How bad is glossy for photo?

[wmmk]

Hello all,
My MBP's screen was recently broken. As of right now, I'm considering either buying a cheap LCD to hook up to the MBP, getting the MBP fixed, or selling the MBP for parts and buying either a new (and by new, i mean used or refurbed) MB or MBP. Money is definitely an object, but portability is nice.

Anyhow, I wondered how bad the MB's glossy screen is for photo work. FWIW, I shoot RAW and edit in Lightroom and PS CS3. Most of my photos go straight to web, but plenty end up on newsprint or glossy print media. Is the perceived oversaturation/hypercontrast from glossy screens bad enough that I should just use the MBP with an external LCD until I can get it fixed?

Thanks,
wmmk

 

[CrackedButter]

I have a MB and the only edits I make are dust removal, slight cropping or other adjustments not related to colour reproduction. I then take the images I want to print to the computers in Uni and they have Matt screens.

I do this because I don't trust the glossy monitors ability to represent colour accurately.

But for easy one off images for the web, I don't care so much because all monitors display things differently from each other, for print, I use the computer that will be printing it.

 

[OreoCookie]

Notebook screens will in either case not be ideal for photo editing, even old desktop lcds (with non-TN panels, of course) will beat them easily, no matter if they are glossy or matte.

That said, if you calibrate your glossy screen, it'll be fine for light editing. If you do something more serious, you need to use an external screen anyway.

 

[Digital Skunk]

Notebook screens will in either case not be ideal for photo editing, even old desktop lcds (with non-TN panels, of course) will beat them easily, no matter if they are glossy or matte.

That said, if you calibrate your glossy screen, it'll be fine for light editing. If you do something more serious, you need to use an external screen anyway.

YES.

Either way you slice it, you can tone on a laptop LCD but they won't be as good as a larger desktop S-IPS or H-IPS panel. Toning on glossy or matte laptops is a non-issue if you tone correctly (by the numbers) and not use your faulty ever changing eyeballs.

 

[taylorwilsdon]

I wouldn't prep a picture for Facebook on a Macbook. Those screens are so far off its almost pathetic. The matte Macbook Pro gets closer, but it still has nothing on a properly calibrated monitor.