Flew back last night on NZ7 in the old config, after flying over in the refurb on NZ24. While both layouts are fresh in my mind here are some thoughts,

The first thing I noticed when getting into the old seat, was how little space and places there are to put your “stuff”. The new seats are a huge improvement on this.

The lack of privacy in the old seat - we all know it is non-existent, and while the new seat is not perfect, it is also much improved.

The single part that I enjoy more about the old seat is the size of the table, and being able to leave your seat when deployed. One thing that irked me about the new seat, is that the table rattled a lot when stowed during turbulence and made sleeping difficult. I’d be surprised if they didn’t try some sort of modification here.

As far as sleeping goes, yes the footwell restrictive on the new seat, but the bed felt wider across the hip and torso area. The new mattress was comfy. The ease of converting to a bed is another big plus of the new config, as well as having unlimited recline for just watching the screen or dozing in a daytime flight.

The screen and OS responsiveness of the new seat is incomparable.

Overall (IMO) while the new seat has some flaws, it is a vastly superior product.