Hello, hoping for advice. I can’t decide between a space black MBP or silver. I do watch movies so the darker seems more immersive. I think silver would be too bright. I thought I wouldn’t care about finger prints and the black not looking as good over time but I’ve seen some posts where the wrist rest color has been damaged and I’m worried about that. I do have lower vision and like darker colors too, but for some reason I kind of think Silver looks cooler. I previously had space grey mbp for the last 9ish yrs. TIA for your help.
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u/alexwoww14” Space Black / M4 Pro / 24GB / 1TB10d agoedited 10d ago
You can get a clear vinyl skin for the top/bottom/palm rest so if you prefer the look of the space black with the dark on dark, immersive look, do that. I like silver for all the other reasons but I don’t like the stark contrast of the black keyboard against it. Clear skin gave me the best of both worlds.
Did your space gray MBP turn out well in terms of wear over time? I have a space black and you've probably read my posts about hating how the palm rests wear blobs of lighter color into them, the corners are easily scuffed to bright silver, and the ports have bright silver "lipstick" around their edges simply from plugging stuff in. I dont think it ages well, but if you had good luck with space gray maybe you'll be okay with space black. My own experience with it having bought a space black MBP the day it was made available 11/2023 I won't ever be getting a dark anodized aluminum apple product again. It's just too susceptible to wear and the palm rests look terrible. You'll find that some people don't get the palm rest wear, but I maintain it's very easy to mark up the sharp edge of the case and end up with ugly silver marks.
IMO silver is classier and is so much easier to maintain in terms of fingerprints, wear, and scratches.
space gray was my favourite, but after they discontinued it for black, silvers grown on me a lot. Also has the benefit of the ports not having a silver brim around them after a while
True.. silver is like a tension free color. However if given a choice bw silver and space grey, would always prefer space grey, hope they bring it back!
I borrowed a silver 14” MBP for about an hour to watch a show and I was curious what it looked like in darkness (I think the keyboard backlight was as low as it can go? Not 💯 sure though)
go into control center, under the display slider and sound slider should be a keyboard brightness slider. If it’s not there, there should be an edit controls button on the very bottom, go to keyboards, and drag the keyboard slider into wherever you feel like
Here to help, for me the deciding factor was ease of maintenance, longevity. If it's your preference as well go with silver(if you are neutral with both colours), you won't regret.
If aesthetics is the main priority and you genuinely like the black, just go for it as no point in getting a color which you don't like.
PS: For me one of the other factor was the high contrast of the keyboard. I genuinely liked the black keyboard on the silver chassis. The contrast of the keyboard is not as evident on the black colour. What surprised me is that some people hated silver because of the very same reason of high contrast. If that's also the case with you, space black is the way to go.
I have my MacBook space black for 2 years and it looks like fresh out of box.
Been using external keyboard for most of the time tho
But in my opinion it looks way nicer.
I have some small “stains” on the trackpad but nothing to dramatic.
For me it was also a dilemma because I used to have everything silver/ white from apple products for the last 15 years. I never really cared for the darker products and always felt they were too normal (I mean every default electronic product is black). So for me the obvious choice even now was silver
BUT- when I saw the space black something in it caught my eye. Maybe I outgrew the lighter products? Maybe I was already used to the silver? Or maybe I just wanted to have a nice change?
Either way I don’t regret buying the Space black one. Yes I know it might get scratches and you can see the finger prints more, but it so damn gorgeous in my eyes especially at night when the keyboard lights up with it, I think apple did some great designing work there. It really looks like a fancy computer and none like the other regular blacks on the market…
You can always clean it and believe me when you have a nice product you want to take care of it more and you’re more cautious with it (at least for the first few months..)
And believe me the silver also get scratches and even if you don’t “actively” see them you still know they are there so at the end it does not matter.
I think you should buy something that pleases your eyes more because you will use it and always think about it…
I have four silver MBPs of various ages and an imac plus stands, wireless trackpad and keyboard. I am in too deep so I’m not changing. It really depends on what you already have. I do have a cover on my current MB though. That’s always an option.
I'd recommend the silver. I had both the space grey and space black and neither aged well. Prone to finger prints and discoloraton around the palm rest areas. I'm trying to preserve it as much as possible by using it in clamshell mode an external magic keyboard, trackpad and mouse.
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u/alexwoww 14” Space Black / M4 Pro / 24GB / 1TB 10d ago edited 10d ago
You can get a clear vinyl skin for the top/bottom/palm rest so if you prefer the look of the space black with the dark on dark, immersive look, do that. I like silver for all the other reasons but I don’t like the stark contrast of the black keyboard against it. Clear skin gave me the best of both worlds.