Returning Hi-Res Antiglare

[Whitelightning]

Well, if you look at the majority, many who have started with glossy, swapped for anti-glare after looking at both displays at apple, not many have done the other way around. I think ideally, if time is not an issue, is to get a glossy, try it out... then if you want no reflection, then return for AG is the safest bet.

Sharpness on the 2011 macbook pro AG looks no different than the glossy. Only difference may be in slight color differences such as the blackness of the text and pop outness.

The way I thought about it is, if I were watching a movie with others and didnt want to turn all the lights out, but have others be able to watch it on my pro at different viewing angles with no glare... AG would have been the better social option for that as well. I have no idea how big of a difference AG would be compared to glossy in pitch blackness, but AG will definitely be brighter than the glossy, despite slight differences in saturation.

 

[glhiii]

An icc that seems to help

I just made this icc -- it makes the screen more mellow.

 

[Whitelightning]

I just made this icc -- it makes the screen more mellow.

Why would you want to make the screen more mellow?

 

[brentsg]

There is definitely a sharpness difference that is noticeable with fine text. It's just physics. Light is being diffused, so it has to happen.

Now you may not notice for your use, thats another story. I spent about an hour comparing them in-store yesterday trying to replicate my usage. Its tough with the store lighting.

Now I'm trying to decide between the pros and cons with the various options. Most of my work is sadly with terminal windows and I can resize the text as desired. Plus, the anti-glare effect is more subtle than most others.

 

[brentsg]

Why would you want to make the screen more mellow?

A color temp that's a bit warmer is easer on the eyes. Most of the yellow screen people complain about is simply a warmer color temp then the person is used to.

It's all relative. I can take someone's display that they're happy with and make it more blue. Then after a while, put it back where they used to be happy. Now they think I'm lying because it looks yellow to them.

Our eyes are quite biased. That's why calibration tools are so important.

 

[glhiii]

Mellow screen

Why would you want to make the screen more mellow?

Because the contrast seems less jarring. I actually like this and feel that text is much easier to read with this calibration, but I know it distorts the colors. Hopefully, it will be useful to someone else who finds the AG uncomfortable.

 

[pullman]

I'm also on the fence re the glossy or the anti-glare screen on the 15 inch MBP.

I have a 23" ACD connected to my Mac Pro. To me, the ACD is not glossy but can someone tell me if it is equivalent to the anti-glare screen offered with the MBP?

If so, I will definitely get the anti-glare.

Oh one more thing - is it true that the anti-glare screen is not glass but plastic? If so, does it weigh less than the glossy screen?

Thanks
/p

 

[brentsg]

I'm also on the fence re the glossy or the anti-glare screen on the 15 inch MBP.

I have a 23" ACD connected to my Mac Pro. To me, the ACD is not glossy but can someone tell me if it is equivalent to the anti-glare screen offered with the MBP?

If so, I will definitely get the anti-glare.

Oh one more thing - is it true that the anti-glare screen is not glass but plastic? If so, does it weigh less than the glossy screen?

Thanks
/p

If anything the 23" ACD is more aggressive anti-glare than the new MBP.

 

[Whitelightning]

There is definitely a sharpness difference that is noticeable with fine text. It's just physics. Light is being diffused, so it has to happen.

I find that Matte displays typically have the "sharpness difference", but the quality of the 2011 anti-glare display comparing them side to side... there really is no noticable sharpness difference whatsoever, and instead my experience at the apple store the difference is the saturation of black that affected readability, which is what made the glossy easier to read.

To specifically check more into sharpness, just open photobooth up in both the anti-glare and glossy, and look closer to the screen and look at your hair and borders of you while your moving....

Typically you would notice a subtle difference, but to me... both were just as sharp with no blurred effect.

The ONLY thing that you could see that you can't see on the anti-glare display.. is the light getting diffused, so instead of your face being reflected off the screen, you may see a light shadow of where your face would be. But that happens only when you are very very close to the screen, put your hand out close to the screen and you will see what I mean at the apple store.

