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rMBP with Antiglare

george-brooks

george-brooks

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 31, 2011
732
16
Brooklyn, NY
What is everyone's take on the possibility of a future Retina Display MacBook pro with an antiglare screen? I currently have a late 2011 MBP with the hi-res antiglare and want to eventually upgrade to a rMBP but I really don't want to go back to the glossy display. I'm sure a lot of you are also in the same boat. Is this ever going to happen?
 
Yes the retina is a glossy screen but not nearly as much as the normal glossy screens. I came off an old MBP with anti-glare to the retina and have not noticed too much glare issues. Now I don't use my computer outside and for the most part there is minimal time when the sun comes through my window by the computer but I personally have not seen an issue with this. My wife does have a 13" MBP and the glare between the retina and that are night and day.
 
Adidas Addict said:
Anti-Glare would spoil the beautiful retina display.
Click to expand...

How so? I hate having a separate piece of glass in front of the display. One more thing you have to look through. I think my antiglare looks significantly better than any regular hi res macbook pro display ive seen regardless of glare.
 
george-brooks said:
How so? I hate having a separate piece of glass in front of the display. One more thing you have to look through. I think my antiglare looks significantly better than any regular hi res macbook pro display ive seen regardless of glare.
Click to expand...

If dull colours and blurred edges are your thing then yeah.
 
george-brooks said:
How so? I hate having a separate piece of glass in front of the display. One more thing you have to look through. I think my antiglare looks significantly better than any regular hi res macbook pro display ive seen regardless of glare.
Click to expand...

Antiglare puts a blur layer on top of everything. It's not noticeable for the hi res cMBP, but it's noticeable with rMBP. I tried to apply an antiglare screen protector on mine and it only served to make the screen harder to look at.

And the rMBP doesn't have a glass layer in front. The glass you see is the screen itself.
 
I haven't run into any glare issues with my rMBP (the one-piece design for the screen really cuts down on that), so I can't say there would even be a need for an anti-glare option, especially given the hit to clarity and color fidelity that would create.
 
Anti glare are for true professionals who want to get work done and not for people who care that their screen is 5% duller
 
Far sightedness VS near sightedness also plays a key role in how well you ca fully enjoy your screens, be it glossy or antiglare my near sighted eyes enjoys both, but I personally love glossy screens because they are gorgeous and easier to keep clean!

From personal experience, even with 2 weeks of dedicated work on the retina machine (before throwing it back into apple's face), next to my 2007 and 2011 17" anti glare, reading and viewing images etc, there was definite difference between the 2007 and the retina machine but not that - that much even, but between the 2011 and retina, hardly and difference to my eyes. Only the gorgeous screen, regardless if it was retina, that screen is just candy!

When I am at my "desk" I have three 27" TB displays. It boils down to preference but I love the retina's screen, I wont ever like 15 inches but I do love the look of the screen all that technology behind it. I wouldn't have minded it if it was just as glossy as the current line, doesn't bother me any because I am always in situations where I have complete control over ambient lighting and would NEVER be stupid and use it outdoors ever.
 
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george-brooks said:
How so? I hate having a separate piece of glass in front of the display. One more thing you have to look through. I think my antiglare looks significantly better than any regular hi res macbook pro display ive seen regardless of glare.
Click to expand...

The rMBP doesn't have the cover glass in front. This is both a curse and a blessing. While the screen looks better because there's less between the LCD and your eyes, the screen is more prone to scratches and damage.
 
Adidas Addict said:
If dull colours and blurred edges are your thing then yeah.
Click to expand...

Completely disagree. The glossy display was a headache inducing mirror. Awful in most environments with overhyped colors and edges.

The raison d'être for a laptop imho opinion is to take your desk anywhere outdoors, in a sunroom, on the beach wherever. The AG screen is sufficient for this whereas the normal MBP makes viewing in less than perfect conditions a chore.

