What's wrong with glossy?

[motulist]

Ugh! This topic AGAIN?!?

If you want to know people's opinions about which is better and why, just search the forum! There are already a zillion and one threads on this topic which explain everyone's opinion on the subject from every possible angle.

There is nothing left to discuss on this topic.

If you prefer glossy, use glossy. If you prefer matte, use matte.

 

[sushi]

This is exactly why I don't get why Apple doesn't give us a choice like they used to and they do on the notebooks. This isn't like AMD vs. Intel processors. This is how you see the stuff you're doing. If they don't have a matte screen option, they should at least market the crap out of an anti-glare cover of some sort, although those things would be a major PITA for a 20" screen.

I wish Apple did give us the option of glossy or matte on all of their computer offerings.

An MBA with a matte screen would be fantastic for me.

At least I could pick up a MBP with a matte screen.

 

[iToaster]

To be quite honest, I've owned two glossy Macs before (a MacBook and MacBook Pro), and I loved them both and chose glossy over matte. With the acquisition of my new hardware, I've found that I much prefer matte now, perhaps the reflections being non-existent (nobody uses a Mac Pro in broad daylight, so that doesn't matter seeing as I know that sunlight causes the anti-glare to be come one big glare) or perhaps it's nice how my pictures print out more or less how they looked on screen (I tried that stuff with glossy... uh, no, didn't work for me), or maybe it's both of those and more, but all I know is that while I don't mind glossy, I'd prefer to have matte (MBA, I mean you).

 

[ChrisA]

i was wondering why everyone here hated glossy so much

it seems to look really nice and the blacks comes out real well
is it really unaccurate for color (photo editing?)

..am i missing something?

Yes. If you need accurate color then you don't want glossy. However most people mostly play media (like movies, web pages, games and so on) and don't create media. For them glossy is nice because it makes the color "pop" with more contrast. It is like those boom box speakers some people like that loud thumping bass sound even if it is totaly unaccurate. Audiophile and musicians hate that sound but it's populaor with some consummers. The glossy screen are the same, popular with some consummers but people who know "color" and work with it a lot prefer ":accurate" to "pop".

Then there is ths deal with reflections on the screen. You need to arainge the lighting so that it is dark to your back.

The real reason Apple uses there new screens is because they cost less.

 

[Bad Paper]

My iBook is matte and my Macbook is glossy. I thought I would not like the glossy, that it would glare and shine or something. I love it. I don't do photo editing, and I'm a little colorblind anyway, so I don't care. But wow do movies POP on this thing! Such a clear picture! Glossy all the way.

but just in case, I have a 24" matte monitor that I can use to watch movies from across the room.

 

[craig1410]

The real reason Apple uses there new screens is because they cost less.

Yeah right - the 24" S-IPS screens in the iMac's are cheap...
NEC were selling monitors including this display for something like $1599 when the new iMac's were first released.

Comparing these displays to cheap speakers is misleading at best and utter nonsense in my opinion. When buying a display most people couldn't care less what the image might look like on paper - they want the picture to look good on the display!! Besides, as mentioned elsewhere printers are more of a problem than displays in most cases, especially the typical £60 inkjets that most people will have with refilled £2.99 cartridges. Believe me, display calibration is the least of their worries!!

Professionals should be using professional equipment and this means having calibration equipment and expensive printers/scanners/cameras. Only when you have all that do you need to worry about whether you have a glossy display or not (in my opinion of course).

As for the comment about having to rearrange your lighting to ensure that the room behind you is dark - I didn't and don't have any problems. My walls are light cream coloured and I have normal room lighting and don't have any problems. Common sense is all that is required to avoid reflections.

Cheers,
Craig.

 

[BamaDMD]

If you like the Aluminum, buy it. Don't let people talk you into this professional crap usage. If you are some famous photographer or you make your living doing photography and you want exact reproduction most of the time then get a matte screen. I do alot of photography (my hobby) and I have the glossy 20" and love it. I have to tweek and play with the setting sometimes but I usually get the same reproduction of print that I see on the screen. As Gehrbox said, the printer you have is what will matter most. Get a good printer if you want good prints.

