A Piece Of Glass Solved My Screen Dilemma

[Bzzzzz]

I've been vacillating about whether to get a matte or glossy screen on the MacBook Pro that I plan to purchase. When I did a side-by-side comparison of screens at an Apple reseller, the glossy screen looked vivid and sharp, and the matte screen looked a bit muddy. I preferred the glossy look.

Our home has lots of huge windows that bring in bright outdoor light from many directions. I was afraid that a glossy screen would be too reflective in our home. My brilliant brother suggested putting a piece of glass on my Dell notebook's matte screen. I put glass from a picture frame on the screen and instantly decided to get the MBP with a matte screen.

My Dell notebook screen can rotate backwards to about 180 degrees. When glass was on the screen and the keyboard was on my lap, I could get rid of most reflections by tilting the screen back to about 130 degrees. Unfortunately, the MBP screen can't be tilted back much past 90 degrees. That's an added reason why I'll have to get the matte screen. In order to tilt a MBP glossy screen back to minimize reflections, I'd have to rest the keyboard on my belly, which would be neither functional nor comfortable.

The glass test proved that the matte screen is the only way to go for me.

 

[Cybergypsy]

I've been vacillating about whether to get a matte or glossy screen on the MacBook Pro that I plan to purchase. When I did a side-by-side comparison of screens at an Apple reseller, the glossy screen looked vivid and sharp, and the matte screen looked a bit muddy. I preferred the glossy look.

Our home has lots of huge windows that bring in bright outdoor light from many directions. I was afraid that a glossy screen would be too reflective in our home. My brilliant brother suggested putting a piece of glass on my Dell notebook's matte screen. I put glass from a picture frame on the screen and instantly decided to get the MBP with a matte screen.

My Dell notebook screen can rotate backwards to about 180 degrees. When glass was on the screen and the keyboard was on my lap, I could get rid of most reflections by tilting the screen back to about 130 degrees. Unfortunately, the MBP screen can't be tilted back much past 90 degrees. That's an added reason why I'll have to get the matte screen. In order to tilt a MBP glossy screen back to minimize reflections, I'd have to rest the keyboard on my belly, which would be neither functional nor comfortable.

The glass test proved that the matte screen is the only way to go for me.

for me it glossy

 

[techmonkey]

Good tip! I chose the matte because of the reflection. Plus, I find the glossy to the elegant look away from the design.

 

[dannewell15]

Glossyness!

I have a regukar macbook with the glossy screen (well yeah there isn't an option for matte) but I don't find it too bad at all. The screen is gorgeous ands bright - great for dvds. My dad has a business xp laptop with a matte screen and compared to mine it looks really dull and lame. I like the glossy If i can ever afford a macbook pro - I want apple to release a 12/13 inch macbook pro - I will get it with glossy.

 

[thegrandmaster]

Glossy FTW!!!!

I was looking at glossy vs matte in the Apple store today. I love the glossy screen, but my friend who was with me said the first thing she saw looking in the glossy screen were the lights and reflections.

I guess different people just focus on different things, first thing I see is what's on screen, first thing my friend saw were the lights and reflections.

I think the glossy beats hell out of matte for sharpness and there's just something that it does for me that the matte doesn't.

Thats just me though.

 

[nateDEEZY]

Yea I'm just like that also, first thing i notice is glare/reflections. Same goes for the TV, I can't enjoy tv if theres a reflection or something >_<

Another thing that sold me on the matte was it produced more accurate colors, IMO. Also the glossy display at the apple store had that yellowish tint.

 

[whateverandever]

Your brother made an incorrect assumption about how the glossy screen works.

Glossy screens use polarization and a special optical coding to reduce reflections without scattering the light given through the screen.

After using both, especially in bright light (outside), I prefer the glossy by far and miss it a lot Apple stuck me with a Matte display after being out of glossy screens and blah blah, nobody cares about Apple stores being lame.

 

[iToaster]

Your brother made an incorrect assumption about how the glossy screen works.

Glossy screens use polarization and a special optical coding to reduce reflections without scattering the light given through the screen.

After using both, especially in bright light (outside), I prefer the glossy by far and miss it a lot Apple stuck me with a Matte display after being out of glossy screens and blah blah, nobody cares about Apple stores being lame.

What he said. I love glossy screens, and the display goes back to ~120 degrees, which is a third more than just 90. I'm getting my MBP with a glossy screen, I just love the one on my MB so much. And really, a picture frame on a Dell does not a glossy screen make.

 

[Sopranino]

....My brilliant brother suggested putting a piece of glass on my Dell notebook's matte screen. I put glass from a picture frame on the screen and instantly decided to get the MBP with a matte screen.....

....The glass test proved that the matte screen is the only way to go for me.....

Unfortunately this was not a test that would represent what a glossy screen looks and behaves like. As another poster mentions;

....Glossy screens use polarization and a special optical coding to reduce reflections without scattering the light given through the screen.....

You have possibly made a decision based on a faulty test. I've used glossy screens and I don't see reflections at all unless I'm viewing at a really odd angle.

Sopranino

 

[kcross]

yeah sorry to be like the third person to break it to you but i have glossy and matte mac notebooks and the matte is actually much harder to read in well lit areas (esp. in direct sunlight), it diffuses light poorly and "glows".

i sit on my couch which has a 5x5 window behind my back and two 3x5 windows on either side of me with direct sunlight over half the day and my glossy screened macbook is much easier to read.

your test was faulty. its was based on an unsound principle. you should edit your first post to reflect that fact.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

im not sure this glass test is totally valid. it might give the idea of what it might be like but i dont think its the same... the gloss layer isnt a piece of glass for a start and therefore has different reflective, refractive and other optical properties, and would probably reflect more light than a glossy display would.


i have a huge Velux skylight in my room and as long the screens not showing really dark images...the reflections basically dont exist. and even when they do its not hard to pick out whats what.

might something to do with the angle of the light because my Samsung 40inch HDTV has a glossy coating as well, but that sits facing directly at a window so you can see the reflections all the time. i wish i had somewhere else to put it, but i dont.

 

[roker]

So it looks like it's a lose - lose situation on the reflectiveness- I had a matte screen acer which couldn't be read in bright sunlight because the colours were too dull . This annoyed the crap out of me because it meant I couldn't see what I was doing when I was alt+ctrl+del all my frozen apps. Guess I'll just have to check the 2 dif screens out in the flesh at an apple store before I will know which I want.

 

[PDE]

Everybody reacts differently to these displays. Personally, glossy makes my eyes tired . After a while your brain stops noticing the reflections, but it seems like your eyes still do and they get tired. I also think the latest matte LED-lit LCDs are much nicer than the previous ones and the difference between glossy and matte in real use is much smaller.

 

[miniConvert]

My brilliant brother suggested putting a piece of glass on my Dell notebook's matte screen.

Yeah, that's totally flawed, sorry That's going to give far, far more reflections than the specialised screen coating on the MBP's does.

*hugs glossy SR MBP*

 

[agore]

Go for the glossy screen

I opted for glossy on my new SR MBP 17". No problems at all, in conditions ranging from dark room to full sunlight.

 

[techmonkey]

While the glass method may not be perfect, its not that far off. Using a piece of plexiglass maybe a more accurate method.

Simply put, the glossy does have reflections. (hence the option for "antiglare") Options are great, pick and choose what works best for you.

To each his own

 

[wongulous]

Your brother might be brilliant, but his theory is unfortunately wrong. You might have enjoyed the glossy screen (or not), but a piece of glass on top of a matte screen is not going to be anything like a glossy...