Why is Apple insisting on Glossy Displays?

I use my 15'' Macbook Pro (Mid 2010) for iPhone/iPad apps development for the enterprise clients.

I ordered it online and at that time there was the option of matte display.The glossy display is simply not usable when coding, the reflections are there and after prolonged period I feel a great strain on my eyes.

Although they took the option off of the online shop it is possible to order it in person when you go to the Apple store. But that's just ridicullous, I want to be able to order my H/W online as I do not want to travel. I did not upgrade my macbook to retina (reading the code is better on that display) just because of matte display option not being there when ordering from the online shop.

Radgid,

The US Apple Online Store still has the anti glare option for the non retina MBP 15". There is no anti glare screen on the retina MBPs.

Yes, the same is trye for the UK Apple Online store, however I would like to upgrade to retina screen and this has no option of matte display :-(

Can't see why though.

Unfortunately I don't ever think we'll see a matte screen on a retina display.

I am in the same situation, still using a 2007 iMac with a matte screen.

I am a professional photographer and now I am limited by the memory (back then it could not be higher that 3Gb) and external hard disk storage speed (only old FW connectors). Since the size of my pictures keeps on increasing, I need a new machine.

And I am sorry to say that Apple is not an option anymore, just because of that absence of matte screen on the iMac. And no, I am not going to spend 3500€ for a Mac Pro and an external display. I want to remain under 2000€, display included.

I hope Apple can understand that gloss screens are a horror for professionals, and not an option: no serious calibration possible, and destroying the eyes... Not to mention exaggerated contrast...

Come on, be serious about this! Is it do hard to listen to customers?

VfromS wrote:

And no, I am not going to spend 3500€ for a Mac Pro and an external display. I want to remain under 2000€, display included.

Meh, you don't need a Mac Pro. If an iMac is good enough for you, the new Mini's are equally amazing. Now that VRAM finally scales as you upgrade system RAM, the new Mini's work really well for graphics tasks too - an area that there meager 256MB of VRAM traditionally really limited them.

3M also makes some nice anti-glare screens that pretty much replicate the Matte experience. You don't see Apple adressing the "matte issue" since there really aren't that many people affected by it. Even when they offered Matte as a paide upgrade on the MacBook Pro's it wasn't enough people for them to keep it.

Apple designers: I really really hate glare screen!

Its ridiculous! How glad am I that I bought one of the non-glare hi-res Macbook Pro's a few months ago. These things are going to become collectors items for the non-glare fans....

Couldn't agree more. Apple have just lost another pro customer - me. Went to the Apple store to buy one of the new MacBook Pros. Not available in matte - sorry, no sale for you, guys!

How daft can it be to design a machine that by definition is meant to work *outside* the office with a highly reflective screen? I guess Apple have just decided to abandon the pro market and go full-on into the consumer and gadget market. Pity, but if this carries on I may well have to switch to PC - after over 20 years on Mac.

Cupertino, do you listen?

I tried both, MacBook Pro with matte and glossy display. I couldn't work with the glossy display, got headache and so on. Switched back to the matte display and it is really fine. Would like to upgrade now to the Retina MacBook Pro but no offer from Apple. Really sad! Apple please give us a matte option for your great MacBooks Pros!

Apple seem determined to ruin the eyesight and postures of all their professional users. Is it just me or is it obvious to everyone that Apple seems to be moving their product line away from specs that suit the design professional to a more mass consumer market?

It started when they cut the 17inch MBP. Better resolution does not make up for extra screen real estate. The matte screen option has now been axed. Having previously owned a glossy screened imac, I found that the only way to get any real work done was to close the curtains. How can this be classified as good design?

You could always buy a mac mini and a matte screen monitor, but they put low grade GPUs into those making them a poor choice for 3d designers like myself. And before you say it, sinking $4000+ into the new rubbish-bin inspired Mac Pro and suitable screen is an option for the very few.

I agree with Chris S, the future for my business looks like it will be a PC one. What has happen to the Apple culture/philosophy of innovation and being on the cutting edge?

Be careful, Windoze products still use the registry. They are still OS's that degrade with use and require reformatting every so often to maintain performance.

That leaves us in an unhappy place. I am not only upset about the apple glossy screens, but the newer iMacs are even more difficult to replace HDD's etc.

They have sacrificed service to make it thinner, but thinner makes no difference for me when I am using it and facing it head-on.

A fact of life is that HDDs fail. For a work computer, I demand one that can be up and running in a few hours of a HDD crash. That is simply not compatible with a computer that needs an appoinment and the computer needs to be dropped off. Why? just so it can be made thinner. That is not a good design choice.

I don't know if the new iMacs can have the front screen cover removed, but that is what I have done to my late 2009 27" iMac. The screen is quite fine now. In a few years we should be able to get inexpensive 4k external screens, but that doesn't solve the current problem.

What is the best choice for the pro in the future? it is not so clear. Yes, I feel that Apple doesn't care about us. They make most of their money by selling toys such as iPads and iPhones. I rarely see and iPad being used fo work. As far as iPhones, they are tiny iPods wth terrible phones attached. They are great for internet, but not good as voice telephones.

It's the lack of Steve Jobs. As soon as he started having health issues, the company started going down hill and it really needs someone like him, with vision and passion, back at the helm to bring Apple back to its glory days.

It certainly does appear that Apple is not going to cater to the professional user. The bottom line is always money and clearly the money is in glossy screens and iPads. It's quite discouraging. Having used Apple computers for the last 15 years I don't want to go back to Windows. Sadly, their need to fix things that aren't broken (apparently to sell more products) and jettison very useful features, may very well drive me there. Since pro users are now a tiny minority in the Apple world, whether or not those users stay with Apple is of no concern to the company.

One of the guys at the Apple store said that only 5% of the buyers wanted anti-glare so they got rid of it. They do not seem to recall the lean years when their stock was worthless garbage. Back then the current 5% accounted for 100% of people buying their computers, we were the pros that carried them through. Now they have abandoned us.