Glossy or matt screen for MBP ?

[Paulickb]

Pro and Cons for the Glossy or Matt screens - anyone.
I currently own a Macbook the screen has never really bother me but now that I have a choice I would love some feedback.

 

[Roguepirate]

big difference is glare.

everything else is pretty minor, colours will look more lively on the glossy screen.
and from what the mac store person told me, matte screen is more representative of the colour thats really there, e.g. if you send a picture to somebody else, what you saw on your screen is pretty much what they see on theirs. not sure how true it is, but it was what was told to me when I asked.

 

[operator]

It's true about colour representation. The matte screens are more accurate. Let's say you made biz cards, sent them to a professional printer, then compared the colour on the actual card to the colour on your matte and glossy screens. THe matte screen will be closer to the true printed colour. This concept assumes that both screens are calibrated properly. If not calibrated, then comparing colour representation is useless.

Regarding glare, I've used an iBook with matte screen, and a Macbook with glossy. The iBook had NO glare while the Macbook can be like a mirror sometimes. Even though the iBook had a much dimmer display it was easier to use outdoors than my MacBook. I cannot use the Macbook outdoors on a sunny day, period.

 

[Sopranino]

Pro and Cons for the Glossy or Matt screens - anyone.
I currently own a Macbook the screen has never really bother me but now that I have a choice I would love some feedback.

There is a poll on this same forum on page two dealing with this topic. I've copied my posting from that thread to this one, hope it helps with the decision making process.

From the other post:

Fascinating watching how people respond to this issue.

I wonder how many people who are voting are basing their vote on the experiences of other people, not on personal observation. The second thing that I would question is comments that indicate that they didn't like the gloss on an [insert computer brand X] therefore they now discount glossy completely.

Personally I have used both a matte PB G4 and a glossy MBP. I have also used glossy Toshibas and Acers (PCs running Linux NOT Windows). I do professional audio engineering. I have found that for waveform editing that I prefer glossy for the crispness and clarity and contrast of the colours. I have used a matte screen for over 4 years and have used glossy for about 1 year (concurrent).

For general use (i.e.: watching a movie or browsing) I have not had any issues with either screen type. The 'glare' that some people report as being an issue has not been noticeable with the exception of the Acer. (which is why I think that some people base their comments off of observations of other brands) The Acer seemed to have a higher level of "sheen" to its screen than the other computers that I have used but even there it did not bother me after about 5 minutes.

I have not experienced eye strain or fatigue with either screen type even after hours long editing sessions (4-5 hours at a time).

I think that a lot of people make a decision to go with matte because "professionals" mostly choose matte therefore matte must be superior.

In the PC world most of the laptops that I have seen have glossy screens and they are used by a lot of professionals as well. (I would be referring to audio, video, and photographic pros here) Not all "pros" use mac systems. (It would be nice if they did though )

My thoughts and musings, I hope they help someone.......

Sopranino

 

[mac2be]

Pro and Cons for the Glossy or Matt screens - anyone.
I currently own a Macbook the screen has never really bother me but now that I have a choice I would love some feedback.

Matte

Pro
- Very suitable for extensive usage
- Very accurate color representation
- No distracting glare effects

Glossy

Pro
- Colors are very vivid and "shiny"
- Movies on a Glossy screen are great
- Slightly easier to read in sunlight

If you are a graphic designer, a programmer or anything like that, I recommend a Matte one. If you don't mind some glare, don't use the computer for too long and use it mostly to watch movies, listen to music, surfing... then glossy may be the best option for you.

Best advice: go in a store and try them both. I did it, and I was having headache after 4 minutes of Web Surfing on a Glossy screen. It must be particularly bad in the store fluorescent light.