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Glossy Screen Owners - how can you stand the GLARE?

Cybergypsy said:
would you buy a dull finished car????
Glossy all the way
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except you don't have to look at your glossy car to work on computer programs... but ok, that's a good comparison.... :confused:

One could argue that though while going macbook or macbook pro. Would you buy a dull black car or a shiny sexy looking silver one? HMMMMM? :) :p

not nocking the mb peoples. I woulda got one if it suited my needs :)
 
Another benefit of Glossy is that you can see who is behind you. Your eyes are too dark for the spied to see your reflection looking at them so you can counter-survey them... if you're that way inclined.

Terms and Conditions:
Apple in no way support the use of MacBook screens to leer upon others and they do not in any way condone voyeurism.
 
ktbubster said:
One could argue that though while going macbook or macbook pro. Would you buy a dull black car or a shiny sexy looking silver one? HMMMMM? :) :p
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This would be a lot easier if Apple had either a matte screened Macbook or a 13.3" Macbook Pro.
 
ktbubster said:
except you don't have to look at your glossy car to work on computer programs... but ok, that's a good comparison.... :confused:
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If that holds true for you, you wouldnt mind if I took a sharpie and started drawing on your car would you? maybe spilled some barf gree paint all over it? Afterall, you dont have to look at it when you goto work ;)
 
Macbook owner here - no problems with glare whatsoever. I guess it depends on whether you can focus in on the contents of the screen or what is reflected off the screen.
 
my dell inspiron has a glossy screen and I am not bothered by the glare. I am more bothered by how quickly it gets dirty/accumulates dust. Matte notebooks don't appear to be as succeptible to dust/dirt/smudges. My iMac screen (matte) is a few months old and it looks brand new...not dirty at all. My next laptop will probably have a matte screen.
 
My MBP is matte. But I have a Dell XPS M170 laptop with their TrueLife glossy screen, and when I'm at work with it the reflections of the fluorescent lights off the display are so bad I was getting eyestrain and headaches. The laptop originally had a matte screen but after some warranty repairs ended up with the glossy. Dell is now building me a brand new Precision M90 (with a matte screen) to replace it, since they can't restore my XPS to what it was.

The point being, if you are going to use it in a workplace with fluorescent lighting, make sure the glossy doesn't bother you. It's a lot worse than with incandescent home lighting.
 
ktbubster said:
I have a matte MBP simply because I prefer the color CORRECTNESS over the crispness as I do a lot of design work and prefer to have the contrast more accurate to printing, however, the glossy screens I used were quite nice.
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No ... you're absolutely right on that score - there is simply no way I would trust a glossy display to make a judgement on colours for print, but that's not the issue the OP was asking about ...

Cheers

Jim
 
Jim Campbell said:
No ... you're absolutely right on that score - there is simply no way I would trust a glossy display to make a judgement on colours for print, but that's not the issue the OP was asking about ...
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I'm exacerbating the topic divergence here, but I always feel inclined to chime in when I see statements similar to this -

You shouldn't trust your glossy screen OR your matte screen when it comes to print color assessment. Both models are wildly off mark, both screens are 6 bit (as are all notebook screens), and both sport terrible, mossy viewing angles.

You print professionals know that textures and finishes on your printed materials are so varied that one can never truly rely on anything besides a $1,500+ calibrated LCD display. Even then, most designers will only truly trust print proofs.

Alright, public service announcement off.

As far as the glare issue - I'm one for the "What glare?" camp. I use machines of both varieties, and I truly have no preference. I've used both indoors, outdoors, with super bright bulbs in homes, in warehouses, offices, in cars, etc, etc, etc. To each his own.
 
I DID sit down and actually USE a Macbook -- several times! What I saw was glare and reflection. Since the Macbook is not available with a Matte screen, I thought I'd ask others how they stand the glare. Not an unreasonable question, in my opinion, since maybe I'd learn a work-around to the problem.

The pictures I found online and posted here were simply to demonstrate glare. That's all. By the way, not all of those pictures are taken at an angle.
 
I almost never see the glare on a glossy screen. Actually I don't really think there's a huge difference in terms of glare between the glossy and matte. If a certain angle give you glare on a glossy, it will also be there on a matte. The glossy will look like a mirror reflection while the matte will look like a fuzzy white light on your screen. In either case it's hard to see the actual image on the screen and you'll have to adjust the position of your laptop anyways.
 
I just got my glossy SR mbp today coming from a matte CD mbp and i have to say the glossy wins hands down. The glare isn't as bad as people make it seem and even when there is a glare you can just move the screen back or a bit to the front and glare goes away. I'll definitly be buying glossy from now on.
 