With that said the rMBP is better than the cMBP glossy for sure but still not AG good.
 
underblu said:
Completely disagree. The glossy display was a headache inducing mirror. Awful in most environments with overhyped colors and edges.

The raison d'être for a laptop imho opinion is to take your desk anywhere outdoors, in a sunroom, on the beach wherever. The AG screen is sufficient for this whereas the normal MBP makes viewing in less than perfect conditions a chore.

With that said the rMBP is better than the cMBP glossy for sure but still not AG good.
Click to expand...

If you are on a beach and outdoor while using laptop, then you got problems.
Not even AG can do much under lights like that.
Anyway, it does make a huge difference in colors and clarity in between.
 
Unfortunately, even the lightest AG coating is likely to decrease the visual clarity of the Retina display.

I don't think we'll see an AG Retina display.

The best way moving forward to decrease reflectivity is to use thinner and thinner glass, which requires advances in glass technology.

I think the glass used in the rMBP is Gorilla glass, and Gorilla Glass 2 is purported to be 20% thinner for the same strength, so Apple may change the glass in the next rMBP refresh.
 
theineffablebob said:
The rMBP doesn't have the cover glass in front. This is both a curse and a blessing. While the screen looks better because there's less between the LCD and your eyes, the screen is more prone to scratches and damage.
Click to expand...

That's actually not true.

The rMBP has glass... but the glass itself acts like the polarizer layer for the LCD screen...

So when you look at the rMBP, the glass is the screen, as opposed to there being a separate glass layer on top of a screen like before.

And since the glass is the screen itself, there is much less, if any, reflection.

AzN1337c0d3r said:
I think the glass used in the rMBP is Gorilla glass, and Gorilla Glass 2 is purported to be 20% thinner for the same strength, so Apple may change the glass in the next rMBP refresh.
Click to expand...

I think you're mistaking something...

Gorilla Glass is something you put on top of a screen. It's a separate layer of glass.

The rMBP glass is the screen itself. There is no way to make it "thinner".
 
Adidas Addict said:
If dull colours and blurred edges are your thing then yeah.
Click to expand...

A large number of professional photographers and image editors prefer anti-glare displays. If "dull color and blurred edges" was a bonafide issue we wouldn't be paying big bucks for matte displays for color-critical work.

Power Support makes an excellent anti-glare film. It isn't the cheapest but reviews and my own experience indicate that is one of the best. If the rMBP is too reflective the Power Support film is worth a try. I use it on an iPad and 13" MBP; when I compared it to the excellent anti-glare display on my 2008 15" MBP I could not see an appreciable difference in quality.
 
Adidas Addict said:
If dull colours and blurred edges are your thing then yeah.
Click to expand...

The only, *real* complaint is that darks are a little darker without Anti-Glare.

For everything else, the pros outweigh the cons. There should be an antiglare option.
 
I'd also love one with Anti-glare.. The rMBP is just as glossy as any other system without the separate glass in front (such as the MacBook Air, old white MacBook etc). But I agree it is very unlikely to happen. I don't think it will actually reduce the readability though, the often-mentioned IBM T220/T221's that had similarly high resolution were also matte as were all displays in their time.

I agree that far/nearsightedness also has something to do with it. I am nearsighted and I position my screen so that the distance to the screen is near to 'infinite' to my nearsighted eyes. But that means that the reflections are in the same focal plane and thus I can't 'look through' them. It's the same with raindrops on the windscreen of my car, if I don't wear my glasses all I see is perfectly focussed raindrops, with the glasses I see through them (as much as one can do so, of course).

Of course wearing glasses with the computer would be an option but I find it makes my eyes tired much quicker because they have to work to focus, if I have them at 'infinite' it feels like looking into the distance; very relaxed. I'm not going to change my habits to suit a computer. Technology should adapt to the person, not the other way around :p

But in this case I wouldn't bet on a matte retina screen becoming available soon.
 
The only thing that hold me back from rMBP is no option for matte display.
My eyes have difficulties working on glossy. The tear will start pouring out.
 
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