Please don't ever threaten me with violence again.
I changed my order to the glossy. I went to the shop and really like the look of them. Worst comes to worst, I have 2 weeks to return it.
Thanks folks!
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Can't decide on glossy or matte
- Thread starter juliancs
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I changed my order to the glossy. I went to the shop and really like the look of them. Worst comes to worst, I have 2 weeks to return it.
Thanks folks!
Just to add some nice pictures to this thread for future readers. May be someone looking for example on this forum can find something useful.
This is how I am supposed to work every morning. I know my laptop is movable, but my desk is not.
The light was coming from "the upper left corner". The window is on the left of the MBP, the sun was behind the screen.
The mighty glossy with a variety of screen backgrounds, from black to white.
This is how I am supposed to work every morning. I know my laptop is movable, but my desk is not.
The light was coming from "the upper left corner". The window is on the left of the MBP, the sun was behind the screen.
The mighty glossy with a variety of screen backgrounds, from black to white.
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Thats fairly bad, and would drive me insane, i assume thats a south facing room, why dont you get some curtains or cheap light diffusing blinds?
The window faces east, that's why I have problem in the morning. I cannot modify anything since it's my office. I cannot even close the curtains since I am in a shared room. Anyway, I have similar problems also with the lights on: if the environment is bright you have reflections, more or less reflections, but always.
My house, all of its rooms, faces south. I have a similar problem but I can close the curtains and/or the shutters. Anyway, there is no reason in buying such a notebook if you need to modify the environment around you in order to use it. Furthermore, why should you always work in the darkness? Sometimes you use the computers for half an hour and then do something else... you should always be closing and opening the window shutters. I don't want to do that.
I know there are some anti-glare filters but I have read that there are some problems in using them on this unibody since the glass is too far away from the screen. I am not buying any of them since I am going to sell this MBP very soon. I will downgrade to a white macbook, that is the least glossy of the line (except the 17" matte, that is too big for me).
Just to make it clearer: my office mate white MB screen *on similar light conditions* is annoying but it's not a mirror. It's acceptable. The problem here is the super-glossy nature of the glass.
thistle
@kastenbrust: do you happen to be the only one in this world who owns a unibody 17" MBP? Or have you only ordered it?
i dont find it looking ugly, i think so many people say so because they want to defend their glossy mirror with its (stylish) black bezel... its just a normal screen with normal (silver) bezel like the powerbooks f. e.
here are some pics https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/631126/
which is better? well... a few times i heard the glass panel is better than the matte, more color gamut and better contrast... hm.... never found anything that proofs such statements though and i have no idea whether the difference is noticeable at all. however such statements are still holding me back ordering the matte.
regards
Those pictures really make me reconsider my order...I CHANGED my order to a glossy screen, and now might want to change back :/. The ones in the shop did not look that bad, and there were lights right on it.
I suppose I still have the 14 days (When it arrives in march..)
I suppose I still have the 14 days (When it arrives in march..)
You can't pay attention to photographs. They are 2 dimensional. In the 3D world you can focus past reflections like that and the brightness of the display can power through them. That human ability is lost on a camera.
Go to a best buy or apple store with insane overheard florescents and see if its manageable to you or not, but don't trust those photos.
Return
One thing to keep in mind is that you cannot return custom-ordered computers at all (unless DOA). So if you're ordering a glossy 17" MBP, don't change the hard drive specs, memory specs, pre-installed software, etc. If you order a matte 17" MBP, you won't be able to return it because the matte option is a custom configuration.
P.S. I'm having the same problem deciding whether to upgrade my 15" MBP, but of course I don't have a matte option. So far, I've decided to keep the old one.
One thing to keep in mind is that you cannot return custom-ordered computers at all (unless DOA). So if you're ordering a glossy 17" MBP, don't change the hard drive specs, memory specs, pre-installed software, etc. If you order a matte 17" MBP, you won't be able to return it because the matte option is a custom configuration.
P.S. I'm having the same problem deciding whether to upgrade my 15" MBP, but of course I don't have a matte option. So far, I've decided to keep the old one.
It also seems to be lost on my eyes.
However, judging by the thread starter saying he didn't mind the screen in store lighting, I'm guessing he's okay.
Lucky you. I don't have such an extraordinary x-ray power in my eyes. May be that's why I cannot read anything behind the mighty glass in those conditions.
Anyway, everyone has their own opinion, but, PLEASE, stop repeating the apple commercial "the brightness of the display can power through them" because it's not true. It is simply not true.
thistle
I have the glossy on my current MBP unibody and I had it on my last one, a santa rosa MBP. Never have had any issues with glare, glossy looks great.
As always, go to the apple store and check it out for yourself.
As always, go to the apple store and check it out for yourself.
But when there is, you need to adjust in order to work in your environment --- turn your laptop and your chair a bit, tilt your laptop screen a little bit upwards, etc.
And I have a white MacBook. The MBP is even worse.
Or just select it as an option when you order!
