I am planning to buy Macbook pro. They offer glossy or matte screen for the same price. Which type would you reccommend, looking from spending-lot-of-time-programming perspective? (Of course this is not Ruby specific question, but I will be doing lot of Ruby programming and thought you lot do lot of programming to, so must have plenty of experience with that matters).
Cheers,
M
michau wrote the following on 16.07.2007 14:20 :
I am planning to buy Macbook pro. They offer glossy or matte screen for the same price. Which type would you reccommend, looking from spending-lot-of-time-programming perspective? Matte, without any doubt. Glossy can be annoying depending of the light sources positions where you are working (which can change quite a lot with a notebook...) and nearly unmanageable outdoors (acts more like a mirror than a screen...).
Lionel.
+1 matte
Less glare, less reflections, and hides dust on the screen a lot better then the glossy does.
Cheers, Chris
michau wrote:
I am planning to buy Macbook pro. They offer glossy or matte screen for the same price. Which type would you reccommend, looking from spending-lot-of-time-programming perspective? (Of course this is not Ruby specific question, but I will be doing lot of Ruby programming and thought you lot do lot of programming to, so must have plenty of experience with that matters).
Cheers,
M
matte unless your laptop will always be backlit. But this is like asking wha should Rails devs eat for breakfast?
I would vote for the glossy, actually. I think when clean the glossy works better, but if dirty the matte is more tolerable. The glossy is a lot easier to get clean (damp microfiber cloth) though - and when clean I greatly prefer the glossy.
Joe
Chris Johnston wrote:
The breakdown is this:
Glossy:
• Higher contrast
• Deeper colors
• Susceptible to glare from ambient light
• Easier to see dirty fingerprints on
• Easier to clean them off
Matte:
• Less contrast
• Colors less rich than glossy
• Spreads ambient light better, so less glare
• Dirt and fingerprints less visible
• Need some water to get perfectly clean (a damp cloth)
I prefer the glossy one, but I don’t use my portable outdoors a lot, meaning I can place myself in a spot where the light doesn’t hit the screen dead on. It’s a personal choice really, go into an Apple Store and see if they have both models (doesn’t really matter that much if it’s a macbook or a macbook pro) and compare with a deep and rich image (flowers, nature scenery works best), then compare the apps you run most.
Let me put it in another way: if your main activity is programming websites/web apps, then a matte one will probably be preferable, if your main activity is designing website/web apps and then programming some stuff, go for a glossy one. (although I must say I don’t design and still prefer a glossy one :-))
Best regards
Peter De Berdt
You will likely be as confused at the end of this discussion as you are now. I'd suggest that you look at them both and choose what you prefer. That being said I prefer matte. Colors are not as rich,but are more accurate.
Quoting Robert Walker <rwalker348@gmail.com>, who spaketh thusly:
You will likely be as confused at the end of this discussion as you are now. I'd suggest that you look at them both and choose what you prefer. That being said I prefer matte. Colors are not as rich,but are more accurate.
I had a matte G4 PowerBook, and my recently-deceased linux workstation at home (which was my wife's machine) got me the chance at upgrading her with the G4, and getting me a shiny new MacBook.
While in the store, three different Apple people recommended the matte displays. As I am already used to it, there was no issue for me. Their reasoning was that the glossy displays were beautiful, until the sun comes up or you open the blinds... Then you get a mirror for a laptop screen, which can be frustrating if you're in a sunny place.
-- Mitch
Ok, so it seems that the only problem with glossy (apart from the cleaning issues) is the reflections. I am mainly concerned though about an issue which one tires your eyes more? Which is better to spend long hours in front of it reading and coding?
michau wrote the following on 17.07.2007 13:28 :
Ok, so it seems that the only problem with glossy (apart from the cleaning issues) is the reflections. I am mainly concerned though about an issue which one tires your eyes more? Which is better to spend long hours in front of it reading and coding? Reflections make it difficult for the eyes to focus on the screen: you see several depths at once, the screen one and one for each object reflected on the screen. Oviously this can tire your eyes more because focusing isn't purely volontary. If you work in a place where there will be no reflections, there will probably be no difference. So basically it depends on where you plan to work with your notebook. If you prefer the glossy look and know you won't have this problem (which is rarely a sure thing, especially with a notebook), there's no problem with a glossy screen.
Lionel