Matte vs Glossy MBP Questions

I'd like to get a Macbook Pro 15". I've never owned a Mac before.

I live in a small town, the only place that sells Macbooks is Best Buy's, and they only have one 13" and one 15" on display. Both are glossy screens.

Can I get some feedback on glossy vs matte? I imagine the matte is less bright/colorful.

Is the resolution the same?

Is the glass just as durable? There must be a coating or something on the matte that kills the reflection.

Anything else I need to be aware of?

Thanks guys,
Trvlngnrs

 

Depending on which 15 inch you get there is a 1440x900 glossy screen no matte. Then there is the high res 1680x1050 screen that comes in matte and glossy. The glossy screen has glass in front of it. The matte screen is the same screen as the glossy but with the glass taken off the front of it.

 

glossy tends to push too much contrast, causing innacuracy in color reproduction for the sake of "visual pop".

glossy tends to crush blacks in dark scenes (photos or video).

glossy is, of course, highly reflective.

matte has none of those issues, while still being rich and colorful.

matte is the champ, IMO. but your mileage may vary.

 

Isn't the plastic cover over the panel of the glossy basically a shaved version of the matte though?

 

no, it's not. not based on what I've seen.

 

Glossy delivers deeper blacks an higher contrast. Matte delivers better color accuracy and less reflections.

It's a matter of personal opinion what you prefer.

If you want to work outside with sunlight matte will be much better readable.

Personally I prefer the glossy MBP. I like contrast to be as high as possible and I think the matte MBP with aluminum bezel looks like a 2007 MPB.

 

I've spent 15mn at an Apple store yesterday with a 15" MBP with glossy display next to another MBP with a matte screen and, for me (this is highly subjective), matte is so much nicer : no reflection and very good color accuracy. It's a no brainer for me as it's going to be mainly used for photo editing and processing.

 

Ack, that's not very rational! I never saw an old style 2007 MBP until recently (after I had my i7 MBP), so maybe I'm biased. But I think the aluminum bezel looks better than the black. That's total preference, but I think the antiglare is definitely worth it. Of course it's a matter of opinion but I think there are more on the antiglare side than the glossy side overall. Check them out. And the resolution is not entirely equivalent, since you must choose the hi-res to get the antiglare screen.

 

that also results in color inaccuracy and crushed blacks.

I'd very much compare it to an HDTV on torch mode at a local electronics store. they put them on those modes because passers-by are always caught up by the vividness of the colors, accuracy be damned. those that don't care about color accuracy or loss of black detail and don't mind the reflective display will be happy with the glossy finish.

for everyone else...$50 well spent. (or $150 for the 15")

 

The comparison is useful if you want to exaggerate the differences. Colors on TVs in shop mode look horrible to me, while colors on glossy notebooks look fine to me.

Funny thing is, many HDTVs are actually switching to glossy displays because it makes contrast higher and blacks more black.

So the glossy layer makes blacks look blacker at the costs of some details. True. The downside of blacks on matte displays is that they always look slightly gray. The upside is that the different shades of black and drak grey on matte displays are more accurate.

About the colors: more accurate on matte displays, more vibrant and more popping on glossy displays.

For everyone I'd recommend going to a store and judge for yourself.

 

Wish they just had all glossy and added an anti-reflective coating - best of both worlds. You can pay companies to do this but it would be much better if ODMs did it directly.

 

It's not a cheap glossy screen as we all got to known in consumer notebooks.
Apples glossy screens have no layer on it, so it's the pure display with a glass cover for protection. There is less color inaccuracy and no crushed black, especially with grey you see much more shades.

On matte screens you always get washed out colors when using the screen in bright settings. On the glossy screen you see the color source as a sharp reflection on a matte screen the hole display washes out! I bought a matte 15" MBP and ended returning it to get a glossy screen because the glossy screen get closer to the colors of my external IPS-Panel-Monitor which beats both versions in color accuracy. The only reason not to get the glossy version is due to personal problems with reflections, but definately not due to color accuracy!

Here some pics side by side:

 

I would call "crushes blacks" an opinion. (a biased one if I may say so )

"Causes blacks to be less detailed" would be a fact.

 

Thanks for these pictures. I looked at them first and then I read your comments. I was surprised that you were using them to bolster your case that glossy screens are superior! The reflections evident here are just too much for me.

Personally, as a user who does not specialize in tasks where the precision of color and contrast is a key factor, I think it's a no contest choice for the anti-glare. You can use it in any light, inside or outside, and reflections will never bother you. In my experience, working all day on a glossy screen can be simply painful and headache inducing. Working all day on a matte is much, much easier.

It's all a matter of opinion, of course, but I think your images do a much better job of showing how troublesome reflections are on glossy than anything else. It's just my opinion, but I'm extremely happy with my matte 15" screen and will never buy a glossy laptop from anyone again.

