17" Unibody Anti-Glare display is STUNNING!!

I've used a Spyder device like David mentioned, and you can't beat a high-end calibration device for really accurate color. But, for the average user who wants consistent and accurate color, a consumer-grade device like a Pantone Huey will do the trick. They're available at Apple Stores or online: http://store.apple.com/us/product/TH198ZM/A (I promise I don't work for Pantone). You can probably find it even cheaper than that. But for under $100, I think it's a worthwhile investment, especially if you use several different computers and want to keep them all consistent.

You can inspect a picture of the matte-screen version on http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/features-17inch.html – however, it’s a bit tricky to find it:

Scroll down to the picture gallery (right below the section called “Graphics in full force.”). Click on one of the three thumbnails to view the full-size photograph. You’ll find that you’re able to choose between four photographs, one of them showing the 17" MacBook Pro with the antiglare screen.

The URL of the picture itself is the following: http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/images/features17-gallery-front2-20090108.jpg.

I was waiting to ready some feedbacks of the new 17" Anti-Glare screen and here I'm getting it from someone who's into the photography business. I can't ask for more.
can you post some pictures of your new baby 🙂

David, there's been lots of discussion about the 17" glossy not being as bright as the 15". Did you find the matte screen adequately bright? As bright or brighter than the glossy version you saw in the store?

I have some issues with the mini-display port - but I love this machine. It's possible the anti-glare screen is not as "bright" as the glossy, but I love it. It's what I expected and what I wanted. I have used a 15" matte for a year - if that's where you're coming from, you won't be dissatisfied. I'm certain the glossy will be brighter. These should be in the store now. Go take a look and buy accordingly.

Hi David,

Obviously you're a power user when it comes to displays and I'm really just a hack. I personally wouldn't be able to justify a few hundred dollars just to calibrate a monitor (I'm a network engineer so stunning quality is just something I appreciate - not necessarily something I need as part of my profession). I was unable to manually calibrate my new 17" MBP matte finish to mirror what I see in terms of color and brightness on my external 24" HD display. Don't get me wrong - I too consider the MBP matte display to be absolutely STUNNING and I'm glad that I waited for it (also looked at the glass in an Apple store and couldn't reconcile myself to it).

Do you believe it to be possible for the layperson to manually calibrate a monitor with any degree of success or is it a must to make this type of investment? I felt I was just stabbing in the dark and eventually just gave up. Still 100% satisfied but know in the back of my mind that I'm probably not realizing the full potential I've invested in...

Thanks much,

Scott

David,

The issue I would welcome hearing your thoughts on is the problem MBP owners have been reporting with their external monitors (particularly 30 inch) and Mini Display Port/Adapters. It seems to be triggered when the system goes to sleep and also may be related to using the USB port adjacent to the Mini Display Port for the audio, as well as too many USB devices connected to the notebook at the same time.

Have you watched your system go in and out of sleep and have your displays behaved normally? How many USB devices do you have connected to your MBP 17? and are you using the USB port adjacent to the Mini Display port?

Would greatly appreciate your feedback regarding this...Thanks!

By the way I too am a photographer and I am encouraged to hear you have been able to profile your MBP 17's screen so that it is consistent with your desktop monitors. How much of a sweet spot do you have to work with? I found from my observations in the Apple Store that optimum viewing is pretty tight, but as you mentioned hopefully this is a notebook screen that you can learn to work with once you get used to it.

It's good to hear that the Antiglare screen is good. I used to have a 2.16Ghz Macbook Pro, which had a matte screen, and then got a Black MacBook, and don't like the glossy option, and can't wait to get my 17" Antiglare Macbook pro this week ^^

I am very happy with the anti glare option. It is definitely bright enough. At full brightness you can fry your retina's quite nicely. I use mine mostly for software development and hence not too concerned with color accuracy etc.

I was however surprised to see the aluminium ring around the screen, rather then the typically black border and glass. It would have been nice to have the entire display covered in glass as the glossy models are, but I concede that this would most likely result in the matt ( anti glare ) becoming glossy.

Would have been nice to see a couple of pictures of the anti-glare option on the Apple Website. So far all photos I have seen only showed the black border.

How do you ascertain that the finished hw calibration is set to '70%'? I hardware calibrated my Unibody 15" MBPs andas well as my 2 newly arrived 17" Unibody MBPs (one gloss, one 'anti-glare'), with an Gretag MacBeth Eye-One Pro system, a ColorMunki Photo unit, and the Spyder 3 Elite, usually running the Eye-One Pro profile for most runs. My clients output on everything from Epson 3800s to Heidelbergs, ProPhoto RGB to Hex to 7+ plate runs, spot/lacquer/process, newsprint to 10-point coated... my 15"Unibody MBPs (glossy, natch) can just attain acceptably accurate calibration to IS, period, and I'm wondering if, between the narrow viewing angle and the apparent dithering in some color midtones, whether the 15" MBP displays are hardware 24-bit, but rather 16-bit dithered... my 15 MBPs are barely acceptable for the critical photo retouching and pre-press design work I do every day in Quark, P-shop, Illustrator and various Binuscan, etc. apps... OTOH, both the gloss and anti-glare 17" MBP displays, once calibrated, are of course both warmer and dimmer than the Apple factory LCD profile and the setting of '100%' brightness in System Preferences>Display. NO quality calibration hardware CMS profiler result will NOT dim any display in good condition (this obviously doesn't include 2-3 year old non-LED backlit laptop or desktop LCDs, even IPS ones), and usually warm ANY display, whether LCD or CRT... back in the day, just north of 5K color temperature was more common than the 6.5k now often in use. The mechanical brightness capability of a laptop display is more relevant 'back in the day', when the red guns in particular of the Barco and Sony CRTs 'dimmed' with age; they needed to be MUCH brighter than what was needed for pre-press calibration, to compensate for the CRT's phosphor 'decay'/RGB gun aging...

all that said, (sorry about the lecture), I'd be very interested in how, on the 2009 17" MBP, you were able to ascertain that your display after hardware calibration was at '70%' brightness... I set the display to 100%, turn off the ambient sensor, of course, and then do the calibration... the screen's dimmer when that profile is selected, but in ALL cases, with ALL my hardware profiles, the screen remains, at least in System Preferences, at 100%... is there a place in the s/w of your calibration unit that tells you what it 'dimmed your display to, using the System Preferences' '100%' Brightness as the baseline?

Thanks in advance! =^D

Oh, yeah... BOTH 17" displays ROCK. Everything the big Lenovo, (used an associate's Winbloze laptop for 3 days), with the built-in tablet is, and much more, from a calibration standpoint, as well as in overall usability... just wanted to make that clear!

Thanks! That looks like something to consider - I'm planning a trip to the Apple store later in the week so I'll do some research into this beforehand...

I think this one is better but it's not on apple website.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=7165830&postcount=37

I just got my 17in. MBP and the display is WAY bright... no issues here.