I hated the block as well, so before even dropping the balls into the game for the first play, I swapped the block out with a captured ball
I used one of back alley creations black pearl balls
MET_captured_ball (resized).jpg

I love my premium

nope, the 3D snake mod comes with the new playfield plastic that the portion behind the head mounts onto

I have a premium but I replaced the newton block with the captured ball option and never looked back

after seeing how quickly the block becomes dented and chipped (and fear of small metal shrapnel flying off and being ground into [or scratching] the playfield), I thought that the captured ball solution (like the pro has) was a better decision (for me)

I do prefer the snake jaw on the premium/LE as it not only acts as a ball lock, but gives another visual indicator and causes the game flow to act differently than a pro (on a pro machine, the ball is always going into the snake jaw, which takes time to spit it back out whereas on the premium/LE models, when the jaw is closed, the ball bounces off and continues (in addition to opening the mouth)