iMac 27 - nasty and highly reflective glass; PLEASE offer the matte screen option!

[Kalevala]

iMac 27 - nasty and highly reflective glass; when shall we have the matt glass ?

Problems here:

*As a photographer and graphic artist, I cannot work with you. highly reflective glass monitors. Please Apple, give us a choice. If you cannot offer an iMac with a matte screen, please give us a desktop computer with the specs of the high end iMac that we can hook up the monitor of our choice into. We need a desktop Mac in between a Mac Pro and a mini. It is good Apple builds the hardware on many levels, but we need you to give us more choices… At the very least, an iMac with a matte display. Thank

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**Yesterday I tried a 27″ iMac at the Apple store in Montreal. It is such a beautiful machine, with such a horrible screen. I would have liked to buy one – I really want an all-on-one desktop, but I don’t think I will.
I’ll wait a while to see if Apple finally offers a matte screen option. If not, I’ll have to assume Apple enjoys pissing off their customers, because there’s no way they don’t know that anti-glare is better than ultra-glare.


Have Apple lost The sens of feel of phptgraphers and design peoples ? How can You do this for all Macusers and MacLovers ? Isn’t Mac anymore The macine for this kind of work ? Should I bye a PC ? (which I don not like, but there could I find the anti-glare panel. Are You still thinking Macs as designmacines and are You still going strong, as alive, Mr Jobs ? or is there some mr. Gates working in Your office to run Macs, altogether, downside ?

How in million years is possible to make the colors right if on screen has the grale, glare or whatever bad ?

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***I’m running an old G5 PowerPC Mac that desperately needs an upgrade (I need to start using an Intel chip to do iPhone app development). The new i7 iMac would be perfect for me, as it would give me a dual monitor set-up, a faster computer and Intel compatibility for a £1500 outlay. However, this glossy screen issue is completely preventing me from upgrading. I can’t afford a new Mac Pro and another decent monitor, so for now I’ll have to sit tight and hope Apple come to their senses.
We all know the glass is held on with magnets, meaning it can be swapped out almost as easily as adding more RAM. It should be a simple upgrade option for additional cost.
Come on Apple, PLEASE offer the matte screen option!
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****When you write to Apple, there is no public record, so Apple can keep pretending – as in Phil Schiller’s spin – that all Apple’s customers love glossy screens. Whereas, with this website, there is a permanent public record that Apple simply refused to listen to a substantial number of Apple customers.
Also, many of the online posts on other websites have been appended to transitory articles or forum posts – which tend to disappear from sight after the article becomes dated. Therefore, those pro-matte comments disappear from view.
Moreover, the online polls indicate that around 40% prefer matte – which means that comments left on other articles tend to be watered down by 60% pro-glossy comments. Thus, reduced impact.
Finally, you have to realise that Apple, as a corporation, is Steve Jobs personified. Notoriously, Steve Jobs does not listen to customers. Steve charts his own course, and he has a track record of picking winners, with few losers. So you need to realise that even if multitudes of Apple customers complain privately to Apple, it will do zip if Steve Jobs wants Macs to have glossy screens.
Therefore, this is not a typical case where a corporation is unaware of its customers sentiments. Here, Apple knows you want gloss screens but is doing a Steve-Jobs by saying they know better, or – worse – they just don’t care.
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Should someone care of macusers eyes in Apple Inc., possible to make the colors and seeing even normal or prehaps best possible as it was standart in the past times ? ??

 

[mrklaw]

if you're seriously into your graphic design or photo editing (or a professional), why not get a shield for your monitor that stops light hitting it? don't know if you can get them for the 27" imac specifically yet.

something like this

 

[Kalevala]

The lightcover does not help all the problems with glare

Hello,
I do have two of those nowadays, but I was asking for matte glas, expecially because the glas is with magnetic holding (meaning its pretty easy to chance). Aswell in the laptops Apple has the same problem with xtra glare glas and this light-cover would be pretty unusable to carry with. Or would you take it with you when working outside ? Therefore could and should Apple make possible to have iMac´s and laptops possible (even could I pay for it some extra) to have the matte glas as option.

Kalevala

 

[AAPLaday]

It should be offered as an option, i cant stand the added glare of having the glass on the screen. I know many many others will agree

 

[Trek2100]

Although I agree that a matte screen should be an option, my 27" iMac does not sit under a gazillion lights like in a store where the display settings should be changed. HDTVs in stores are set to different display settings because of the lighting. Many stores now have their TVs in darker areas. I also am a photographer and my iMac sits in a darker area where the glare is not a problem.

