Glossy vs. Matte screen on MBP

So I'll be ordering my MBP as soon as Merrom comes out... One of my questions is how good are the glossy screens? I'm used to matte and have never had a glossy screen. I know that some glossy screens I've seen reflect way too much, while others are perfect (playign with a friends Dell 700m seemed really nice).

I'm mainly using mine for classes (university student) and will be using them in my office and in the labs (for software development). Do any of you who have tried the glossy screens find them way to reflective when in rooms using flourescent lights? Or do any of you find they strain your eyes too much?

I doubt I'll be using mine outside much at all, so sun glare will probably not be a problem.

 

Nah the gloss on the MB/MBP line is one of the better ones I've seen out there, at my college I go to the library a lot and it has flourescent lighting all over, I never once had to really adjust it because of that, I mean honestly you aren't pointing your notebook screen at the ceiling right?

Anyways, in my opinion it's one of the better ones out there. Do I have any regrets for getting a glossy screen? nope.

I like how much more vibrant the display is.

 

Sweet, I'll probably go with the glossy screen then. I just remember seeing some from Best Buy that would reflect everything, even the keyboard. I would hate to order a $2k machine and only be able to see reflections of everything.

 

best to way to tell if you like it or not is to check it out at the apple store..other pc's at best buy are not really the same since they're not macs for one but in addition they tend to be the cheaper machines out there

 

Yeah, don't have an apple store by me

 

oh dang..well i can tell you this since i've seen it in their store many many times..the matte is very good and the glossy improves on it further..and like bandaid said reflection is not bad at all

 

hollownail, did you check for any resalers as well?

Apple has a search engine on the site somewhere that will let you find places other than an Apple Store that sells their products.

 

Aye, basically Circuit City and Best Buy are the only 2 close by. I don't remember if this BB has macs... some do, some don't.

 

If comp usa is in your area, they have macbook pro on display.

 

If you do anything on a semi-professional level, I would strongly urge you to get the matte screen.

You would definitely want true color reproduction instead of better contrast and more vibrant colors.

Currently I am using a MacBook (my MacBook Pro is in for repair <sign> ) and the screen does suppot my initial thoughts about the glossy screen. I am very happy that my screen is matte now.

The best would be, however, to go and watch both. The glossy and matte side by side.

 

Hrm, thanks Pressure. I'm not sure how much photo/video editing i'd do on it... I'd more than likely hook it up to my 19" lcd for that type of work. I'll mainly use it for note taking, SW development, web development and audio editing/creating.

I wish I had someplace close to go see a comparison of macs... closest places are like, 3 hours away. Maybe if the merom chips don't come out after this week, i'll go drive someplace to find some to compare

 

I was surprised that I actually prefer the glossy screens, because I went in to the store expecting the opposite to be true. If possible, try to compare two machines side-by-side for yourself. Note that the Apple glossy screens are not as glossy as some extremely glossy PC notebooks (e.g. Acer).

I also recommend reading about the technology, because there is a lot of misinformation about glossy screens out there. This page is a good resource describing how the two screens differ from a physical perspective:
http://www.screentekinc.com/pixelbright-lcds.shtml

There is an engineering tradeoff with either type of display. The core tradeoff is this: matte screens better diffuse reflections from the environment, but this comes at a cost, namely diffusion of the light coming from the LCD panel. Glossy screens do not diffuse specular reflections, but the light from the LCD panel itself is crisper because it does not have to go through this diffusion layer. I find this property reduces eyestrain. I didn't expect the glossy screens to reduce eyestrain as much as they do for me (quite the opposite in fact, I expected more eyestrain from the glossy screens). Of course, if you have direct specular reflections, which will occur only at specific angles in any environment, than that may be a source of greater eyestrain. But for me, I found the tradeoff with the glossy screens to be worth it.

 

Well, a class mate of mine just received his Macbook and brought it into class today. I must say I was really impressed (except the for the keyboard). The reflection wasn't bad and it looked really crisp.

Looks like I'll be going with the glossy screen as most of my photoshop stuff isn't even close to professional and I'll use a much better and larger external for my real work.

Thanks for the info and help everyone