To better describe this......
For example if you look into a black area on the glassy glossy display.. you can see yourself. If you pull up a web browser, or anything with a color, you can't notice glare.

With the anti-glare display, since the light is diffused, the area of black where you would have seen your reflection is kinda blurred to the point that it appears like a light shadow. Because the light is being diffused, you may notice a bit of the light diffusion in the form of the immensely blurred light shadow.

To me, since the quality of the displays are identical, and despite the color saturation, I can guarantee that there is no glare whatsoever coming from the displays.... originally glossy, and have always been stanch glossy (not glassy glossy), I decided to switch to Anti-Glare just because screen quality is great, and i could see everything without any glare. The glare doesnt bother me, but it did obstruct some of the areas of the photo which I had to move a bit to see.
Its nice being able to see the whole picture.

Brightnesswise, the AG is brighter as well compared to the glossy.

 

[pullman]

If anything the 23" ACD is more aggressive anti-glare than the new MBP.

Do you mean that the 23" ACD would, for instance, make text more fuzzy than the MBP?

 

[brentsg]

I find that Matte displays typically have the "sharpness difference", but the quality of the 2011 anti-glare display comparing them side to side... there really is no noticable sharpness difference whatsoever, and instead my experience at the apple store the difference is the saturation of black that affected readability, which is what made the glossy easier to read.

To specifically check more into sharpness, just open photobooth up in both the anti-glare and glossy, and look closer to the screen and look at your hair and borders of you while your moving....

I'm not looking at photos, just tiny text. It would seem your observations regarding sharpness and brightness are both the opposite of mine. To each his own..

I'm not dissing the anti-glare. Currently I've got a glossy MBP, a glossy netbook, a glossy ACD, and an anti-glare display that I work on.. and another anti-glare notebook.

Each has its own strengths and weaknesses.

 

[brentsg]

Do you mean that the 23" ACD would, for instance, make text more fuzzy than the MBP?

Yes but I don't currently have a 23" in front of me so I'm going from memory.

 

[DewGuy1999]

I find myself at a loss as to whether to return the antiglare MBP. The screen is truly wonderful, and I think if I replaced it with the glossy non-hi-res one I'd feel I'd made a mistake. I'm trying various calibrations -- if anyone has a calibration that seems to help, please post it. I think one of the issues may be that the white is very bright and there's too much contrast with black type. I have something I scanned that has text on a grayish background and that seemed much easier to read.

If the hi res is the actual problem, not the antiglare, you could always try a pair of department store "reader" glasses in the lowest magnification available. This would help you determine if it's vision related or not. If they didn't help you could probably return the glasses for a refund. If they do help then you could see an optometrist for a proper pair.

 

[Whitelightning]

I'm not looking at photos, just tiny text. It would seem your observations regarding sharpness and brightness are both the opposite of mine. To each his own..

I'm not dissing the anti-glare. Currently I've got a glossy MBP, a glossy netbook, a glossy ACD, and an anti-glare display that I work on.. and another anti-glare notebook.

Each has its own strengths and weaknesses.

I didnt think you were, I feel glossy definitely has the advantage, anyday, if there were not as much glare and increased reflection from the glass, the glossy is a no brainer.

 

[nikhsub1]

I didnt think you were, I feel glossy definitely has the advantage, anyday, if there were not as much glare and increased reflection from the glass, the glossy is a no brainer.

And I feel the same way about the AG. I can't stand the glossy in any situation.

 

[pullman]

Yes but I don't currently have a 23" in front of me so I'm going from memory.

It is still useful info. Thanks very much.

What about the weight issue? (sorry to threadjack somewhat)

 

[daneoni]

This is why Apple should code resolution independence into Lion. They should already have some experience from iOS.

 

[mastaofdisasta]

This is why Apple should code resolution independence into Lion. They should already have some experience from iOS.