People say the black bezel looks great. I agree that it looks OK, but for those of you who work with photos or graphics often, you'll know that the black bezel makes predominantly black images on your screen look horrible, since the black image on your screen never looks as "black" as the black bezel (the screen is back-lit, after all). The black on your screen makes it look dark grey.
For the OP, this shouldn't matter.
Return It Return It Return It
Are you a photographer? Do you know what your even talking about? 2D or 3D, the reflection is still there! Don't try to justify the fact you bought an expensive mirror! The lighting in the apple store is from overhead and is NOT the only type of lighting you'll be subjected to in real world settings. You have side lighting and back lighting missing from the equation in the store. I would suggest taking a desk lamp with you to the apple store (I know it sounds crazy) and have a genius assist you holding the lamp behind you, from both sides and every which way. This way you'll know for sure if you can tolerate the reflections. Make sure you have at least a 60 watt bulb in your lamp and bring an extension cord. You'll thank me later.
Are you a photographer? Do you know what your even talking about? 2D or 3D, the reflection is still there! Don't try to justify the fact you bought an expensive mirror! The lighting in the apple store is from overhead and is NOT the only type of lighting you'll be subjected to in real world settings. You have side lighting and back lighting missing from the equation in the store. I would suggest taking a desk lamp with you to the apple store (I know it sounds crazy) and have a genius assist you holding the lamp behind you, from both sides and every which way. This way you'll know for sure if you can tolerate the reflections. Make sure you have at least a 60 watt bulb in your lamp and bring an extension cord. You'll thank me later.
I'm getting the glossy
Those pictures do look bad but what do you expect, there practically in the sun!
I'm surprised you cant block the light somehow. I'm all for a well lit office but to have the direct sun beat down on you through a window must get pretty annoying.
Now I just need to wait until apple gets around to ship my 17" glossy!
Those pictures do look bad but what do you expect, there practically in the sun!
I'm surprised you cant block the light somehow. I'm all for a well lit office but to have the direct sun beat down on you through a window must get pretty annoying.
Now I just need to wait until apple gets around to ship my 17" glossy!
Do you live in a cave?
to have the direct sun beat down on you through a window must get pretty annoying.
QUOTE]
LOL! Yeah, sunlight shines through windows. Most people enjoy sunlight unless they are vampires! It's sad to see that Apple is driving the masses to dwell in sunless underground dwellings to be able to use their laptops.
I should be able to use a new MBP in the same environment in which I have used every other laptop I've owned. I don't see why the sun, or the light sources in an office even have to be considered. If you have a matte option, take it.
LOL! Yeah, sunlight shines through windows. Most people enjoy sunlight unless they are vampires! It's sad to see that Apple is driving the masses to dwell in sunless underground dwellings to be able to use their laptops.
Not at all. If you want matte, get a 17".......Pay up or shut up.
Doy doy doy!! Are YOU a photographer? Or are you just a whiner? Have you ever seen a matte screen in sunlight? It turns washed out and nearly grey scale. You cant do color work in the sun, period. I can't even see my tool bars on the periphery when sun is on or behind my mattebook.
If you can't look through a little glare under normal conditions you have OCD. If you insist on using a computer in full sunlight then neither matte or glossy will work.
Edit, posting some images of my Matte Macbook in and next to sunlight, just like the gloosy book pictures. Birghtness on Full. Can you pick out the colors? Can you even see the screen?
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Still torn! As far as returning, the apple bloke in the shop explained to me that I have 15 days to return it no matter what - configurations, anything - as long as I am swapping it for another program. I like the look of the glossy much more and a friend and my brother have gloss screens and they say it does not really bother them. I think I'll stick with the glossy and if I totally hate it give em a ring and tell them to come and pick it up. 
That happens when the screen is hit (or hitten? - forgive me) directly by light. In that case you cannot work on any screen, matte - glossy - glassy. May be in those cases, **when the screen is hit by the light**, glossy might be better than matte.
But it's a different case. In my case, it was me who was in the light, the screen was in the shadow, it wasn't hit by the light.
Please notice that in this case I am not speaking about reflections of windows or any other bright source. I have shown reflections of myself: it is quite difficult to get rid of those. Also in this case, I have no superpower to become transparent.
Anyway, I tried only to show that:
1. it's not true that brightness wins against ambient light.
2. there are normal situations where this screen is unusable. For example, working on the same desk where you worked for past 6 years without ever noticing the sun.
I am not asking any of you to sign a petition to forbid the production of glossy display. You do not get this point. I wouldn't care less about Apple choices if they were not producing the only 15" notebooks allowed to run Mac OS.
thistle
Or just select it as an option when you order!
But i want to have both! If i want glossy ill just remove the film. The film is great because not only it makes my MacBook Pro matte... it also protect my screen against scratches & radiation. And i love the black bezel... because it makes the computer more HP-ish. Look at all those HP computers out there... they all have this black bezel... does that mean that pro artists cannot use HPs just because they too have black bezel?