 

[Azrel]

Buy a Mac Pro if you need matte.

 

[peskaa]

I wish people would stop trotting out rubbish like this.

The glossy screens are not inaccurate once calibrated, and actually perform better under direct light as matte screens diffuse the light (and hence affect the colour accuracy), whereas gloss simply has a reflection with no diffusion.

As somebody depending upon colour for your work you should also be prepared to set up your work area for best results. Essentially, this means that you position the screen/lights so there are no reflections - and in this the glossy screens win hands-down for colour.

If you're mobile and working on a laptop, you can move the laptop to your heart's delight. If you really struggle with that, Apple do offer a matte option.


I have a 27" iMac on my desk at home - zero reflections. Better colour than the ACDs I used to use. I have a 15" MBP which is also glossy, and on location I just move it to avoid glare. In the office we have a mix of matte Eizo screens and glossy iMacs, and none have glare, despite high lighting levels from overhead.

If you're a professional dependent upon colour, sort your workspace out and quit whining.

 

[KentuckyApple]

I just setup my i7 in a room with 2 windows and a fish tank (full of light). I have not once noticed any reflection except when the screen is off. Get some window shades. Also, unless I am wrong, you can't just substitute a matte screen for a glossy one, because unless the matte screen is in contact with the LCD, the picture will look blurry. Apple runs the numbers on design changes like this and they obviously do not see any financial benefit to offering a matte option.

 

[GoCubsGo]

I just setup my i7 in a room with 2 windows and a fish tank (full of light). I have not once noticed any reflection except when the screen is off. Get some window shades. Also, unless I am wrong, you can't just substitute a matte screen for a glossy one, because unless the matte screen is in contact with the LCD, the picture will look blurry. Apple runs the numbers on design changes like this and they obviously do not see any financial benefit to offering a matte option.

Uh no they don't "run the numbers" and if they do I want you to point me to them. There's no empirical evidence that supports glossy is favored over matte and glossy does cause glare no matter which way you put it. Though it's likely to be minimal in some situations and easily overlooked, there is a glare.

 

[KentuckyApple]

Uh no they don't "run the numbers" and if they do I want you to point me to them. There's no empirical evidence that supports glossy is favored over matte and glossy does cause glare no matter which way you put it. Though it's likely to be minimal in some situations and easily overlooked, there is a glare.

I do not want to get into a pissing contest over this, but coming from a business management background, I just believe that it comes down to whether there is a potential financial benefit in offering a matte screen and enticing more customers to buy iMacs, or having the additional cost of the matte screen option drive up the price of manufacturing so that the additional sales of, say 10,000 machines, does not make it worth Apple's cost. I love Apple, and it makes a fine product, but you are deluding yourself if you think they go about business in a magnanimous way, and not to satisfy stockholders.

 

[Dr. Unk]

I don't understand why people are so worried about "profesional" photographers. If you were a professional anything, wouldn't getting an Imac be a stupid thing to do considering nothing is interchangeable? Ex: You fry your monitor. With an Imac, you have to send out the whole thing...putting you behind in your work. Getting a Mac Pro is the obvious and smartest thing to do if you're actually "pro" at anything.

Imacs are for home users. Stop worrying about what the "pros" will do and use.

 

[peskaa]

I don't understand why people are so worried about "profesional" photographers. If you were a professional anything, wouldn't getting an Imac be a stupid thing to do considering nothing is interchangeable? Ex: You fry your monitor. With an Imac, you have to send out the whole thing...putting you behind in your work. Getting a Mac Pro is the obvious and smartest thing to do if you're actually "pro" at anything.

Imacs are for home users. Stop worrying about what the "pros" will do and use.

Eh?
If I fry the monitor on a Mac Pro, I still have to send off the monitor and can't work. Or if I fry anything else, I lose the tower.

What you'll find is that most people will have two systems. My iMac 27" is faulty, so it is being replaced. In the meantime I have a MacBook Pro and an external display to use, so I don't get any down time.


The new iMacs are only a shade behind the 2.93Ghz Quad Mac Pro in terms of raw performance. That's very, very fast and enough for most "professionals".

