My 2 cents FWIW.

Since FireWire is not an issue for you, in your shoes I would pick the new MacBook – much better graphics support, the very cool aluminum enclosure, the faster bus, cooler running (I hear), the LED backlighting. If you aren’t really smitten with having a black computer, go with the future.

Charles

Wise move, especially since you can travel light when you need to. I didn’t have that luxury.

The MBP refurb and clearance prices are tempting (for that matter, the old high-end Black MacBook at $1,099 is a great deal too, and has FireWire).

Regarding the screen, the 15″ MBPs’ screens are definitely better than the 13″ models. That includes the old and new MBs, as well as the MBA. Glossy or matte, it’s simply a better screen than any of Apple’s 13″ models. I’m not bashing the 13″ screens, simply stating that in my opinion the 15″ ones are superior.

I’ve been burned a few times by the Rev A bugs and so followed Charles’ advice this time and got an early 2008 MacBook Pro (new clearance price, not refurb) and I couldn’t be more delighted. The 15″ matte screen is simply the best laptop panel I’ve ever used.

Yes, its a lot bulkier than the black MacBook I used to use, but when I really to travel light, I’ve still got my trusty 12″ PowerBook, which sadly, is no longer the lightest full-featured Mac notebook.

Cool! Congratualtions on your new baby.

It’s actually a tenth of a pound lighter than even a 12″ PowerBook, so the lightness is not an illusion.

Charles

Thanks. Can’t blame you for snapping up the great refurb deals. For me, my last two (admittedly Windows) laptops were 15-inchers of roughly the footprint of the MBP. I just didn’t take them out very much.

The reason my last Mac was an iMac was because I decided I just wasn’t for the portable life. Oh, if only I’d tried the MacBook! When I bought one for the family I realized that having a laptop that’s the size of, you know, a lap, makes a difference!

I got the new one today and am so far just thrilled with it. In use, and comparing to the white 2.2GHz MacBook, it beats it out by a little in a few things, and a whole lot in others. It’s not only a bit lighter, but so solid I think even if it weighed the same it would FEEL lighter. Trackpad is phenomenal.

I did compare them in the Apple Store before purchasing, and the new looked much better than the old.

Now I have my new MacBook and can compare it to my white MacBook side-by-side even more closely. Comparing the two, the new screen beats the old one easily. Really, for me it’s not even close.

I agree it’s not the same as the one in the MBA (which in turn is not as good as the one in the MBP), it is much brighter than the old MacBook. Further, while the up/down viewing angle is still fairly limiting, the left/right is much better on the new than the old.

In short, I believe it’s an excellent improvement over the old MacBook, which is all it had to be. Comparing it to machines that start at $1,799 and $1,999 seems a bit unfair.

I actually bought one assuming the 13″ LED backlit LCD screen would be the same as the one in my MacBook Air. Sadly it is not (far off for that matter) and I returned my shiny new MacBook and sadly paid the 10% restocking fee.

Here is a Gizmodo review that clearly shows the off-angle viewing difference of the new MacBooks and new MacBook Pros.

http://gizmodo.com/5063492/macbook-and-macbook-pro-review

I’m still on the refurb. early 2006 MacBook Pro side of the fense, but you’ve advanced a good case for the new MacBook.

As you say, different aspects are key for different people. And I can’t dispute that my 12″ iBook is a lot nicer to pack around than my 17″ PowerBook or old Pismos, although one of the latter is currently filling the role of “road machine” for me.

However, for my purposes screen size and resolution is a major persuader, as is the availability of a matte finish display (I’m becoming more persuaded in that direction by reading a lot of Mac Web commentary this week). The old MacBook Pro lasohas a LED backlight, so that is a wash. I also read somewhere (might have been Primate Blogs’ benchmarks) that the MacBook Pro’s NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB of GDDR3 memory is roughly 2x faster than the new discrete NVIDIA graphics in the MacBook.

Of course, as I noted in my column, FireWire is also a biggie for me, and I prefer the old school keyboard.

I agree with you that the new MacBook is now a pocket MacBook Pro in all but name. It has no ExpressCard slot (another element inclining me toward the refurb. MacBook Pro) but then the 12″ PowerBook had no CardBus slot either, although it did have FireWire.

All that said, I expect you’ll be very happy with your new MacBook.

Charles

This guy ran a benchmark on his iMac (which has the same card as my 17″ MBP from 2006) and his new MacBook.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=6461091&postcount=10

For comparison I ran the cinebench benchmark as well and lo and behold the new MacBook beats my good old MacBook Pro out of the water! I scored about 3300 on the OpenGL part of the benchmark.

The MacBook is getting more interesting by the minute. :-)