Glossy vs matte?

I'm considering getting a Macbook Pro, and it's pretty much come down to: glossy or matte? I've seen both in the store, and while the glossy was a BIT brighter, it also had glare, whereas the matte had none. I'm just making sure by asking here, as in, I wasn't gonna sit in the store going through tons of videos, pictures, etc and do side-by-side comparisons...but after a couple of minutes of usage side-by-side the glossy was only a little bit more bright and vibrant in the colors IMO, which is more than offset in my opinion by the lack of glare on the matte.

 

i can't answer you about the macbook pro. But on the Dell's they are all the same except the viewing area.

 

I just bought a Glossy. And I love it ;-)

 

It is truly a matter of taste. As jaiste said, he loves his glossy. I cannot stand it and cannot wait for it to hopefully go away. For me, I don't really watch movies and find it hampers things like photo editing and web design, not to mention surfing and the like. It is really up to which you prefer, which sounds like matte.

 

I belong to the matte camp here also, no glare > any benefit glossy might have. It's just my personal opinion, but from the sounds of it you want the matte also.

 

Hey have any of you actually tested the Glossy screen outside? Here's a few pictures of the Glossy screen outside from someone who posted on another forum:

Begin Quote:

"Quote:
Originally Posted by andreas_g4
I yesterday put a MB, a MBP matte and a MBP glossy side by side and I have to say that the MBP glossy is the most beautiful screen I have ever seen. The worst was the MBP matte screen, the MB's screen was a lot better and the MBP glossy topped it all. It's viewing angle is über-good and the colors are just brilliant. I vote for the glossy option.


A-men.

I was out in the field by Killarney Community Centre in Vancouver with my girlfriend and her friend yesterday, and I was showing off my MBP to the girl (who's a closet Mac-lover). My girlfriend whipped out her camera and started taking pictures, and I thought they did a good job of showing off the capabilities of the glossy screen even in daylight.

Here is a shot from an extreme angle showing its reflectiveness, and the level of light (the Sun was in the process of setting).



A bit of a less extreme angle (notice how reflectivity is a non-issue?).



And finally from almost straight-on. In person it looks even brighter than this.



Generally, the glossy screen is God. My iBook G4 was *COMPLETELY* useless outside, no matter what level of light. The matte screen diffuses both the incoming and outgoing light, and it makes things look like ass. The glossy screen is so usable and bright, even during mid-day, that I have no idea why anyone would opt for the matte." - End Quote

I'm pretty sure someone else tested out a Macbook Pro outside and it was completly washed out. The glare can easily be fixed indoors by tilting the screen a few degress I think.

 

I have a Fujitsu notebook (glossy screen) and let me tell you, the screen is a ***** to clean. Cleaning it with a little bit of cleaning agent and microfibre cloth is difficult because the streaks are almost always visible to some extent, particularly at the edges of the screen after the screen is dry. The vibrant and bright colours are great but they're not a significant improvement over my ASUS which has a matte screen.

In conclusion, it all comes down to the quality of the TFT panel behind the glass membrane.

 

I preffer glossy

 

to me glossy looks better, its all a question of if you notice the glare when you are using the computer. I dont notice it so i love glossy. although both screens are very good.

 

Yeah, I would have to concur with raiderlax, I will notice a glare in the first 10 seconds I get on the computer (that is if im in an area with flourescent lighting) but it quickly escapes my eyes, so it's something that I can ignore very easily, plus usually a slight adjustment to the screen takes care of it anyways.

Now I know on Apples notebook they also applied an anti-glare agent for the gloss, and even know every once in a while you might see one, however its far less noticeable on an apple notebook than a pc notebook imo.

My preference is glossy, I just love vibrant colors.

 

yeh when i as looking at notebook screens at best buy the glare was everywhere, as much as ive ever seen on any notebook i saw. then i went to the apple store and hardly noticed any glare. sure there may be a diffrence in lighting, but the macbook and macbook pros have very little glare

 

I know there is one other PC company that just started applying anti-glare to their glossy screens as well, but I forget which one it was, I think it was Lenovo, but it'll come down to comparing price on an lenovo laptop and a macbook

 

Hey, I think Asus offers a glossy screen type that has an anit-reflective coating. I'm pretty sure it is referred to as "Color Shine"

 

So as Toshiba with their TruBrite screen.
So as Sony with their XBRITE/X-Black/Whatever screen.
So as Averatec with their AveraBrite screen.
So as Dell with their TruLife screen.

