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Glossy or Matte?

P

pterodactyl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 6, 2008
4
0
I am purchasing my first macbook pro and have a simple cosmetic question: Glossy or matte screen?
 
I've had both. I prefer the matter better. The glossy is just well, too glossy in certain lighting conditions.
 
Its personal preference. I go glossy (I wanted to switch it up since I had pbg4 that was matte)
 
i prefer a matte screen

however i can see why everythign is going glossy screen now
it has a more vivid color and better contrast

but it depends on your work enviroment.. glossy screen sucks when theres alot of lights behind you cause it starts reflecting everything

but if your in a nice dark room the glossy screen looks nice
 
Glossy


better color and contrast

only a problem in outdoor lighting
 
If you're working or studying print/web design or anything else where colour matching is important then go with matte.. Otherwise it's simply a matter of preference; glare (glossy) or less colour-saturation (matte).
 
Wouldn't you like... use a real screen from say... Eizo or NEC if you were doing anything that required a good LCD? ;)
 
pterodactyl said:
I am purchasing my first macbook pro and have a simple cosmetic question: Glossy or matte screen?
Click to expand...

I had the same concerns as you do and finally went matte. I figure my MBP for the sake of portability couldn't enable me to control lightsources. If I wanted to get a better image I would hook it up to my larger monitor at home.
 
I've had a matte powerbook, and a glossy macbook. Go matte. The glossy on my macbook is such a pain in the ass to clean. The screen on my powerbook was always so much easier to get clean.
 
As usual the topic will call upon all sorts of supporters for each screen type. Soon the "Photographers" that claim to be "color critical" will be here explaining why they can't use a glossy screen to color correct their images, those that DO know how to edit will laugh our butts off at the inexperience.

Either way I say go with glossy if you want the best looking monitor you can get. It a good looking display is not at the top of your list go with matte. I have a glossy MBP right now and love it. I would get another glossy display any day of the week and in future version if I was just living my digital life on the machine. My next book will be a matte though... just to see what it would be like on a 17" MBP. If I don't see any advantage to having a matte display, or if it looks too dull then I will send it back and get a glossy.
 
Well I think I will be doing a majority of my work indoors so the sunlight/glare issue won't be much of a problem. I just visited the apple store and i'm sticking with glossy ;) thanks for the input
 
Glossy will quickly become dirty, especially in dusty environments. If the MacBook were offered with a matte screen, I would have opted for matte.
 
I like good glossy screens. I've seen some bad glossy screens. Although I never use my laptop outside, never had the need.

But really its personal preference.
 
I don't like glossy that much. I just hate how dirty it gets and how I can see myself all the time...its like a mirror. Matte is the the way to go for me.
 
If you're working on it for any extended period of time or working on large amounts of text (i.e. coding or writing), go with matte. The glossy screen just introduces eyestrain, even with good lighting conditions.
 
I dont understand how it strains your eyes, isn't glossy supposed to have clearer color, text, etc? Im going to be running Final Cut, Photoshop, and InDesign. Is anyone out there that uses these programs that is satisfied with their glossy screen?
 
BIK said:
Glossy


better color and contrast

only a problem in outdoor lighting
Click to expand...

x2

My previous notebooks had a matte screen and I decided to go with a glossy screen on my MBP. The difference if simply incredible, colors seem to be better and brightness is also improved. That's my personal opinion.

However, glossy screens are more "reflective", when watching a movie that has dark scenes, the screens reflects yourself. No big deal for me, but some might find that annoying. I'd suggest you go to an Apple store and compare both screen types.
 
pterodactyl said:
I dont understand how it strains your eyes, isn't glossy supposed to have clearer color, text, etc? Im going to be running Final Cut, Photoshop, and InDesign. Is anyone out there that uses these programs that is satisfied with their glossy screen?
Click to expand...

They have more saturated colors, and it reduces the 'screen door' effect that plagues matte screens (though high quality matte screens, like those in Macbook Pros, don't suffer from this as noticeably). Many people dislike glossies with image/video editing as the image is over-saturated, although others like the aesthetics of the effect.

The eyestrain is the biggest issue. Again, even with perfect lighting you'll get glare, and if you turn off all lights it'll be bright and unpleasant to look at. I can't code on a glossy screen without my eyes hurting after less than an hour. If you're using it more casually you may not notice, though.
 
Please search. Out of the dozens of glossy vs. matte threads, surely you can find your answer in those.

1. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/416995/

2. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/417446/

3. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/401161/

4. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/325191/

5. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/393099/

i'm going to stop numbering them, because i'm lazy. but not lazy enough to forget about searching.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/398897/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/243600/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/384233/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/339968/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/371516/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/337730/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/325191/

as i read through the responses on this thread they're NO different than the ones in the dozen links i just posted. I'm going to quote this post whenever this question is asked.
 
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