Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Which is better outdoors Glossy Or Matte
- Thread starter JSmoove05
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Either screen is going to appear less bright in direct sunlight, no matter if it is matte or glossy. In addition, the glossy screen reportedly has a tendency to be very reflective in direct sunlight.
In the end, neither screen is "better" outside. Both will not be as visible as if you were inside with indoor lighting. The best thing to do, if possible, is to check display models at an Apple Store and simply pick whichever you like best.
i disagree, i specifically bought the glossy because it is better in the sunlight. the matte you can not see in the sunlight at all the glossy is much more visable.
I am outside right now on my new MBP and i have the glossy display. I also have a macbook pro with a matte display and this glossy is by far much better outside. The glossy is perfect and you can see better becuase the screen to me seems so much brighter. GO with the glossy dont worry about glare you never get it because the LED's are so bright in this screen that it makes it very bright.
In my experience, the glossy is in fact much better. The matte display seems to disperse the incoming light across the entire display, making things very hard to read. The glossy display reflects it all so although the sun will glare at you if it shines directly at it, you can still read everything.
Go to a store that sells Macs and look at Matte and Glossy displays at an angle to shining lights and you'll see what I mean. I hope this helps!!
Go to a store that sells Macs and look at Matte and Glossy displays at an angle to shining lights and you'll see what I mean. I hope this helps!!
i have the glossy and i do love it. but in my opinion it hurts my eyes when i use it outside. [so i dont ]
]
It's okay, though - because the "oooo shiny" crowd likes shiny things. It's their loss
In my opinion, the matte screen helps if you're doing things that require more color accuracy or design accuracy, because of the diffusion and evenness of the pixels. Kind of like how having a grey background helps if you don't want to distort the colors you see on a photo in Photoshop.
It's more boring to have matte, but it helps if you need it.
(I wish there were a display that could be matte for design work, then switch to glossy for watching movies!).
I've owned a Powerbook (matte 17"), Macbook, and a Macbook Pro Glossy. I've also extensively used our Macbook Pro Matte at work, outdoors.
All laptops suck in the sun. It's not just laptops either -- CRT TV's, Plasmas, fluorescent signs, everything becomes hard to read with so much ambient light.
It's true that a glossy will reflect more in the sunlight, but it is by far the better choice. The matte finish diffuses so much light that it's hard to read at any angle. I have to turn my matte display to full to barely see anything, and then I end up trying to shade the screen with a jacket or under a tree, and move up 3-4" away to see anything. The glossy screen just has glare galore but if you can see past the glare (which usually jsut takes some tilting of the screen) there's a decent viewing underneath.
All laptops suck in the sun. It's not just laptops either -- CRT TV's, Plasmas, fluorescent signs, everything becomes hard to read with so much ambient light.
It's true that a glossy will reflect more in the sunlight, but it is by far the better choice. The matte finish diffuses so much light that it's hard to read at any angle. I have to turn my matte display to full to barely see anything, and then I end up trying to shade the screen with a jacket or under a tree, and move up 3-4" away to see anything. The glossy screen just has glare galore but if you can see past the glare (which usually jsut takes some tilting of the screen) there's a decent viewing underneath.
It's quite the opposite, when I have used a normal Matte screen laptop outdoors, I needed to have the brightness up all the way, and I could barely see a thing. This was on a few different kinds of laptops.
With my MacBook Pro, I can sit outside in the sunlight with the backlight completely off and I still have a perfectly usable screen.
But again, to each there own. I have had excellent uses of a glossy screen outside, while the matte screens where extremely poor.