Theres no glare. Why do people say that? I've never understood what people talk about when they say this glare is so bad. I've went outside and used it in direct sunlight and have had no problem. In my room theres a light right overhead. Nothing. Turn up the brightness and it's over if you have a problem.
 
wako said:
If that holds true for you, you wouldnt mind if I took a sharpie and started drawing on your car would you? maybe spilled some barf gree paint all over it? Afterall, you dont have to look at it when you goto work ;)
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umm... No what I meant is that you don't have to stare into your cars surface and try to read text on it or edit photos on it, so therefor glare and shine is not a problem but a plus. In a computer screen is can be a problem. That is why I said that comparison lacks... you'd have to be comparing the windshield having a glare when you were trying to look through it or something... and the paint job on the car to the outside of the computer. DER. :p
 
Jblack4083 said:
Theres no glare. Why do people say that? I've never understood what people talk about when they say this glare is so bad....
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So you're saying if you don't have the problem with glare, then it should not be a problem for anyone period, huh?

Well, I can tell you it can be a huge problem for some people in some environments. Until I get my replacement computer, I cannot sit in my office for more than a few hours with the glossy screen on my Dell XSP laptop. It literally gives me eyestrain and headaches. My office-mates are amazed at how bad it is to look at it with the florescent lights above. No amount of turning and adjusting can make for a solution that works well all day. Fortunately, I'll have a replacement on Friday, and only have to use it one more day between now and then.

You may like it glossy, but it can be unpleasant for others.
 
RaceBug said:
Until I get my replacement computer, I cannot sit in my office for more than a few hours with the glossy screen on my Dell XSP laptop. It literally gives me eyestrain and headaches.
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But no-one was asking about Dell screens. If I recall correctly, not all glossy LCD screens are created equal and Apple have added an anti-reflective coating to theirs to reduce precisely this effect.

I have used my glossy MB in my office (flourescent strips directly overhead); in my evening classes (ditto); in my living room (single overhead light); outdoors (sunny day); in the pub (in two pubs, actually, both with only natural light from windows) and I have yet to encounter a reflection of any kind that has interfered with my ability to work.

I'm clearly not alone in this kind of experience. I'm not saying that people with a contrary experience are wrong, but surely they can understand our bemusement as we try and figure out what conditions they were operating in to cause this problem ...?

Cheers

Jim
 
Sounds Good said:
I DID sit down and actually USE a Macbook -- several times! What I saw was glare and reflection. Since the Macbook is not available with a Matte screen, I thought I'd ask others how they stand the glare. Not an unreasonable question, in my opinion, since maybe I'd learn a work-around to the problem.

The pictures I found online and posted here were simply to demonstrate glare. That's all. By the way, not all of those pictures are taken at an angle.
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You also posted a bunch of pictures that you got off the net, so they don't even represent your own, in person, observations. Really now, so you went out of your way to find pictures that don't accurately reflect (bad pun) the claimed problem, instead they show it in a manner that would not occur under normal use.

You obviously don't own a Mac, based on your comment, so why would you spend any time trying to track down pictures for a supposed issue that you don't have?

The very first picture is the only one that is even remotely close to being straight on and at that it was taken with the computer turned off. This gives a black background with a somewhat shiny surface which will act like a mirror. Apparently you think that that is a normal way to use a computer, most people turn their computers ON to use them.

As for the rest of those pictures, YES all of them, they are all taken at angles. Most people don't use their computers at those angles.

The only way that you will get a reflection on your screen is to have a direct light source coming in over a shoulder, and at that the reflection is only noticeable if you actually focus on it. (By the way you might consider reading the posts by people who actually HAVE a glossy mac, non of them have complained about glare......why do you think that is?)

Your posting was biased and very misleading, especially the title, and will leave some people with the incorrect assumption that glossy screens are bad.

If you actually want to contribute in a meaningful manner than post a balanced piece or post with an ACTUAL problem, or, heaven forbid, post a helpful response. What you posted about is NOT an issue, a problem, nor a positive observation.

Sopranino
 
Glare my arse.

Yes, if you sit with a light source behind you, you see it reflected in the screen. You can normally adjust the angle of the screen to counteract this. If there's not a light source behind you, you see nothing at all.

Even if you do have something reflected in the screen it often takes moments for your eyes to adjust and see straight through it.

I'm sat here right now on my glossy MBP next to a window, but sitting side-on to it, rather than having it behind me, and if it wasn't for the fact that the colour saturation looks so brilliant and details so crisp and sharp you'd think it were matte! :p

Some people obviously have issues with glossy screened notebooks. My advice to them is this: don't buy them. For the rest of us, a glossy screen just makes the OS X UI even more lickable than before :)
 
Owner of both a Macbook (Glossy, obviously) and Macbook Pro (17" HD Matte) here and after 8 months of using the Macbook pretty much everywhere you'd use a notebook I really don't think the glare 'issue' is much of a problem at all. Certainly I notice very little difference between the two machines in terms of glare.

In direct sunlight and with severe overhead lighting it suffers but, frankly, so does any LCD screen. Certainly I've never once wished I'd had the option of buying a matte Macbook. Now, that being said, the Macbook is definitely the exception to the rule, most glossy screens I've seen are absolutely awful. We had a Samsung machine in the office the other day and I honestly couldn't believe just how bad it was. With the machine on and at maximum brightness you could still see the entire office reflected in the screen. Horrible. However the Macbook definitely does not suffer from this issue and, in normal use, the vast majority of people will never notice anything untoward.
 
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