Mac Book Pro (Late 2008) and glossy screen

Same here.

I like that article too, particularly because the people I've seen link/quote it so far don't see to understand what it's saying.

Eizo, in the summary, basically states that a glossy screen is acceptable for casual use, followed immediately by saying that for any viewing that requires focus (they say editing still images or video), the glossy screen is irritating.

That's basically the way i feel about it. You can use a glossy screen if you have to, but you spend your time head ducking stray reflections, or as Eizo put it, using small sections of the screen (where refelctions aren't bad) if you are doing anything that requires concentration on the screen.

What I don't understand is the purpose of the MacBook Pro. If it's a pro laptop why put something on it that not only doesn't help someone concentrate on the screen but rather hinders it. As I understand it, the 'Pro' means that it is a work laptop, not an entertainment laptop.

It makes sense if the purpose is to watch movies or slideshows of your last vacation because that does not require concentration on the screen. But then that would be a consumer laptop. Is that what the purpose of the MacBook Pro is?

I think Apple is simply looking at the numbers, and realistically the majority of people buying the MBP really aren't pros at all. They're regular consumers who have the money to spend on a top of the line notebook, and they use it primarily for web browsing, watching movies, and maybe gaming. These are the MBP customers, and they prefer glossy. With the bulk of its total sales now coming from the iPhone/iPod/iTunes market, Apple is moving more towards the consumer market, and apparently believes that the real pro market is expendable. Whether or not this strategy works for Apple in the long run is unknown; however, at least part of the attraction for consumers to Apple has to do with the fact that up until now, Apple has had a reputation for being the professional's choice. If the pros go elsewhere to a company, perhaps Lenovo, that actually listens to their needs and provides them with real professional grade products they can use, and Apple comes to be seen instead as primarily a consumer-grade computer manufacturer, then I think that a good deal of Apple's elite allure will be diminished in the eyes of those consumers. And therein lies the conundrum Apple faces--the pro market has brought in the consumer market, but in catering to the consumer market, Apple risks losing the pro market, and thus in the long run losing the consumer market as well. I think the move to all-glossy displays therefore will turn out to have great historical significance for Apple. It's either the beginning of a whole new era of success in the consumer market, or the beginning of the end for Apple.

I can't use the new 15" MBP with the current glossy screen. I'm either buying the previous 15" MBP on discount and with a non-glossy display or getting a new 17"MBP with a non-glossy display.
Can the new 15"MBP be a pro model if a Pro can't use it?

An excellent post, couldn't agree with you more.

Here are a few photos of the screen. Judge by yourself:

These first images were actually posted by a guy that loves the MacBook, and pretends that glare isn't a problem.... judge by yourself:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...n/IMG_2132.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...n/IMG_2134.jpg
minimal brightness
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...n/IMG_2138.jpg
medium brightness:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...n/IMG_2139.jpg
maximum brightness;
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...n/IMG_2140.jpg

he pretends that at maximum brightness, reflections have disappeared....

And here is the first part of a french test:

http://www.legrandforum.com/avis/Ord...ujet5761.htm

My experience testing the new MacBook was very similar.

Lakeshore: couldn't agree more with all your sentiments. And since I'm a "car guy", I can't help but see the parallels with Porsche and their 911, with a move away from, shall we say, their traditional sporting crowd to a different demographic. I think they've learned their lesson and, with their current 997 variant, have moved closer to their roots. Time will tell if Apple are making the same mistake with their "only glossy" decision.
For the sake of Apple, one would hope that this (glossy only) was a carefully thought out, deliberate, strategic product planning move, not just a short-sighted reaction to recent trending sales numbers for near-term revenue maximization.

Seems to have worked for them with iMacs given the recent financial report.

Well put lakeshore. As a photographer I feel a bit slighted but had to act fast and replace a machine.

The Eizo white paper regarding this issue is quite easy to understand!

Glossy screens have upsides as well as downsides. Upsides include the fact that they generally look better, give the impression of better quality, colors look more vivid and there is more contrast.

Downsides include reflections, eyestrain and the fact that the screen may be more fragile (which is an important issue to me, especially for a laptop. I don't know how Apple new screens behave in that regard).

The is little difference between the two kind of screens "in performance in colorspace and grayscale rendering" if you take away external factors, at least according to Eizo.

According to the same company, glossy screens are appropriate for watching still and moving images but not as appropriate for internet browsing, business applications and editing images, if only because of the reflection / eyestrain issue.

Central to this reflection / eyestrain issue is the issue of AR coating which we do not seem to have heard much about yet.

To sum up, I think it boils down to what you want to use it for:

-Doing serious editing on a laptop (with a glossy or matte screen) which is not connected to a proper external screen is not a good idea to start with in my view for reasons which include screen size and bit depth (you may also have speed issues, storage issues, etc.).

-Extensively editing or working on images on a laptop with a glossy screen is an even worse idea for the reasons mentioned above.

-However, I am not dismissing a laptop with a glossy screen for imaging, since I mostly use laptops for the following: downloading images on location, doing some primary basic work in the field, showing off images and making presentations. A glossy screen may actually have the advantage for this kind of use, I will give it a try.

However, if you want or need to use it mainly for serious editing or cataloging work requiring concentration for extended periods and don't want to or can't use an external screen for doing so, you may be better off with something else.

Something interesting for all you color perfect folk.

My Fiance ordered a test invitation card from an online store. We received it yesterday and she was confused because the color did not look like it did on her comp (at the time she was using a Tibook 1ghz. I grabbed the invitation and checked out the site on my new Glossy Macbook Pro 2.8. The card looked incredibly accurate to the real life version. I was surprised how close the colors are.

I wish I had some print experience to see how acurite I can calibrate my monitor, with the bare eye, to the real life printed version. After all you should not rely on your eyes as much as what the numbers of the colors are. Just something that makes me go hum.

Oh, and to all those Web folk out there. Not only should Web sites be tested for different browsers, you should know what they look like on a Matte vs Glossy monitor as well.

mgsylvestre wrote:
http://www.eizo.com/support/wp/pdf/wp_07-001.pdf

Thats a good paper! Eizo know what they are talking about.. Although they didnt write anything about glass-covered screens?

Glass are even worse than anti-reflective (glossy) coating.

Have anyone tried using museumglass instead?

belsha wrote:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...n/IMG_2132.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...n/IMG_2134.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...n/IMG_2138.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...n/IMG_2139.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...n/IMG_2140.jpg
http://www.legrandforum.com/avis/Ord...ujet5761.htm

None of those links works.. ?

"glass is even worse..."

That may or may not be true. There are many variables that we know nothing about here. The glass which they are using is a good example: it may have some AR properties or other properties which improve things, or which do not. In the end, what is going to be really useful are reviews by people who have actually used the product for a number hours and by organisation with the necessary equipment and skills to actually test this.

well I had a 15" macbookpro which broke down so many times that they agreed to give a new one under my applecare warranty. Now I have been give a brand new Glossy one. Have tried to complain saying I just wanted a replacement for the old one but with a matte screen. No way, they say the only thing the only thing I do is sell to this brand new machine and find some stockist with the pre glossy screens still in stock. Ridiculous!!