Glossy or Matte screen for programming

Rails
1

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

2

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.

3

+1 matte

Less glare, less reflections, and hides dust on the screen a lot better
then
the glossy does.

Cheers,
Chris

On 7/16/07, michau [email protected] 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).

–
www.fuzzylizard.com

You know you’ve achieved perfection in design, Not when you have nothing
more to add, But when you have nothing more to take away.
– Antoine de Saint-Exupery

4

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

5

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?

6

On 16 Jul 2007, at 14:50, Lionel B. 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?

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

7

Quoting Robert W. [email protected], 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

8

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?

9

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.

10

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