I'll try to be as unbiased as I can be, no guarantees though.
Info:
Glossy - 2008 UMBP, 9C84 Glossy screen
Antiglare - 2011 UMBP, 9CB7 HR AG screen
Some background:
I'm not a 'professional' editor/photographer/etc, I'm just a person who enjoys the occasional sexy pic time. To do this, I do appreciate proper color rendition. Before you harp on me for the cinema display... I could have bought a dell ultrasharp but you know, I like easy. I know the 27" ACD isn't perfect, mine is always a bit too warm or a bit too cool. I cannot calibrate it properly so I run it a bit on the cool side which is fine. Anyway, let's get to this comparison
I've seen the massive Glossy vs. AG thread. Tons of you guys going back and forth about which one is better, which one looks nicer, how the bezel on the AG looks horrible. Well that's all personal preference. Let me tell you how I see it
Glossy:
The blacks are deeper, richer, awesomer, etc which makes movies/videos look awesome. If you are sitting in a dark room, the glossy is great. Colors really 'pop', blacks are black and whites are what you would expect them to be (minus a magenta color cast I experience on mine).
Glare? Yes it's horrible. These macbooks have super-gloss screens, no lie. The extra piece of glass that makes it this super-gloss increases contrast too much. That is why people who don't do any image corrections think it's nice. However, it tends to make blacks wayyy too black and kills detail in the highlights. While I owned only that macbook, glare didn't bother me very much. I would shift positions to get out of the sunlight/turn up the brightness to cut out the glare.
Antiglare:
This display is hard for me to comment on. In my opinion it is the superior display but it also has its caveats. You see a lot of people complain about the milky cast that develops when in direct sunlight? That does exist but in my opinion, it's not bad at all. Yes the colors on the antiglare are a bit 'muted' but really, that's an exaggeration. Antiglare is more accurate for color critical applications. Glossy oversaturates colors in editing. In laymen's terms: antiglare is more representative of what you will see in print, glossy overdoes the colors to get that 'pop.' Colors are really perfect on this display, whites are spot on and black are so-so. They are not deep like the glossy but they are acceptable.
Some cons of the AG: The viewing angle is pretty bad on this screen. Through vertical viewing, the screen goes from a green cast (down low) to a magenta cast (up high). This is to be expected with all TN panels so I'm not overly concerned. In laymen's terms: Unless you are viewing the screen perfectly level, the dock might have a green color cast to it and window toolbars might have a magenta color cast to them. I make it sound bad but it's worth noting.
Closing:
Do I prefer a milky cast or glare? Milky cast by far. You'll see in the photos, glare is no fun.
Which screen would I recommend? If you are a person that wants the richest colors and uses their display purely for entertainment (videos, movies, games, etc), I would get the glossy. It does present a bit more 'lively' color palette so it would obviously be the better display for your needs. I would recommend upgrading to the antiglare if you do any graphics work/color critical applications. I don't use my macbook 'in the field' for photography so the antiglare doesn't really play a part but I do use my macbook in harsh sunlight and it really does help to have an antiglare screen. When I'm at home, I'm using the cinema display exclusively but out and about, it's nice to have a screen that can perform up to par with my cinema display.
Of course anyone making this decision should go see them in person but in my experience, both the color rendition and sharpness of the antiglare screen are a lot better than previous versions of the mbp (older generation mbp with AG screen). This UMBP antiglare screen is on par with the glossy and it does it without reflections. Unfortunately I don't have a HR Glossy screen to compare but hopefully the glossy/AG respect will be helpful to some. And of course there are always two sides to a story. Some people will always prefer the glossy screen but hey, this is just my simple review coming from a person who has worked with both.
If I've switched around terms/messed something up, please let me know.
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More photos: http://flickr.com/gp/derref/8E32a6/
My credentials: http://www.flickr.com/neil1138
Info:
Glossy - 2008 UMBP, 9C84 Glossy screen
Antiglare - 2011 UMBP, 9CB7 HR AG screen
Some background:
I'm not a 'professional' editor/photographer/etc, I'm just a person who enjoys the occasional sexy pic time. To do this, I do appreciate proper color rendition. Before you harp on me for the cinema display... I could have bought a dell ultrasharp but you know, I like easy. I know the 27" ACD isn't perfect, mine is always a bit too warm or a bit too cool. I cannot calibrate it properly so I run it a bit on the cool side which is fine. Anyway, let's get to this comparison
I've seen the massive Glossy vs. AG thread. Tons of you guys going back and forth about which one is better, which one looks nicer, how the bezel on the AG looks horrible. Well that's all personal preference. Let me tell you how I see it
Glossy:
The blacks are deeper, richer, awesomer, etc which makes movies/videos look awesome. If you are sitting in a dark room, the glossy is great. Colors really 'pop', blacks are black and whites are what you would expect them to be (minus a magenta color cast I experience on mine).
Glare? Yes it's horrible. These macbooks have super-gloss screens, no lie. The extra piece of glass that makes it this super-gloss increases contrast too much. That is why people who don't do any image corrections think it's nice. However, it tends to make blacks wayyy too black and kills detail in the highlights. While I owned only that macbook, glare didn't bother me very much. I would shift positions to get out of the sunlight/turn up the brightness to cut out the glare.
Antiglare:
This display is hard for me to comment on. In my opinion it is the superior display but it also has its caveats. You see a lot of people complain about the milky cast that develops when in direct sunlight? That does exist but in my opinion, it's not bad at all. Yes the colors on the antiglare are a bit 'muted' but really, that's an exaggeration. Antiglare is more accurate for color critical applications. Glossy oversaturates colors in editing. In laymen's terms: antiglare is more representative of what you will see in print, glossy overdoes the colors to get that 'pop.' Colors are really perfect on this display, whites are spot on and black are so-so. They are not deep like the glossy but they are acceptable.
Some cons of the AG: The viewing angle is pretty bad on this screen. Through vertical viewing, the screen goes from a green cast (down low) to a magenta cast (up high). This is to be expected with all TN panels so I'm not overly concerned. In laymen's terms: Unless you are viewing the screen perfectly level, the dock might have a green color cast to it and window toolbars might have a magenta color cast to them. I make it sound bad but it's worth noting.
Closing:
Do I prefer a milky cast or glare? Milky cast by far. You'll see in the photos, glare is no fun.
Which screen would I recommend? If you are a person that wants the richest colors and uses their display purely for entertainment (videos, movies, games, etc), I would get the glossy. It does present a bit more 'lively' color palette so it would obviously be the better display for your needs. I would recommend upgrading to the antiglare if you do any graphics work/color critical applications. I don't use my macbook 'in the field' for photography so the antiglare doesn't really play a part but I do use my macbook in harsh sunlight and it really does help to have an antiglare screen. When I'm at home, I'm using the cinema display exclusively but out and about, it's nice to have a screen that can perform up to par with my cinema display.
Of course anyone making this decision should go see them in person but in my experience, both the color rendition and sharpness of the antiglare screen are a lot better than previous versions of the mbp (older generation mbp with AG screen). This UMBP antiglare screen is on par with the glossy and it does it without reflections. Unfortunately I don't have a HR Glossy screen to compare but hopefully the glossy/AG respect will be helpful to some. And of course there are always two sides to a story. Some people will always prefer the glossy screen but hey, this is just my simple review coming from a person who has worked with both.
If I've switched around terms/messed something up, please let me know.
More photos: http://flickr.com/gp/derref/8E32a6/
My credentials: http://www.flickr.com/neil1138
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