Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple, MacBook
MacBook screen, my thoughts
People seem pretty pleased with the MacBook, though some are still worried about the glossy screen. Is it just one big mirror? Won't it blind you? Isn't change bad?One person went so far as to suggest that anyone who likes the glossy screen is an idiot. Here is the statement that many of you have been waiting for, I'm an idiot. The glossy screen on my MacBook is great. The colors look more vivid and it is easier to clean to boot (the matte finish on my Powerbook's screen always required just a little more elbow grease than I was comfortable applying to get the smudge off).
Now, the fact that this screen is brighter doesn't hurt either, but I am officially a glossy screen booster.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Nathan said 12:34PM on 5-22-2006
I went to the apple store to check out the screens for myself and I must agree that the glossy screens are nice. I do have a glossy on a toshiba notebook already which I really dislike but the macbooks seem to have a low reflection finish on it. In the store I had all the lights on the ceiling behind me and they barely reflected on the screen. So I think its definately something each individual needs to try out for themselves.
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kevin said 12:39PM on 5-22-2006
you can see yourself in the screen and any lights that are above/behind you at whatever viewing angle you have the lid open to.
that's not opinion, it's fact. so if you don't mind that, then fine.
whaever glare you've seen in pictures of the macbook's display is accurate to what you see in real life.
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William Beem said 12:39PM on 5-22-2006
Same here, I went down to the store to see it. I was pleased with the screen. If I turned it to the side and angled it, there was a lot of glare. OK, who the hell works on a computer turned to the side and angled?
I ended up with a MacBook Pro 2.0 for other reasons. The store lowered the price on the existing 2.0 machines, so I got a matte screen with a 256K video RAM instead of the new 128K ram. I'm happy.
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Scott McNulty said 12:42PM on 5-22-2006
Kevin, I have a MacBook and I have been using it for 5 days now and I haven't had a glare problem at all.
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chris ullrich said 12:43PM on 5-22-2006
i was a little concerned about the screen but now i really like it. guess i'm an idiot too.
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Faentur said 12:59PM on 5-22-2006
i had a Dell 700m (12 inch) laptop with the refelctive screen. I had a very difficult time seeing the screen with all the glare. (I don't want to see myself in the screen of my laptop everytime the screen is dark) I eventually sold it and bought my 15" powerbook. I could have guessed that apple would have done a better job with the MacBook, I think that a lot of the issues with glare come from your working conditions.
After waiting for a month or so to see wht the MB had for official specs, I decided that I wanted the Video, so I went with a 15" MBP. It (and its non glossy screen) will be here on the 30th.
-f
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Sk8rCai said 1:05PM on 5-22-2006
I once had a cat called Willow.
She disappeared one day.
None of my Macs have done this.
And the new glossy screen on the Macbooks arent as invasive as I would imagined. But then I guess it's horses for courses, or in the case - users for MacBooks....although it doesnt have the same ring to it, does it!?
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Thayne Miller said 1:05PM on 5-22-2006
I bought a macbook several days ago. I've been using it indoors, outdoors, in low lighting, in well lit rooms, both with fluorescent lighting and incandescent, and I have to say... it's EXCELLENT! I am coming from using a 12" powerbook G4 with a matte screen, and quite frankly, I notice no difference. No, I'm not an idiot. I am actually quite picky about my electronics, so I will tell you that the stock 512MB or ram just doesn't cut it at all on these babies. It runs so poorly in fact, with only the 512, that it almost made me want to return it. Get yourself 2GB and you'll be amazed!! Also, the ocassional "mooing" does iritate me. I hope they can fix that.
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boss sauce said 1:05PM on 5-22-2006
I'd love to hear users' experience with the glossy screen when it's outside on a cloudless day, ideally side-by-side with other companies' glossy screens...:) Anyone? Beuller?
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Joe B said 1:13PM on 5-22-2006
My Only question is why Apple went to the shiney screens?
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Jeffrey Bedell said 1:23PM on 5-22-2006
I think that the black background screens during the demo show glare under store lights, most of the demo doesn't. I'll need to see it with some real world screens to decide if it's too much for me.
