I know what you mean about concentrating on the seats and not the livery...

For day flights I generally prefer the lazyboy seats to the flat-bed seats because they are more comfortable to sit in and I don't expect to sleep anyway.

A few years ago though, flying from NRT-ORD in a UA 747-400 we go stuck with the very old seats on the upper deck (ie 2 generations ago.) These did not even have PTV, and legroom was rubbish. I think some cabin crew told me it was the last plane not to have been refurbed.