It's all a marketing gimmick. I'm not surprised if many of these manufacturers using the same panels from Samsung, LG-Phillips, or Sharp. However, some manufacturers choose their panels wisely by incorporating LCD's that contain more effective anti-reflective coating their screen than others. For instance, I had a Sony FS notebook that reduces more glare than my Fujitsu. I can tell the coating was different because the screen on the Sony seems more "purple" when it's off.

Also, an annoyance of a glare-type screen is that you can see the dust that is accumulating over the screen. Fine threads of carpet wool, hair, specks of dust can all be seen as dark outlines.

 

Are you rubbing your laptop all over the floor and the dog?

I don't have that issue, however I will say that I don't think all manufacturers actually apply that anti-reflective coating, they might but probably in quanity so small its pointless, just so they can tout the whole thing.

On my Mac, you can definitely tell, and for the price premium you'd better as heck have it on there. Apple has yet to disappoint me.

 

I have a matte macbook pro. While I do agree the gloss has much more vibrant colors. There are times when I wish I had the gloss, but all in all am happy with the matte as I think text is easier to read and I bought this notebook for school. If I was buying this to game and etc.. I probably would have gone glossy. Also another thing was, I know I'd be happy with the matte, but I'd be rolling the dice a little if I got gloss (as I wasn't sure if I would be a give and take scenario on a daily basis).

 

You do know that Apple doesn't produce their own screens? Thank you for missing the point.

 

Apple doesn't produce anything of their own except the OS, this is pretty much common knowledge to anyone who owns an mac.

I totally got your point, actually what was your point?

All you did was state the name the each brands trademarked name for their high gloss screens. It is however no gimmick, you realize if they did such a thing they could be facing court? Its there, the anti-glare application, its just a matter of how much they choose to place on the screen, and who the manufacturer of the screen itself is. I highly doubt its a marketing gimmick but rather just a choice of the manufacturers amount of application. It wouldn't surprise me if the majority of companies put on the least amount as possible.

Apple is I guess you could say a Boutique market? Something like that, they are devoted only to having the best, and they will leave the price aspect out of most of the equation, they figure if people want a high quality product they'll pay for it.

If you can prove to me they put nothing of these applications on any brands laptop, please tell me so I can purchase one and round up a group of people who also have the brand and start a class action suit.

There is a company out there called PixelBrite, do a search on google to understand how the gloss stuff is done to the LCD screen. Also anyone who is just browsing through the forums and you are reading this post right here, give it a look see for how you can send in your own laptop and have it done. It's nice for those whose laptops won't offer it on a certain model.

 

When I said gimmick I am implying that the name convention is a gimmick. Many LCD's from different notebook manufacturers have the same coating, they are just calling the coating their own. For example, if Sony and Dell uses the same screen, then Sony calls it XBRITE while Dell calls it TruLife when in fact they are both identical LCD's with identical optical coating.

 

Ok that makes sense than. Thanks for clarifying that for me. I thought you were stating that the high-gloss's anti-glare coating was a gimmick.

 

Glossy is better in dark or well lit environment while matte is good in outside environment where it's very bright. However glossy is still better the image is crisp and vivid. There are also screens that can de-gloss the laptop screen for outside viewing, but there is no de-matte screen

 

I may not have a mac, but I hate the glossy screen on my dell E1505, theres just too much glare, I would have been happier with a matte screen like the one on my old dell dimension desktop

 

I think if the e1505's had anti-glare on them, you'd change your mind.
The glare on the Macs isn't nearly as bad as others. I know sony's has NOTORIOUS glare.

As long as I'm not in direct sunlight, I get very little glare.

 

I do believe that many manufacturers have their own type of anti-glare or different amount of application of it on their screens. I would assume that Dell puts very minimal (no its not a flame towards dell) but thats mostly because Dell and like many other manufacturers with the exception of Apple only make about 1% or less profit off each machine they sell.

Theres two ways you can look at this. If your part of the 'Apple is now competitively priced like all other PC manufacturers' group you have to take notice that Apple does not have a huge customer base like Dell does, so because of that they can afford to put a bit more on.

Now if you're not part of the group mentioned above, well then i guess you can just say its part of the 'premium' we pay.