Eyestrain: Glossy Vs. AG

With glossy its possible that reflections and glare can increase the risk of eye strain.

I'd compare the two display and see which one is more comfortable for you.

I've used both and neither really give me any issues and I have rather poor eyesight and need to wear glasses

macNewbie02 said:

Thanks for the reply.

Unfortunately, the app store in my area doesn't have Anti Glare display in store.

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it would be hard for you to know from someone elses words all eyes are different, than you have to take in to account the resolution for the screen

Subjective matter -- discussed before so feel free to read the prior threads. You need to compare for yourself. As stated above eyes differ and not all agree on which is worse.

macNewbie02 said:

Unfortunately, the app store in my area doesn't have Anti Glare display in store.

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Then purchase an AG, compare and, if needed, return the AG for glossy. Or find someone you know who has an AG. There's always more than one way to skin a cat.

IMO an AG screen is never a mistake.
Glossy is a potential mistake.
With AG you see what you want to see, with Glossy you see lots of other annoying stuff. I hate glossy especially for movies and such stuff. Internet has usually bright backgrounds that outshine the little reflections. On dark scenes like movies glossy is really annoying at best and causes eyestrain at the worst.

I prefer anti-glare displays. When I sold my 15" MBP and purchased a 13" MBP I added the $35 Power Support anti-glare film. When I compared it to my 15" MBP I could not see much difference in appearance.

There are other variables that cause eyestrain, including LED backlighting and high-resolution displays. Some people have a terrible time with Apple displays. I tried an 11" MacBook Pro and suffered from serious eyestrain symptoms, the first time I have had this kind of problem in over 15 years of using Macs.

This thread on the Apple forums is worth a look:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1677617?start=0&tstart=0

There's not such a big difference from my experience. I still prefer AG - I want to see my screen content, not a reflection of the ceiling light or the window.

One thing to consider is that all AG screens are also high-res screens, which is great in terms of work space, but take some getting used to.

At home, I have a 27" iMac. My desk is facing a window, so I really have not had any problems with glare and eyestrain, as the brightest light is not reflecting off the screen.

At work, I have 2 displays, one is glossy and one is matte, and around 4:30-5:30 I do get reflections from the window. The glossy display is annoying, but I can't say I have experienced any discomfort. (although my placement I really only get this effect for about an hour).

Indoors, with no direct reflected sunlight, I personally have not had any issue with either a glossy or matte display.

macNewbie02 said:

Hi,

I would like to ask the folks here who have used Glossy AND Anti-Glare MBP to share their thoughts on which display is better for the eyes in respect to eyestrain. I'm not talking about reflection and color accuracy.

Thank you.

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I have both and it seems that the glossy can 'appear' to be brighter than the AG. If you are prone to eye strain, then I think you'll get it either way because there is no e-ink display for macs. As the other poster said, you'll never regret AG, but glossy can get annoying with reflections. Although it does look better!

I find it easier to shave and catch up on email with a glossy vs. anti-glare.

I owned (for about a week) both 11inch and 13inch Macbook Airs. The anti-glare screens seem to strain my eyes more than the glossy. Glossy all the way!

Matt Macbook Pro screen is close to looking at paper compared to a glossy
screen which will strain the eyes. On top of all that, you have a peice of glass between u and what you are looking at.

Any extra color depth and screen protection glass screens may have over matt
anti glare screen is nothing compared to all the a geniune MBP offers the moment you frist lay your 'eyes' on it!

Not even a close one.

It is high time apple release a 13" MBP with a screen like this.
I had to purshase a 15" version which I did not need just to get this AMAZING feature
The only reason I will not buy a iMac is for this very reason.

"If u cn see yourself, u have the wrong model"

It really depends on what you want to do with it, but i guess they are both decent. If you watch a lot of movies or use it mainly for web surfing inside the house, you can go for the glossy one. (plus, it's cheaper)

But...

I love my AG screen. The colors are closer to printed pages (which is useful to me) and i can use my laptop when there is some sunlight... Don't have to torture my eyes when there is some sun i want to sit in Wouldn't change it for a glare one..

I've bought a matte MBP 15' last year, the matte screen works really well, though I don't feel the colour popping out like it would've been on the glossy display, I kind of miss that, as well as the glossy display looks better with the macbook as a whole (just my opinion of course).
however as a student, I bring my laptop to lots of places, even outdoors, thus a glossy screen is not going to help much

The glossy screen shows deeper colors, but the down side is its highly reflective which means it could cause eye strain as I mentioned in my prior post.

Resolution though has a larger effect on potential eye strain, the smaller the text/visual objects the harder your eyes will need to work.

Personally, I'll be opting for the AG screen this time around, while I like my glossy screen I believe the AG screen is better suited for my needs, plus I want the high resolution model which comes in Anti-glare anyways.