stupid glossy screen solution question

[fleabite]

Someone is going to point that this is a dumb question, but I want to know why.

If the glossy effect of the current Mac portables is produced by Apple's choice of glass, can you just remove the glass to reduce the glare? Some have used this as a solution for the iMac, where glass removal seems pretty easy.

Is the glass important to protect the screen or keep out dust. From what I have read in these forms, the anti-glare MBP has a recessed screen, perhaps with no glass. And the MBA doesn't sound like it has glass either (or, if it does, could it be removed?)

Or could the glass be replaced? I see that TechRestore offers a matte screen replacement for the 2009 glossy MB. Has anyone seen other third party options to replace the screen/glass to reduce glare on the low-end models, like the MBA?

Like many others, I wish for a matte Mac portable; but my needs are so basic, I don't want to pay hundreds of dollars more for a larger MBP with the high-res anti-glare option. The anti-glare film route sounds dissatisfying to many. I plan to wait to see if the upcoming refresh offers me any new options, but I am starting to wonder if a matte hackintosh portable would be worth the trouble.

 

[snaky69]

Someone is going to point that this is a dumb question, but I want to know why.

If the glossy effect of the current Mac portables is produced by Apple's choice of glass, can you just remove the glass to reduce the glare? Some have used this as a solution for the iMac, where glass removal seems pretty easy.

Is the glass important to protect the screen or keep out dust. From what I have read in these forms, the anti-glare MBP has a recessed screen, perhaps with no glass. And the MBA doesn't sound like it has glass either (or, if it does, could it be removed?)

Or could the glass be replaced? I see that TechRestore offers a matte screen replacement for the 2009 glossy MB. Has anyone seen other third party options to replace the screen/glass to reduce glare on the low-end models, like the MBA?

Like many others, I wish for a matte Mac portable; but my needs are so basic, I don't want to pay hundreds of dollars more for a larger MBP with the high-res anti-glare option. The anti-glare film route sounds dissatisfying to many. I plan to wait to see if the upcoming refresh offers me any new options, but I am starting to wonder if a matte hackintosh portable would be worth the trouble.

The glossy screen is glossy LCD panel hiding underneath glossy glass, sure looks cool but the glare is unbearable(I wouldn't own one if it was given to me.)

The anti-glare option is the removal of the glass, installation of a silver bezel, and anti-glare panel. So technically, if you could locate a bezel to hold the panel in place, you could just lose the glass, thing is, underneath the glass, the panel is still a glossy one...

 

[Mal]

It's actually not just the glass. The panel underneath is also glossy. When you order a matte screen laptop, they both remove the glass and include a matte-finish display instead.

EDIT: Darn, too slow!

jW

 

[Politis]

Someone is going to point that this is a dumb question, but I want to know why.

If the glossy effect of the current Mac portables is produced by Apple's choice of glass, can you just remove the glass to reduce the glare?

I saw on youtube a guy show how to remove the glossy screen with a sharp knife. It looked ok, I suppose, but ouch, man, ouch!

 

[Stetrain]

It would be nice if the next refresh brings the high res/anti-glare options to the 13" MBP.

 

[fleabite]

The glossy screen is glossy LCD panel hiding underneath glossy glass, sure looks cool but the glare is unbearable(I wouldn't own one if it was given to me.)

The anti-glare option is the removal of the glass, installation of a silver bezel, and anti-glare panel. So technically, if you could locate a bezel to hold the panel in place, you could just lose the glass, thing is, underneath the glass, the panel is still a glossy one...

I stand corrected. Thanks. I'll just keep my fingers crossed that next week Steve will answer my prayers.

 

[Politis]

Using a glossy screen is like using a condom; it gives a nice polished look but you lose out something.

 

[pedrofan]

When I was a child I remember my father using anti reflective filters on crt screens. He used to tell me that oculists were saying that reflections are the cause of a lot of ocular diseases when using computers for a long time.

When I saw the macbook pros unibody for the first time, I remembered the words of my father and remained completely speechless on having seen these brilliant screens ready to destroy the sight of a tons of people.

I think that there is an intermediate solution between an extremely rerflective glass and an anti glare panel. My fujitsu siemens laptop has a glossy screen that enchances contrast and colors but it isn't just like a mirror. Just like white macbooks and macbook airs.

Apple, if you are not going to use touching screens in your computers it doesn't make any sense that you continue putting crystals in front of the screens.

 

[Politis]

When I was a child I remember my father using anti reflective filters on crt screens. He used to tell me that oculists were saying that reflections are the cause of a lot of ocular diseases when using computers for a long time.

When I saw the macbook pros unibody for the first time, I remembered the words of my father and remained completely speechless on having seen these brilliant screens ready to destroy the sight of a tons of people.

I think that there is an intermediate solution between an extremely rerflective glass and an anti glare panel. My fujitsu siemens laptop has a glossy screen that enchances contrast and colors but it isn't just like a mirror. Just like white macbooks and macbook airs.

Apple, if you are not going to use touching screens in your computers it doesn't make any sense that you continue putting crystals in front of the screens.

In the world of paint, it is called 'eggshell', it is between gloss and matte.

 

[kolax]

The glass is the culprit for the majority of glare. The MacBook Air is glossy and reflection wise is nothing compared to the MacBook Pro's that have glass over their glossy screens.

Having glass over an LCD screen is just ridiculous really. I really hope the new MacBook Pro's ditch the glass completely.

Of course, the antiglare (matte) screens are the way to go, but Apple don't offer them on the MacBook Airs, MacBooks, 13" MacBook Pros, iMacs or 27" Cinema Display.

 

[SerrQ]

It's annoying idd but it looks cool :þ

I think you can buy a screen protector that makes it anti-glare, some guy told me that.

 

[mr3cho]

The new macbook airs' screens are not matte but yet they are not nearly as reflective as the macbook pros. Perhaps this will be the screen they use for the refresh.

 

[kolax]

The new macbook airs' screens are not matte but yet they are not nearly as reflective as the macbook pros. Perhaps this will be the screen they use for the refresh.

Because they have no glass over the front of the glossy display..

 

[Politis]

The new macbook airs' screens are not matte but yet they are not nearly as reflective as the macbook pros. Perhaps this will be the screen they use for the refresh.

On the other hand, the way Mac has abandoned common sense for effect, it might slap a glassy screen on the MBA.

 

[chaosbunny]

With the next update the matte aluminium surface of the mbps is going to be replaced with a mirrored chrome finish so that these wonderful reflections that consumers and professionals love so much can be seen all over the machine.

 

[dusk007]

I once heard it is possible to replace the glass with something they used to call museum glass. The biggest problem currently is they put on top of a reflective screen glass which is even more reflective. However there are quite a few known solutions to reduce reflections. Like when you buy glasses that aren't cheap with antireflective coating. Many Sony notebooks that are glare had antireflective coating.
Antireflective is something different from matte. Matte makes reflections blurry so you cannot focus on them and easily ignore them but AR actually reduce the amount of light that is reflected. If you looked on those Sony screen from the wrong angle they seemed to have a blue film on the panel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antireflection_coating

It remains a mystery to me why they don't at least put some AR coating on the glass planel. Probably because it is not as shiny and shows odd colors from odd angles. It wouldn't be as good as matte + AR coating as you still have reflections but they would be much darker by 3 or 4 times. Same as if you reduced the brightness of the room you are in by this amount.