PS. If you've ever suffered eyestrain headaches from glare, then you understand why people can be touchy on the subject. I buy much less ibuprofen since I got a non-glare screen.
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CyBeR said 2:13PM on 5-22-2006
".. The colors look more vivid .."
Also known as "Inaccurate" with people who actually care about colour.
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Max said 2:27PM on 5-22-2006
Are these glossy screens any worse for your eye-sight? I'm guessing if there are more reflections then you will probably strain harder on the screen? Don't know if any of thats true or not though.
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buzaw0nk said 2:30PM on 5-22-2006
If your feeble brain can't focus on the screen rather than any reflections in it, then You my friend are the idiot...Yes there are reflections on the new, more vivid, brighter screen, but unless you are looking for them, your brain should be well equiped to filter out the reflections by focusing your eyes on the screen instead of the out of focus reflections.
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Matt said 2:42PM on 5-22-2006
I have been using the macbook now for 4 days. Immediatly I was impressed with the screen. I was one of the ones who was bad mouthing the screen before I got it. Everyone that sees it, thinks it is brilliantly done. The reflections are not that bad or at least I do not notice them. I have tried it in several conditions and the only one it does not work well in is outside. Then again neither does any other laptop. People who are talking bad about them need to try it out, doing actual work on them. I promise your opinion will be changed.
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Pablo said 2:48PM on 5-22-2006
Well, Scott... what can I say... you're an idiot. :P
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Alex said 3:01PM on 5-22-2006
I have been to the Apple stores in Novi, MI and Troy, MI this weekend and was very impressed by the Macbook. However, the glare on the screen was very noticible and made use -even in the store- very annoying. Upon return home, I looked at the photos that I took of the Macbook in the store and there was screen glare on all of the images of the Macbook. Go figure.
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natmgriff said 3:05PM on 5-22-2006
What's funny is that the people who "care about color" are the one who wouldn't switch from a CRT to an LCD. Now that this LCD is supposed to produce richer blacks and more vivid color (and actually looks more like a CRT to me), those same people do not like it....what gives? I saw the Macbook in the apple store and I was quite impressed with it under those bright florescent lights...Esp after hearing it badmouthed... So...Here's the Big Question....Anyone gonna buy a MacbookPro w/ the glossy screen option? (BTW-I'm a graphic designer...I use an apple cinema display and I love it & I can't decide yet on the Macbook/MBP for my portable, and yes, I care about color : )
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Jonathan said 3:06PM on 5-22-2006
I'd like to respond to CyBeR's post, and I hope someone with some solid knowledge on these matters will respond to mine.
I've read a lot in the past week about about the merits and flaws of glossy screens. What's most interesting is that I've read both sides claiming, with equal confidence, that their preference is the better one with regard to color accuracy.
CyBeR's position has a certain appeal to it for me: yes, the rougher looking screen might be the one's that's more serious, more truthful. But at the moment I'm more convinced by the other side, if only because they've given me more information. Apparently, there's more in between yourself and the LCD itself in an anti-glare screen than in a glossy screen. (This has been my own feeling for years, and I've often felt that Apple LCD screens are particularly bad about creating a layer of distortion, almost like that you see in those hologram cards such as used to come stuck onto cereal boxes. When I look at an Apple Cinema Display, I feel I'm seeing the image itself through a floating cloud of fuzz. Mac partisans can tell me I'm crazy, but I've got perfect eyesight and I'm very sensitive about these things.) For a glossy screen, then, a layer of potentially distorting material is removed.
Correct? Does anyone know?
My only reason for doubting the increased accuracy of the glossy screen is one of its apparent merits: in it, I can no longer make out individual pixels themselves so easily. In other words, the image no longer seems to be behind a graph-patterned, wire screen. Can someone explain why the different surface layer for this screen creates this apparently positive, but possibly dishonest effect?
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marcintosh said 3:21PM on 5-22-2006
Not a fan of the glossy screen. I was looking at a movie on a MacBook in an Apple Store and I kept getting distracted by the people behind me playing on an iMac. They were reflected in the "black bars" of the movie. Altough I must say, as bright as Apple Stores tend to be, I probably didn't see the screen in its best light. 8^)
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