Man I hope so. If that was the case, I don't think I would be having this issue in the first place. There are hints of code that point to the Lion OS will have some form of resolution independence. Macrumors even reported on it I think about a week ago. Then again it has been attempted to be put in since 10.4, and it has yet to come out to fruition on the final OS's. I e-mailed Steve Jobs and asked him if the upcoming OS release is going to have it. I hope he gets back to me, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[zenit]

your problem might be ant-glare coating. I have had eye strain on anti-glare displays from Dell and Lenovo with anti-glare being the common factor.

On anti-glare screens with very slight changes in my eye position vs the screen I always notice very subtle shimmer, especially when certain colors and shades of white are displayed. I think this is what causing my eye strain. I dont get eye strain at all on Macbook Air (glossy) and very slight eye strain on W510 1920x1080 (anti-glare). The panels I had severe eye strain on were Dell W2410 (anti-glare), Lenovo T400 (1440x900 anti-glare), Lenovo T500 (1280x800 anti-glare). Currently use 2 glossy NEC panels on my desktop with no issues at all, and I have never had eye strain on a glossy laptop panel.

 

[Miss Terri]

I would like to see the anti glare with the standard screen.

Me too! Even though my current MBP is less than two months old, I would run right in and buy a replacement if I could get a standard res with anti-glare.

And actually, even the "standard" res 13" now is a lot more ppi than some of Apple's standard res screens of yore. For example, when I went to buy my iBook I really, really liked the compactness of the 12"model, but I just could not imagine wanting to look at print that small hour after hour. So I got the 14-er and it was great. But I so wanted the 12" form factor!

Now, in running the various stats through a calculator yesterday, I find that the current 13" "standard" res is more ppi than the 12" iBook was! No wonder even it feels a bit small to me.

If only there were resolution independence, we could all decide for ourselves how large or small the print should be. It just makes it more annoying that you can do it easily in Windows, which is not my preferred OS.

And yeah, anti-glare available to all, please!

 

[Miss Terri]

If the hi res is the actual problem, not the antiglare, you could always try a pair of department store "reader" glasses in the lowest magnification available. This would help you determine if it's vision related or not. If they didn't help you could probably return the glasses for a refund. If they do help then you could see an optometrist for a proper pair.

While it's true that magnifying the small print would make it larger, and thus perhaps more comfortable to read, I don't think it necessarily follows that the person then needs a "proper" pair of glasses.

For example, my eyes test fine and I don't need glasses. Yet that does not mean I will find it comfortable to read tiny print all day long. It's perfectly doable, but not comfortable. And I like to be comfortable in using my computer.

 

[Mirai 11]

No matter how many pictures, videos on YouTube, and the constant try outs of the MBP's in stores i try out, the glossy screen always bothers me. Which is why i'm definitely getting the anti-glare. I watch a lot of videos, and i know that the reflection would bother me no end.

 

[Jaimi]

While it's true that magnifying the small print would make it larger, and thus perhaps more comfortable to read, I don't think it necessarily follows that the person then needs a "proper" pair of glasses.

For example, my eyes test fine and I don't need glasses. Yet that does not mean I will find it comfortable to read tiny print all day long. It's perfectly doable, but not comfortable. And I like to be comfortable in using my computer.

I recently had my eyes tested (20/20!). However, I'm over 40 so reading glasses are a must. You can still need glasses and have 20/20 vision.

 

[gramps416]

is it a good idea to buy a third party anti glare coating and put it on a 1440x900? are there any decent manufacturers or is it bad.
-g

 

[mastaofdisasta]

your problem might be ant-glare coating. I have had eye strain on anti-glare displays from Dell and Lenovo with anti-glare being the common factor.

If this is the case, would you recommend in getting the hi-res glossy? Would this rectify my eye strain situation? I would like to see one in person, but no one I know has this display, and the Apple store does not have the display on display . I would like to keep the hi-res resolution if possible.