 

[slicecom]

I don't understand why people are so worried about "profesional" photographers. If you were a professional anything, wouldn't getting an Imac be a stupid thing to do considering nothing is interchangeable? Ex: You fry your monitor. With an Imac, you have to send out the whole thing...putting you behind in your work. Getting a Mac Pro is the obvious and smartest thing to do if you're actually "pro" at anything.

Imacs are for home users. Stop worrying about what the "pros" will do and use.

I'm just going to cut and paste the response I wrote yesterday to someone who wrote basically the same thing you just did:

That's quite possibly the stupidest thing I've read on these forums. An i5 or i7 iMac is tailored more toward graphic designers than any other computer in Apple's product line.

It's more powerful than a base MacPro (which I assume, because it has Pro in its name, must be the only Apple desktop you deem appropriate for graphics professionals) and costs hundreds less (thousands less if you subtract the cost of an inferior 30" Cinema Display).

Personally, I sold my "Pro" MacPro and Dell S-IPS "Pro" display for a 27" "consumer" iMac, and its an upgrade in every way (yes this display is better than my old Dell 2408) except for the yellow tinge problem.

 

[Gasu E.]

Uh no they don't "run the numbers" and if they do I want you to point me to them.

Umm... you expect Apple (or any other company) would make their business plans public? And you actually believe Apple (unlike any other major company) fails to perform a business analysis before adding a new product line or major option?

 

[archipellago]

I'm just going to cut and paste the response I wrote yesterday to someone who wrote basically the same thing you just did:

upgrade...

"apart from the yellow tinge"

so thats a downgrade then.?

Apple zealots...gotta love them.!

 

[Kebabselector]

So all those with iMacs without reflections are you blind?

I had a 21.5 iMac for a week, to be honest at night it was fine. During the day it was awful. I don't think any monitor hood is going to stop reflections, unless it's a person and iMac cover.

I wouldn't touch another iMac until they give an option to a matte screen. I'll settle with a Mac Mini, shame as I liked the additional power that the iMac gave me. The other option is the Mac Pro, but that's too big and power hungry for my liking.

 

[slicecom]

upgrade...

"apart from the yellow tinge"

so thats a downgrade then.?

Apple zealots...gotta love them.!

If you get one with the yellow tinge, then obviously it's a flaw, and you should replace it.

Apple bashers...gotta love them.!

 

[peskaa]

upgrade...

"apart from the yellow tinge"

so thats a downgrade then.?

Apple zealots...gotta love them.!

The yellow screen that isn't present on all models? My 27" flickers, but the screen is perfectly uniform with no yellowing.

 

[knewsom]

I'm SO DAMNED SICK OF THESE THREADS!

UGH, get over it! If you're such a pro that you need your display to be unaffected by ambient light, do what us pros ACTUALLY DO and WORK IN A DARK ROOM.

If you just don't like glossy displays, quit sniveling, and either get a different computer or buy an anti-glare film from 3M or some other company to cover your display with. Don't try and make it sound like it's such a burden to do your high end work. Give me a freakin' break.

And to all the people who keep stomping their feet and screaming that an iMac is not a pro machine, sure, it was not intended to be, but the only thing that denotes a "pro" machine is THE FREAKIN PERSON USING IT.

/rant. I'm out.

 

[archipellago]

If you get one with the yellow tinge, then obviously it's a flaw, and you should replace it.

Apple bashers...gotta love them.!

not a bash, just an obvious assertion of the facts.

Is it possible to get a yellow free screen.?

Apple users in general give the appearance of Apple being able to do no wrong. the cost and inconvenience of spending x thousand on one of these machines and then have to wait around whilst its' fixed is something Apple should compensate you for you, instead the attitude seems to be that they are doing you a favour.

laughable...

like the guy in the notebook thread who had to have his logic board replaced 5 times in a year. He still said he was 100% happy with Apple cos they were doing it FOC...!

amazing....


shoddy, cheaply made, cheaply assembled chinese computers with a premium price tag.

but they look nice...maybe...

I no longer buy Apple...I can't afford to take the risk.

The yellow screen that isn't present on all models? My 27" flickers, but the screen is perfectly uniform with no yellowing.

more evidence....

*shakes head crying*

 

[Kebabselector]

If you just don't like glossy displays, quit sniveling, and either get a different computer or buy an anti-glare film from 3M or some other company to cover your display with. Don't try and make it sound like it's such a burden to do your high end work. Give me a freakin' break.

Maybe some people want an affordable/powerful option that Apple currently do not offer. If they go elsewhere is that good for Apple?

