When will MBP Retinas receive new anti-reflective coating seen in iMac 5K Retina?

[katewes]

I recently saw the 28" iMac with 5K Retina screen, and was absolutely stunned. I've been a longstanding critic of Apple's removal of anti-glare screens. Even when Apple claimed that the MBP Retina screens had 70% less reflection, I said that was nonsense. For me the acid test was whether I could see the reflections of harsh lighting in the background. Whenever I went to the store to see the Macs, even those 70% so-called less reflective older Retina screens all clearly reflected the imagine of the ceiling lights in the store. So I've long been skeptical about Apple's claims of their Retina screens being less reflective. I just didn't want to see any clear reflected image that would distract me from my work.

That's why I was so stunned by the new 28" 5K iMac's new Retina screen. For the first time, the background reflections were to an acceptable level. I compared the 28" 5K screen literally side by side with the MBP Retina screens. For the MBP screens, I could clearly see the reflected image of the ceiling lights of the store. But with the 28" 5K iMac's new Retina screen, those same ceiling lights were still discernible, but very much muted. Although I'd prefer a true anti-glare screen, I think these new 5K Retina screens of the 28" iMac are as close to being good enough for practical purposes.

So, my question is, when does this new 5K coating technology make its way into the smaller 15" and 13" Retina MacBook Pros?

 

[leman]

My 2012 retina MBP clearly has some sort of reflective coating that massively decreases the reflections compared to a non-retina model. I cannot judge whether its the same kind of coating than the 5K iMac, as I never compared them side-to-side. There have been some claims that the 5K iMac is used an improved type of high-res displays — if this is true, I would expect the technology to find its way to the rMBP in the next refresh. Other then that, your guess is as good as anyone's else — Apple is not very public about its moves.

 

[redheeler]

My 2012 retina MBP clearly has some sort of reflective coating that massively decreases the reflections compared to a non-retina model. I cannot judge whether its the same kind of coating than the 5K iMac, as I never compared them side-to-side. There have been some claims that the 5K iMac is used an improved type of high-res displays — if this is true, I would expect the technology to find its way to the rMBP in the next refresh. Other then that, your guess is as good as anyone's else — Apple is not very public about its moves.

Comparing the two side-by-side I see there is some noticeable difference, but not nearly as much as when the anti-reflective coating was first introduced.