 

John, when you said,

"I think it's a no contest choice for the glossy."

did you mean "matte"? lol. pretty sure you did.

anyway, people should be happy with whichever they buy. but the limitations and problems that come with each option, and glossy in particular need to be made known.

matte led gives you rich colors, deep blacks without crush, color accuracy, no glare, equivalent crispness.

to me, the only valid argument I see *FOR* glossy is if you want to save some money. this is particularly relevant for the 15" crowd who has to pay $150 to get into a matte display, and that means compromising on other things as well (like having to buy i7, IIRC). but 17" users have no excuse. $50 upgrade is a no-brainer.

here is my prior thread on this subject:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/apple-mac-os-x/476181-photos-2010-mbps-your-consideration.html

just because of this new thread and debate, I may head back to my local apple store and take pictures of a few of the stock images they had loaded in Aperture so that you guys can see the black crush for yourselves. should be completely unacceptable for anyone who wants the full range of color and grey scale depth on their display. and again, my point isn't the the glossy is BAD; just that the matte is a decidedly better option.

 

What is better will depend on your preferences.

If you want accurate colors and detailed black levels matte is better.

If you want colors to look more vibrant and blacks more black the glossy option is better.

 

alright. i yield.

I recommend people spending a fair amount of time (maybe an hour) at the Apple Store in front of both. take high-resolution pictures full of rich color and maybe even a movie or 2 along with you on a USB stick or external HDD. make sure some of the pictures are of fairly dark scenes. compare all of it on both.

that's what I did. made the choice a no-brainer. highly recommend the approach so that you know which ever you get was the right one for you.

 

finally

 

10char

 

I just will comment what I saw in person. I had both a matte and glossy mid 09 MBP side by side. After calibration I compared them with my externen IPS panel. The colors of the glossy was almost on par and the matte one looked washed out.

If you just think about how the light travels through the matte surface it will be obvious that you get a clearer picture without any refraction from a glossy screan. There is no glossy layer that pops up colors like on cheap notebooks. If you compare a matte and a glossy MBP with the same (!) panel (you probably compared a samsung vs. a lg screen) and calibrate them there is no logical reason why a matte notebook could show more black levels tha a glossy. It's simply not possible.

When you compare the screen with a IPS panel things are different. Due to the better viewing levels the matte surface doesn't refract the picture and light from the panel so the picture won't wash out as much as on a TN panel.

The pictures from you just show that glossy screens do cause reflections. Unfortunately you didn't shoot pics with the same background or at least side by side. You just focused on the normal glossy hater arguments. It would be the same if I take this combination of pics from you



to show that the glossy shows more details

But there will be no answer! I sold my matte MBP because it didn't matched my external TFT. So I'm sorry, glossy does a better, more color accurate job, but I also print on color paper, semi glossy, not matte

Therefore I accept hate of reflection as a reason not to get the glossy one, but nothing color related! Glossy shows all details, expacially grey-shades, on mattes they are washed out:

 

13" glossy vs. 15" matte high res:
Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro (Early 2010) Reviewed: Shaking the CPU/GPU Balance - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

Very different displays of course but it's an interesting comparison.

 

My son's new MBP just arrived - it has the antiglare screen. I prefer matte/antiglare screens as I generally use them for work. I think that glossy screens are better for entertainment and matte/antiglare for real work where you need to see fine detail.

BTW, this machine is gorgeous. I know that you can see them in the store but having it on your desk in front of you makes for a very nice feeling. I wouldn't mind keeping this one for myself but son needs it for work and school. I can't actually justify replacing my older 17 inch MBP as it does everything that I need it to.

 

I'm going to reconsider this whole glossy vs anti-glare thing as I'll most likely be replacing my MacBook Pro 17" Core i5 on insurance as it died yesterday and there are new ones around the corner.

I've using glossy for the past year and it's been great while surfing and doing regular stuff on my notebook. I'm about 99% of the time inside with decent light conditions so even though the reflections are noticeable even under good light conditions they don't drive me insane by any stretch of the imagination and the vivid colours are a blast looking at it you ask me!

Using my Levono ThinkPad W510 and it's matte low-contrast screen feels horrible, simply horrible every time I have to pick it up in order to do something Windows-based once and twice.



Now that being said, I LOVE the glossy screen of the MacBook Pro 17" (1920x1200) when doing regular stuff like going through my Excel sheets, surfing the web etc.. But I also use it for video and here it feels so darn short that I can't believe it! People claim glossy to be the ultimate choice for those watching lots of movies and stuff like that.. After one year with the High-Res MacBook Pro 17" I have to disagree as the black levels are just a complete mess, even when watching Norwegian Internet TV and watching my regular shows it can be hard telling things apart in the darker scenes, even the hair of the actors if their not out in bright sunlight is getting crushed together.

It's simply horrible and barley watchable if you ask me, black crush and messed up black details is about as horrible as having low contrast and washed out colours if you ask me, it's kinda the same thing just instead of having washed out colours you have messed up black levels instead.

Why things seems so bad on my MacBook Pro 17" I don't really know, I barley see anyone else complain and this is so darn obvious that I can't really understand why not everyone else notices it? Might it be because I tend to stay on half brightness on my notebooks making matters even worse?



Bottom line is that I don't want this very same experience on my new MacBook Pro, so if Apple don't replace their panels and start using something new and hopefully better in regards of black detail on their glossy screens I'm strongly consider going anti-glare even though I love the feel of the glossy screen in ever regard besides crushed and horrid blacks when watching movies.. It's even noticeable while watching YouTube.

But then again I'm afraid that the matte screen will disappoint me in other regards, like the overall colours and state of things feeling washed out, less alive and low-contrast compared to the glossy screen I've gotten used to?


Whats your thoughts on this?