Glossy or matte screen for photo editing?

Hi Thomas, I primarily use my computer for graphic design and web design so maybe I can give some input. I chose the glossy screen because the colors seem to look richer, and crisp. My experience with the matte screen, is that it reduces the glare but the image tends to look dull and blurry compared to the glossy screen. But the choice is based on preference, I suggest you go look at both screens your self.

The glossy "pops" more and I could ignore the reflections when working on the screen, but to me the matte screen had more accurate colors, which I considered more important in working on photos.

Partly the choice should depend on your anticipated areas of use. I went for the matt screen because I use my MacBook Pro outdoors more than half the time. Reflections would have driven me nuts. I've also done graphics for ten years oriented toward print. Frankly the MacBook Pro should be used to drive an exterior monitor which is calibrated if you wish to seriously use it as a professional graphics machine.

I've calibrated my MacBook Pro monitor as well as can be done with hardware calibration and it is only OK at best. I would never use it as my only monitor for anything with color critical needs... but then that may be because I'm used to using a MacPro's with 30" calibrated monitors and 16GB RAM for my main system.

Hi Thomas,

I never have my screen in direct sunlight or perhaps I should say I set up so the sun never is directly on the screen even when I'm in direct sunshine so that's not an issue. Mostly I'm in forest settings.

Matte Matte Matte... wait, did i say Matte? I've owned both the glossy and matte screen MBP and I sold the glossy one in order to get a matte screen. Why? I'm a professional photographer and I use a Gretag Macbeth Eye One 2 display calibrator. It did NOT work at all with the glossy display. Now, this may be an issue with the calibrator, but I'd rather use a display that produces a calibrated image, than try to work around it. Choose the matte screen, you won't be disappointed.

Hi Thomas,

A few months ago I thought I might actually have some time to do a little blogging (ha!). One of the blogs I actually managed to write before work and family overwhelmed me was on this very issue. Here's a link to my experience:

http://www.kbeat.com/Site/Blog/Entries/2007/9/17The_Great_Debate%3A_Matte_vs.Glossy.html

To sum it up, if you're going to do this for a living, i.e. someone is paying you to do it, I wouldn't do image editing on a laptop display. Invest some cash in a quality external display (I have a 23" Cinema HD attached to my MBP when I'm preparing images for press or web), calibrate it properly with a Huey, Spyder, or whatever you choose (you can pick one up for under $60) and go to town editing your images knowing that your color will be spot on. Laptop screens, matte or glossy, just don't have the same color fidelity and accuracy of a good external monitor.

I calibrate my glossy MBP screen with a Huey Pro, and it gives good enough color that I can shoot remotely and trust my color balance and exposure (less of an issue with RAW anyway). I prefer the Glossy for things like video and slide shows, so that's why I went Glossy. If, however, you simply aren't in a position to add an external monitor to your set up, and if you want to be as accurate as possible from screen to print using your MBP display, matte will give you better results.

Hope that helps!

That was a side-by-side display of photos from my website that I had a good idea of how they should appear.

I was quite pleased, and surprised, by how much brighter the MBP was than the PB that it replaced. For a minute I thought they had made a mistake and given me a glossy one.