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Thought I purchased glossy, got home was matte

silvershorts said:
I told you what I was using - a 15" MBP - not a white macbook. With the 15" you can see FA from the side compared to a matte screen.

The 'oily' appearance that you think I'm exaggerating in not the result of a 'buildup of cleaning fluid residue' (do you think I'm a moron?) its due to the diffraction of light from having an extra transmissive surface between the screen and your eyes. In all cases I'm talking about matte in comparison to glossy. The matte has a slight visible granular texture - obviously -since it's not reflective.
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Huh? There is no 'oily' appearance on *my* 15", and there is no "extra transmissive surface" on a glassy screen period. It is a glass plate. Not some magic active thingie. It does not do anything. And it does not diffract. If you want to see diffraction in action, get a matte, which by its very nature of having a textured surface does have diffraction.

As far as seeing things from the side: by the time I can't see what is on the screen anymore, I can't see the front of the screen anymore. I don't know how that fits your FA, but I doubt it does. ;)
 
HLdan said:
That dark spot, watermark-looking thingy is the built-in microphone. Good, sounds like you like it. Keep it and enjoy. :)
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Are you sure? It is not round or have any type of normal shape.

It is on the lower part of the left speaker grill.
 
frocco said:
Are you sure? It is not round or have any type of normal shape.

It is on the lower part of the left speaker grill.
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Uh, okay, I just checked the owners manual and it shows that the microphone is right near the screen above the keyboard to the left. Not sure what that is you're referring to, the manual doesn't point to anything but the speaker grills. Hopefully someone with a new 17" can chime in.
 
Here is the pic.
 

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Oh I see, when you said it looked like a "watermark" I was under the impression that you meant the type of watermark like a stamp of a company name, icon or logo, not an actual water stain. Yeah, take that thing back, it wasn't meant for you.
 
HLdan said:
Oh I see, when you said it looked like a "watermark" I was under the impression that you meant the type of watermark like a stamp of a company name, icon or logo, not an actual water stain. Yeah, take that thing back, it wasn't meant for you.
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Your right, I should have said water stain, I think that is more accurate.
I guess I can now compare it to a glossy at the store.

I just noticed the number 5 key is much brighter than the others.
 
HLdan said:
Pros: Glossy gives a nice rich color picture which makes watching movies and web surfing a pleasure to the eyes. Outdoors, the glossy looking amazing, unless you happen to have any black or dark elements on the screen, which is what is unique about the glossy.
Cons: Glossy is highly reflective of surrounding lighting but it's not a huge issue with notebooks as you easily adjust the screen angle - only to get new reflections.

Pros: Matte, keeps the users eyes more focused on the screen since there's no reflections from background objects. You are able to use a dark desktop background, watch something like Alien on it and work on night photos in Photoshop without the screen becoming a mirror.
Cons: Matte retains a nasty white glare from room lighting and sun from open windows - which no one except HLdan has noticed before, apart from that I thought "you easily adjust the screen angle" Also when using the matte outdoors it tends to get washed out, but at least you can still see something.
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Fixed that for you. Yes matte & glossy are personal preferences, but your pros and cons were not really well thought through. A white glare from room lighting? I have a glossy 24" iMac next to an 21" matte Eizo display. By the time the light would get so bright that I would have that strange white glare on the Eizo the iMacs screen would be unusable because of the reflections.

Editing dark photos, watching a dark science fiction movie or playing a game on the iMacs screen sucks during daytime - and I don't even have a window behind me.
 
I'm a bit late but after having a glossy MacBook Pro for 7 months (uMBP) from upgrading from a 2nd gen MBP (that had a matte display) I can say I really am thinking of upgrading to the 17" just to get a matte display (and the higher res display)..

Reflections are just too much to take. Too distracting - if I'm in the library at Uni, there's so many sources for reflections. Adjusting the screen isn't a solution - it just means you are looking at the display at an odd angle.

Matte, no issues at all. In direct sunlight, no display is better, both become visually obscured.
 
