Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

xpaulinax

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 10, 2013
33
0
since i wasn't able to buy the matte display the other day (since its discontinued)
i was stuck having to get the glossy from the local apple store.

so i'd still like to get rid of glare via one of those filter/screen cover things.

whats the best brand?

i want one thats good quality and won't interfere with the screen display that much cause I've heard some of them make it look sort of grainy.

i don't want those privacy ones cause i want to be able to look at the screen from any angle...i just want to reduce glare.
 

MrTemple

macrumors 6502
Jun 11, 2013
455
1,140
Canadian Pacific North Wilderness
i want one thats good quality and won't interfere with the screen display that much cause I've heard some of them make it look sort of grainy.


Here's a physics lesson for you.

The 'anti-glare' displays were always the same as the 'glossy'. The only difference was that the 'anti-glare' added a semi-opaque coating to your screen. This coating *always* reduced the fidelity of the display (but not very much).

The major difference was that it diffused reflections, so that no matter what angle you viewed from, you *always* got reflected light that was effectively an aggregate of all the light hitting the screen.

How this differs from a non-coated screen is that a non-coated screen does not diffuse reflected light. This means that all the light that is not on a direct reflect path to your eye, misses your eye.

If you ever saw the identical MBP with glossy and coated 'anti-glare' side-by-side, you'd see just how much extra glare the 'anti-glare' coating really added.

With an uncoated (glossy) screen, under almost all uses, there is far, far less glare than when you add a diffusive coating (which is perplexingly called anti-glare).

In practice, with an uncoated (glossy) screen, you may see direct reflections of say a lamp directly behind you (though it's depth of field will be twice its distance, something your brain is very good at ignoring). If you adjust your screen so that the lamp is not visible, very, very little of its light translates into glare. However, with a coated (supposedly 'anti-glare') screen, no matter how you adjust your screen that glare light is coming back into your eye, it's just spread over the entire screen instead of in one spot. Worse, light sources that are not directly behind you are added to the mix. Even worse still, the glare is coming directly from the screen surface and not at a depth of field, so it's more noticeable.

Honestly. My coworkers were certain that anti-glare meant less glare, until we bought a new order of MBPs. Those ordering the glossy screens had much clearer, much less 'glarey' displays than those with the 'anti-glare' screens (this was in a typical well-lit office situation). It wasn't even close, it looked like the 'anti-glare' screens were hidden behind a layer of cheese-cloth.
 
Last edited:

tmiw

macrumors 68030
Jun 26, 2007
2,517
604
San Diego, CA
Also, some "anti-glare" coatings result in the screen taking on a "rainbow" sheen. For example, the one on the Dell U2711 LCD monitor. Not good.
 

thegreatdivorce

macrumors regular
Sep 23, 2010
205
7
Upper Left USA
I wouldn't recommend one, for the reasons stated above. I went from the matt/anti-glare to the glossy-ish Retina screen and do not miss the anti-glare at all. It was much less clear, display resolution aside.
 

Starfyre

macrumors 68030
Nov 7, 2010
2,905
1,136
Tried that before, they do not work very well and ends up dirtying your Pro... it just cripples the display. The antiglare model of the classic looks sooo much better.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.