Remember the MacBook Pro threads when they dropped the matte option? Eventually Apple caved in to demand. There is demand for either a headless iMac (which we know probably will never happen) and a matte option.

 

[GoCubsGo]

I do not want to get into a pissing contest over this, but coming from a business management background, I just believe that it comes down to whether there is a potential financial benefit in offering a matte screen and enticing more customers to buy iMacs, or having the additional cost of the matte screen option drive up the price of manufacturing so that the additional sales of, say 10,000 machines, does not make it worth Apple's cost. I love Apple, and it makes a fine product, but you are deluding yourself if you think they go about business in a magnanimous way, and not to satisfy stockholders.

I come from a business background myself both inside and outside of books my friend. You stated something as near fact (actually it read as a fact but I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt). Then you stated that you "just believe" something, so which is it? Do you believe or do you know? Though your statement is tough to read, what I get out of it is that you were simply voicing what your schoolbooks taught you (as they taught me and many others). When you state something as fact don't be the least bit surprised when some jackass comes behind you and asks you to qualify that. Chapter 10.

Umm... you expect Apple (or any other company) would make their business plans public? And you actually believe Apple (unlike any other major company) fails to perform a business analysis before adding a new product line or major option?

No, but I expect someone to not spew random BS as facts, which is where I was going with that. No company, not even the all-mighty Apple is going to divulge their plans in detail. I am not without some sense in the fact that while Apple may have done some homework on the matter, they did not do all of their homework as notebook users alone have been asking for a matte option. They gave it to the 17" & 15" but not to the 13" because whatever homework they're doing (bypassing the feedback left by real users) they've decided it's not important, clearly. That being said, we all love that Apple glow and some of us will actually buy something, accept something, just because it has the Apple logo.

 

[knewsom]

more evidence....

*shakes head crying*

You know, I was gonna stay out of this one, but since I've got an axe to grind today, I might as well keep going.

I'm sick of this kinda crap too. EVERY computer is cheaply made in China. MOST computers have endemic flaws, especially on certain models, especially when they're BRAND NEW. Apple does use very stable hardware and has excellent design, which is why everyone is so shocked when one of their computers breaks or comes with a flaw, but guess what - it's modern manufacturing, the economy is not exactly 1998 anymore, and getting a computer replaced or fixed under warranty is far easier with Apple than nearly any other corporation.

...ever tried to get a CAR fixed under warranty? EESH. Apple's QC on the new iMacs might have taken a dive, but don't disparage the entire company for that, and stop filling the forums with this kind of garbage based on nothing but anecdotal evidence - I'm sick of it.

ok, /rant pt 2, "return of the rant"

 

[knewsom]

Maybe some people want an affordable/powerful option that Apple currently do not offer. If they go elsewhere is that good for Apple?

Remember the MacBook Pro threads when they dropped the matte option? Eventually Apple caved in to demand. There is demand for either a headless iMac (which we know probably will never happen) and a matte option.

Go ahead and name for me the last time Apple offered an iMac with a matte display.

 

[slicecom]

not a bash, just an obvious assertion of the facts.

Is it possible to get a yellow free screen.?

Apple users in general give the appearance of Apple being able to do no wrong. the cost and inconvenience of spending x thousand on one of these machines and then have to wait around whilst its' fixed is something Apple should compensate you for you, instead the attitude seems to be that they are doing you a favour.

laughable...

like the guy in the notebook thread who had to have his logic board replaced 5 times in a year. He still said he was 100% happy with Apple cos they were doing it FOC...!

amazing....


shoddy, cheaply made, cheaply assembled chinese computers with a premium price tag.

but they look nice...maybe...

I no longer buy Apple...I can't afford to take the risk.

I'm not an Apple apologizer by any means. I'm often critical of their quality control, and indeed am in this case as well. I was merely arguing with the statement that 27" iMac's are inappropriate for professionals.

It seems you've had an uncommonly high failure rate with your Apple products and thats unfortunate. Personally I own an original 12" PowerBook from 2003 that I've used daily since the day I got it and its STILL running strong, and my MacPro 1,1 was flawless, my rev.3 iPod and iPhone 3G, same story. The yellow tinge on my new iMac is the first issue I've had with an Apple product.

I'm not defending Apple, I've been one of the loudest complainers about the yellow tinge issue, so I don't appreciate being lumped in with the Apple zealots.