Deconstructing the Anti-Glare VS Glossy myth. AKA beware of liars.

[Bobby Corwen]

THE SOUND APPROACH:

GLOSSY
Pros: Enjoyable vibrant beautiful screen in it's true form.
Cons: More Reflective

ANTI-GLARE
Pros: Reduces Glare
Cons: Reduces vibrancy and looks duller.



THE BIASED APPROACH (LIARS)

GLOSSY
Pros: none
Cons: More Reflective

ANTI-GLARE
Pros: Reduces Glare
Cons: none


Let me make this clear for everyone, you do NOT get away with having anti-glare AND keeping the same color vibrancy and sharpness. It's either or.

Please, from now on, when people ask for advice considering AG vs Glossy, please tell the full story and don't phrase it like as if the decision is simply: do you want to have glare on your screen or not? Its rather: do you want to have glare and a nicer picture, or do you want anti-glare and a duller picture?

Dont forget to throw that caveat in every, single, time, please. (If you want to be honest with yourselves that is)

 

[JTToft]

The color argument is irrelevant since with a glossy screen you will often have so many reflections you won't be able to see its nicer colors.

But in a completely dark room the glossy screen is no doubt awesome.

 

[Bobby Corwen]

The color argument is irrelevant since with a glossy screen you will often have so many reflections you won't be able to see its nicer colors.

Thats an exaggerated and overly cynical rendering of facts.

 

[JTToft]

Thats an exaggerated and overly cynical rendering of facts.

- I know. But I stand by my belief that a matte screen is far more usable than the glossy in most scenarios.

The amount of debate this topic can cause really is stupendous...

 

[DarwinOSX]

I prefer glossy because colors pop more and text is a little sharper. The glare "problem" is way overstated. I've used glossy MBP in many different circumstances and there are few cases where you can't just move the screen a little to get rid of glare. Its a laptop after all. Not exactly difficult to do.

The color argument is irrelevant since with a glossy screen you will often have so many reflections you won't be able to see its nicer colors.
But in a completely dark room the glossy screen is no doubt awesome.

Thats ridiculous.

 

[leman]

The color argument is irrelevant since with a glossy screen you will often have so many reflections you won't be able to see its nicer colors.

But in a completely dark room the glossy screen is no doubt awesome.

I often sit in the park (outside, bright sunlight) while comfortably reading papers on my glossy MBP. My colleague, who has an Acer with an anti-glare screen cannot see anything on his display under the same condition.

Bottom line: sure glossy reflects more. But its up to you how you setup your working place. Under direkt sun, no computer monitor, be it glossy or anti-glare (e-ink aside) will work. The trick is to find a shadow and position your laptop in a way that the reflections are minimized. Same for the iMac: if you don't place the computer opposite to an open window or a lamp (which you obviously should not do, glossy or antiglare set aside), it works great.

 

[Bobby Corwen]

- I know. But I stand by my belief that a matte screen is far more usable than the glossy in most scenarios.

The amount of debate this topic can cause really is stupendous...

Ok thank you, so you know that the statement was an exaggeration, yet you continue to stand by it and throw it out there for others to absorb which is what I meant by bias. It comes from the greater life outlook of utility > pleasure.

But consider the human eye.

It is like a lens that focuses (in fact it is) and you can only focus on things either in the foreground or the background at one time, you cant do both at the same time.

When you are reading, your focus is actually in the foreground of the screens display and the reflections are in a whole other dimension of focus. So to see glare you would actually have to defocus your eyes on purpose and look for, and focus on the glare. That is what people don't seem to understand when they check out glossy from afar or from a biased stance.

The glare problem is overstated. You can just move the screen a little, but there is no way to fix the washed out look of AG once you get it.

 

[JTToft]

I often sit in the park (outside, bright sunlight) while comfortably reading papers on my glossy MBP. My colleague, who has an Acer with an anti-glare screen cannot see anything on his display under the same condition.

Bottom line: sure glossy reflects more. But its up to you how you setup your working place. Under direkt sun, no computer monitor, be it glossy or anti-glare (e-ink aside) will work. The trick is to find a shadow and position your laptop in a way that the reflections are minimized. Same for the iMac: if you don't place the computer opposite to an open window or a lamp (which you obviously should not do, glossy or antiglare set aside), it works great.

- Good points. But you really shouldn't be comparing a MacBook Pro screen with an Acer screen...

 

[alFR]

Thats an exaggerated and overly cynical rendering of facts.

So is your first post. The effect of the AG screen on colours occurs largely when bright light falls on it, just as the reflections on the glossy do: if you look at the 2 screens together in a dark room there's very little visible difference between the two. The true lie is claiming that which is best depends on anything but your preference and intended use...

 

[polbit]

I compared the screens on MBP 17", AG and glossy, at the Apple store next to each other before deciding on AG. I have no preconceived notions about them, as I just wanted to pick the one I liked more. And for me AG wins hands down - it just looked better, and colors were more true. I'm sure if you look at them in a dark room side-by-side, the glossy screen might be a little more vibrant, but for 95% of usage, you are in a lit environment.

Now having my MBP at home, and comparing it to my old Sony laptop glossy screen, Apple is better in every category. Not exactly apples to apples, but it just shows how good the Apple AG panel is. And the lack of glare is really a big plus.

Polbit

 

[JTToft]

So to see glare you would actually have to defocus your eyes on purpose and look for, and focus on the glare.

- Only partly true. You can see the glare without focusing on it, but it becomes clearer if you focus on it. I think, for a lot of people, having to adjust their focus frequently and "look past" the reflections causes their eyes to strain.

 

[johnnj]

Serious.. who the ******* cares?

