don’t think it’ll come to that. I’m hoping the matte will return once this particular production run of MacBooks is over. Apple has a long history of forcing its own preferences on the consumer, but it also has a history of sometimes correcting its missteps when enough people complain. So, Steve, this is me complaining.

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6 Comments

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mortslha

12/17/08 at 4:46 pm

Um.....lame.

Even thought $399 is the cheapest price did you ever consider what you get for $399. It's like saying, omg, I found a brand new mac book pro for $400, but dang that's too much money. No it's not if you understand the principle of value vs. price.

Not only is the $199 360 a really bad deal, but so is the normal $399 priced 360. Go out and try buying an xbox with a hard drive, a blu-ray player, and a xbox live subcription.

399+399+50 = $848

You can get all that on a PS3 [and more! i.e. 9 core processor, 10 year life, interchangeable HD, internet browser, media center, home, bla bla bla] for $399.

Hum...sounds like a pretty freak'n sweet deal to me.

The question is, when will the rest of the world wake up?

Sincerely,
Santa Claus

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njdevil

12/17/08 at 6:06 pm

oh yeah, and it plays games....

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Geffles

from Liverpool, Merseyside

12/17/08 at 8:41 pm

If your looking for a GAMES CONSOLE then you should buy 360 there aren't too many PS3 only blockbuster games that are worth spending $399 for the console. If you want an entertainment system then go ahead. But no matter how much SONY pay Hollywood to make it the industry standard they don't have a say in whether BLU-RAY or HD-DVD become standard. so really it's abit of a gamble in my books. Also at this current point in time, I'm not really bothered about seeing the sweat drip down the body's of the Spartans in 300 I just wanna watch the goddam movie.

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sci-hi-fi

12/18/08 at 2:56 am

My wish?
No more Apple.

It's not that I don't appreciate their overrated, under-featured, mediocre, propaganda-driven, brainwashing-reliant, shiny, flashy, fruit-labeled, market-saturating crap... actually, yes it is.

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ford2go

12/18/08 at 3:15 am

The stupid work deal is not Blackberry's fault. It's the way that corporate America thinks that they'll fight foreign competitiion -- by spending increasing amounts of time on what often amounts to management drivel. (six sigma, ISO 9000, Baldridge award -- the list goes on).
I'm retired now (yay), but I never begrudged working extra hours when there was some sense to it. However, that was not always the case.

Also, the technology complaint goes back to at least the laptop ( "The good thing about a laptop is that you can work on the plane -- the bad thing about a laptop is that you can work on the plane")

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sop.tech.432

12/22/08 at 9:18 am

The gloss is great, let me say. I am a graphics designer - I have numerous laptops and PC's with those flat LCD screens. Granted, the Mac's flat LCD is nice, the glass and LED was one of the major reasons I bought the macbookpro, along with it's new shell. Haven't owned one is 10 years.

Overall, the screen is simply a breath of fresh air.