I am going to the Apple Store tomorrow.
Hope I will not have a problem.
 
chaosbunny said:
Fixed that for you. Yes matte & glossy are personal preferences, but your pros and cons were not really well thought through. A white glare from room lighting? I have a glossy 24" iMac next to an 21" matte Eizo display. By the time the light would get so bright that I would have that strange white glare on the Eizo the iMacs screen would be unusable because of the reflections.
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Um, I don't make stuff up as if I'm the only one that's noticed this. I speak from experience. I don't know how long you've been using Macs but I've been buying them for 14 years now and I know the cons of using matte screens as I have purchased enough Powerbooks. You're post reply to me is very typical of the rest of the matte lovers here. You made sure to point out that matte is "perfect" when it's not. Here are some lovely pics of the matte screened 17" Macbook Pro that I personally took at Macworld. If you don't still don't see the hard white glare (not to mention the fingerprints) I was referring to then check your eyes. And before you rebuttal about the screen being off you will get the glare on darker scenes or dark web pages outdoors and indoor room lighting as well. I like matte screens, don't get me wrong but I am straightening out your overly biased post towards matte screens.
 

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HLdan said:
You made sure to point out that matte is "perfect" when it's not. Here are some lovely pics of the matte screened 17" Macbook Pro that I personally took at Macworld. If you don't still don't see the hard white glare (not to mention the fingerprints) I was referring to then check your eyes. And before you rebuttal about the screen being off you will get the glare on darker scenes or dark web pages outdoors and indoor room lighting as well. I like matte screens, don't get me wrong but I am straightening out your overly biased post towards matte screens.
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And you think glossy is immune to finger prints..?

The glare is just a fuzz from the light diffusing - a lot of people prefer that to an actual reflection.
 
Color tend to be muted and not natural on a matte screen.

After all the effect of the matte screen on the LCD is to diffuse the light, on both sides.

It's sorta like looking at life through frosted glasses, though not as sever of an effect.
Movies do look better on a gloss screen.

Previously I used only only matte displays, my last iMac was my first glossy display.

Glossy displays seem to be easier to clean as well! ;)
 
harcosparky said:
Color tend to be muted and not natural on a matte screen.

After all the effect of the matte screen on the LCD is to diffuse the light, on both sides.

It's sorta like looking at life through frosted glasses, though not as sever of an effect.
Movies do look better on a gloss screen.

Previously I used only only matte displays, my last iMac was my first glossy display.

Glossy displays seem to be easier to clean as well! ;)
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I agree with glossy looks better, but in day to day use, reflections can affect people's work flow.

The glossy isn't easier to clean, sometimes worse because it is glossy. Reason you think it is easier is because Apple has stuck a glass panel over the glossy display, so you are just cleaning the glass not the glossy display ;)

Arguing what is better is beating a dead horse. Both have pro's and con's. The colour depth on glossy is fantastic, but reflections just kill it.

If we could have a reflectionless glossy display then we'd be good ;) Maybe we'll see where OLED tech takes us.
 
throttlemeister said:
Huh? There is no 'oily' appearance on *my* 15", and there is no "extra transmissive surface" on a glassy screen period. It is a glass plate. Not some magic active thingie. It does not do anything. And it does not diffract. If you want to see diffraction in action, get a matte, which by its very nature of having a textured surface does have diffraction.

As far as seeing things from the side: by the time I can't see what is on the screen anymore, I can't see the front of the screen anymore. I don't know how that fits your FA, but I doubt it does. ;)
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Throttle, I'm amused by your claim that the 'glass' on the MBP 'does not do anything'... Makes me wonder why so many of us are arguing against it. :) It does do something, of course, it cuts down the light that reaches the screen. All of that light stays on the surface of the 'glass' as reflection. Now I knew I shouldn't have used an adjective like 'oily' as it was bound to be misunderstood. I think a few people - maybe yourself - have taken it to mean smeary - but that not what I meant. I just thought it was a good way to describe the reflective and slight distancing effect of the 'glass'.

I tried to stress that I was making these comparisons with a matte screen. Most people don't have the matte and glossy 17 inchers side by side to do a comparison but I spent an hour and a half in the Apple store comparing these machines and there is no advantage to the glossy and lots of disadvantages. The constant claim that glossy makes the colours 'pop' is simply not true. The colours don't 'pop' any less on the matte. A modern glossy screen may have richer colour than an old matte MBP, but not the new 17". And as I said, my 24" Dell 'pops' more than my MBP and it's as matte as a baby's arse.

What comes out of this debate is the fact that people like shiny things. Cars, toasters, computers... beads. :D
 
I just returned from the Apple Store and they swapped me out a new 17".

I ended up with the matte screen, because no matter how I looked at the glossy, my eyes could see the reflections in the store.

I hope I did not make a mistake buying the matte.

Anyways, they had no problem taking the old one back.

Thanks
 
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