 

[kabunaru]

i was wondering why everyone here hated glossy so much

it seems to look really nice and the blacks comes out real well
is it really unaccurate for color (photo editing?)

..am i missing something?

Glossy gives me eyestrain. I even put an anti-glare film on my MacBook.

 

[papa85mx8]

24" glossy

24 " glossy Imac here and loving it more everyday. Works great for all my photos. I have no glear at all, i just love the brilliance of the monitor.

 

[harcosparky]

i was wondering why everyone here hated glossy so much

it seems to look really nice and the blacks comes out real well
is it really unaccurate for color (photo editing?)

..am i missing something?

There is nothing wrong with Glossy Screens.

The problem is that the users are human. Human beings tend to reject change as a matter of habit. No matter how good the change, some will always find reason to whine about it.

 

[Lord Zedd]

Glossy is bad because it reflects light more easily. Thats why you see a reflection of yourself or the ceiling lights quite often.

 

[andyw2004]

But you don't

Glossy is bad because it reflects light more easily. Thats why you see a reflection of yourself or the ceiling lights quite often.

I'm sorry but I see more reflection from my screen at work (some 17" dell thingy) than from my 24" Apple machine at home. I'm sure it's just a trick of the light at work but here at home I don't get reflections that I can see in normal use. If I concentrate hard I can see the TV when it's switched on but I don't notice it normally.

 

[jasko]

Glad to see so many people praise the glossy.

I'm still a little hesitant to order a new 24' iMac because I have a window directly behind me... I don't know if the venetian blinds would cut out the glare issue.

 

[Father Jack]

Glad to see so many people praise the glossy.
I have a window directly behind me... I don't know if the venetian blinds would cut out the glare issue.

IMO not a chance ....
Moving the position may be the solution ..

 

[AboveTheChaos]

If you like the Aluminum, buy it. Don't let people talk you into this professional crap usage. If you are some famous photographer or you make your living doing photography and you want exact reproduction most of the time then get a matte screen. I do alot of photography (my hobby) and I have the glossy 20" and love it. I have to tweek and play with the setting sometimes but I usually get the same reproduction of print that I see on the screen. As Gehrbox said, the printer you have is what will matter most. Get a good printer if you want good prints.

I agree. I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my iMac. Even though I've had it a while, whenever I sit down and use it, I'm amazed and how wonder it looks. The glossy screen does make everything pop and just look great. I've had no problems with glare (maybe lucky cuz of where it's located.) Whenever I've needed to print something and the colors were important, I could tweak it and get incredible results.

 

[macintosh tech]

The glossy looks fine. I got my office to replace one of our tech stations with an iMac (mainly my station since I am the macintosh tech ). I sit at the 24" all-day, while it looks fine and has nice color, my eyes aren't very happy at the end of the day. When I get home to my 30" ACD all of that melts away.

And the color I speak of is mainly the "pop" you get from the glass. In my work (at home at least) I am not looking for poppy color. They are fine though.

 

[shuurajou]

Unfortunately glossy screens are not suitable for serious photo editing as the screen image will not be the same as the final printed image (even when the monitor is calibrated) ...
The screen image is much more contrasty than prints.

As long as you don't need accurate colour and reflections aren't a problem, glossy is fine. Glossy is great for movies, surfing and general computer work, but not for photography etc. Image pro's will always use matte.

Interestingly I was thinking - aren't all CRTs glossy, and aren't CRTs still the #1 for colour accuracy?

 

[GGJstudios]

Some people don't like it and are vocal about it because they fear that it will create glare if a light source hits the screen at an angle at which it will be noticeable. It depends on the way your room is setup where you will keep the iMac, if there is a window behind where you are sitting and light often passes through it then it could be a problem.