Look at them both and pick the one you like better. When it comes down to it, they're both beautiful displays and whichever you choose is going to be the right one.

I could have gone either way, but they only stocked the 2.3 high res in anti-glare in the store. My criteria was that they had to give me my EPP in the store or I'll just order it with the glass screen. They gave it, so I took it and I love it.

 

[Blipp]

Thats an exaggerated and overly cynical rendering of facts.

Interesting response from the guy who said AG screens have a "coating" that makes the image "blurry" in a previous thread on the topic.

The fact of the matter is actually this: The glossy screen is fantastic if you don't have to worry about glare and you aren't doing any professional color work with the display. They are bright and rich and beautiful to a fault. They are, in fact, too rich for accurate color grading. The AG displays have superior color fidelity in all aspects except for black depths where they fall short of the glossy screens but still provide more than adequate depth.

My opinion is this: If you're a designer/editor of any kind then you simply must go with the AG screens (even though you should really be doing your color grading on a proper external monitor) as the glossy displays will never provide you with accurate print or NTSC coloring. If you are purchasing purely for personal use and aren't concerned about glare then by all means go with the glossy as it will provide you the richest color experience.

 

[snaky69]

I actually find the colors truer on the anti-glare once printed media comes into play.

 

[Bobby Corwen]

- Only partly true. You can see the glare without focusing on it, but it becomes clearer if you focus on it. I think, for a lot of people, having to adjust their focus frequently and "look past" the reflections causes their eyes to strain.

This is vaguely true, and really only secondary to the point I was trying to make about the usability of Glossy.

Even as it may be noticeable in some kind of sub-concious, out-of-the-corner-of-your-eye kind of way, its not anything that interferes with use.

It all comes of as a kind of shiny layer of opacity which in itself is a semi-pleasurable shiny watermark effect. The end result is a pleasurable shiny screen. The existence of the opacity layers of glare themselves should not cause anyone anger. Its not necessarily bothersome, it just exists.

The point is that because of the way the eye focuses, its not a hindrance of usability.

 

[gameface]

Not one professional color accurate monitor is glossy screen. 'nuff said.

 

[johnnj]

pleasurable and semi-pleasurable?

THIS IS THE CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER

WARNING!!!!

ANTI-GLARE DISPLAYS HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO CAUSE THE CLAP!!!
DO NOT USE ANTIGLARE DISPLAYS. YOU WILL BE SORRY. YOU MUST INSTEAD USE A STANDARD DISPLAY AND THINK PURE THOUGHTS.

 

[Bobby Corwen]

pleasurable and semi-pleasurable?

THIS IS THE CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER

WARNING!!!!

ANTI-GLARE DISPLAYS HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO CAUSE THE CLAP!!!
DO NOT USE ANTIGLARE DISPLAYS. YOU WILL BE SORRY. YOU MUST INSTEAD USE A STANDARD DISPLAY AND THINK PURE THOUGHTS.

lol at "central scrutinizer."

 

[legreve]

I actually finally had a one on one comparison when at.my mother in laws this weekend.
We both had our laptops out sitting on the terrace.
The was high sun and the terrace is partly roofed.
It was litterally impossible to see anything on her screen, the reflection was.too much. On my matte screen I was also dealing with an amount of glare but atleast with full brightness I was able to use the computer.

For any serious work I would still have to go Inside to a less illuminated place. But the vibrance of the glossy screen is no where near enough to make me choose that over the matte. It simply requires too specific an environment to be fully usable for me.

Add to that that you have to be in a near pitch black room to calibrate colors. Too much hazzle...

 

[johnnj]

lol at "central scrutinizer."

You don't seem like the Zappa type. You take things too seriously.

 

[dejo]

Thats an exaggerated and overly cynical rendering of facts.

Says the person who also says:

THE BIASED APPROACH (LIARS)

GLOSSY
Pros: none
Cons: More Reflective

ANTI-GLARE
Pros: Reduces Glare
Cons: none

Ah, the irony...

 

[Bobby Corwen]

Interesting response from the guy who said AG screens have a "coating" that makes the image "blurry" in a previous thread on the topic.

The fact of the matter is actually this: The glossy screen is fantastic if you don't have to worry about glare and you aren't doing any professional color work with the display. They are bright and rich and beautiful to a fault. They are, in fact, too rich for accurate color grading. The AG displays have superior color fidelity in all aspects except for black depths where they fall short of the glossy screens but still provide more than adequate depth.

My opinion is this: If you're a designer/editor of any kind then you simply must go with the AG screens (even though you should really be doing your color grading on a proper external monitor) as the glossy displays will never provide you with accurate print or NTSC coloring. If you are purchasing purely for personal use and aren't concerned about glare then by all means go with the glossy as it will provide you the richest color experience.

I didn't say coating I said layer, and there is one. Duh, that's how they get the anti-glare effect. Underneath the displays are the same. Glossy is display + glass and anti-glare is display + layer of (scientific stuff) that dissipates light.

...and also makes you feel depression.

 

[milbournosphere]

Not one professional color accurate monitor is glossy screen. 'nuff said.

Bingo. Sure, the colors may 'pop' more, but I wouldn't say they're truer to real life...if you need a color accurate monitor, glossy is NOT the way to go.

 

[Mackilroy]

Having used both glossy and matte displays, the matte monitor actually looked to have better color to me. The glossy machine was too saturated for my taste – not overly so, but I preferred the matte monitor.

 

[Bobby Corwen]

Says the person who also says:

Ah, the irony...

Well due to the subtlety and complexity of what I was attempting to convey, I had to make my point black and white to illustrate the nature of the logical fallacies I am referencing. It's the totality of something I see in many such debates and this was the best format I could conjure up to isolate the issues in a way that effectively communicates my assessment.