The other reason why people don't like the glossy screen is because some photographer's who need to use a machine for professional purposes believe that the glass produces an image with richer colours that is not accurate once printed. Also, if you are working with very dark images and you need to concentrate on the work, you may find that you are staring back at yourself as the iMac's screen is almost mirror-like.

For most consumers neither of those two issues should pose a problem, just make sure that if you have positioned your iMac in the direct view of a window that the window has blinds or some sort of covering. The deeper colours and glossy appearance make for a very nice looking screen for the consumer.

Very thoughtful and non-biased post, giving equal weight to both points of view! A refreshing departure from the emotional, "your opinion is stupid" attitude seen too often in forums! I agree that, you have more control over where you locate your iMac, so the glare can be somewhat controlled. On a notebook that you move around with, you don't always have that kind of control and the glare becomes more of an issue. Even then, many notebook owners prefer glossy. For me, the matte finish produces great color and depth and I can see images clearly with a very wide viewing angle.

Bottom line is, there's nothing wrong with glossy... just a matter of personal preference. My only wish is that Apple would make the matte/glossy choice available on every screen they make.

 

[macintosh tech]

Interestingly I was thinking - aren't all CRTs glossy, and aren't CRTs still the #1 for colour accuracy?

CRTs are indeed the best for color accuracy, but that is because of tube itself. The technology is better for color. If the idea here is that sticking some glass in front of some display technology will instantly make it better, let me say no, that is not the case.

LCD is still behind CRT, close, but still behind. Much of it is actually due to the backlighting technologies. In the case of the iMac, it is an H-IPS panel, a panel up their with CRT. It does however use the traditional backlight. The glass adds a pop to the display and deepens the blacks a bit, making up for the backlight inferiority.

Reflections are still a factor. Most will say put it in a dark place, etc. But there will always be reflection. This, as a designer, is what keeps me away. I don't want to shift my head to see whether or not what is on my image is actually there, or instead a reflection.This adds unnecessary strain to my work. And quite simply, it is a distraction.

I will close on this point, in the days of CRTs we found that glossy was bad for the eyes. Hence, when LCDs came around we went matte. This is really why glossy is bad, it is simply not good for the eyes. And my eyes thank me for switching from CRT to LCD, matte of course

 

[Alloye]

IMHO...

• Glossy LCDs are more visibly affected by strong ambient light sources and require more diligence in arranging your work environment to prevent unwanted reflections.
• Glossy LCDs are not less color accurate than their matte counterparts; however, it is true that glossy LCDs can appear more saturated under certain conditions. This is because matte LCDs diffuse ambient light over their surface causing colors to wash-out slightly. Since a similar effect happens when viewing printed materials, some people find matte displays are more suitable for pre-press work.
• Glossy LCDs can be calibrated.
• Glossy LCDs are slightly sharper than their matte cousins and usually have no visible grain.
• Glossy LCDs do no have the color fidelity of good quality CRT. Neither do matte LCDs. As a result, I don't subscribe to the notion that matte LCDs are always more suitable for professional work. A glossy LCD in a well-planned environment can perform equally well.

 

[tuxtpenguin]

^^ Well said.

Nothing is wrong with Glossy or Matte. It is all about your personal preferences.

 

[MarkMS]

^^ Well said.

Nothing is wrong with Glossy or Matte. It is all about your personal preferences.

True. It's all preference. Every MBP I've had has been glossy and I just love the colors.

 

[kabunaru]

I am going to put an anti-glare film on this 20" iMac I bought.

http://www.photodon.com/lcdprotect-sheet.htm

 

[colacat]

I agree!

I have the 24' Alu, it does good on everything except for photo editing.

Unfortunately glossy screens are not suitable for serious photo editing as the screen image will not be the same as the final printed image (even when the monitor is calibrated) ...
The screen image is much more contrasty than prints.

As long as you don't need accurate colour and reflections aren't a problem, glossy is fine. Glossy is great for movies, surfing and general computer work, but not for photography etc. Image pro's will always use matte.