Matte vs Glossy on LED backlight

Im about to buy one of these new MBP's, but Im torn on the screen.
Im used to matte and am very wary of the reflectiveness of the glossy screens. Would the matte screens visual performance in sunlit conditions also be increased by the LED backlight?
I would like to hear about peoples experiences and recommendations.

I went back and forth on matte or glossy a great deal before purchasing my new Santa Rosa 15" MBP. I hope my experience can help with your decision.
I use both laptop and desktop systems. I do a great deal of color work photographing product and producing catalogs and websites. I rely heavily on Aperture, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and InDesign. Attached to my G5 tower is a 23" Cinema Display. I do the majority of my photo editing and layout work on that display and it's wonderful, so long as I calibrate it regularly (this is a must).
I've owned virtually every laptop that Apple has produced in one generation or another since the Blackbird models. I upgraded to the Santa Rosa 2.4 from a first generation MacBook Pro (matte). No laptop I've used has a display that is acceptable for critical color work. Not one, not even close. I'm not knocking Apple's laptop displays specifically, as they've produced some good ones, but rather laptop displays in general. They are simply inadequate for mission critical color work.
I travel with my laptop and shoot products digitally direct to my laptop. The colors I see in the shoots, even with a color calibrated laptop, aren't close to what I get when I get back to my office and begin editing the photos. So, those of you who maintain that matte is the only way to go because it's much more accurate for color editing should really be espousing the use of an external display for those purposes. A laptop display won't cut it if color accuracy is paramount.
So, what do I use the laptop for besides spot work when I'm not at my desktop? I use it for mail, word processing, iPhoto for family stuff using my point and shoot, web browsing, watching dvds while I travel, watching downloaded movies and shows, showing off photos to friends and family, and the occasional bit of gaming, and just a touch of iMovie & iDVD editing. Having just bought my first, I can now say the glossy display blows the doors off the matte display for these purposes.
I took a leap of faith, bought the glossy, and I can tell you it's absolutely gorgeous. For the activities I listed, it's a much more impressive display to look at than the matte. Photos look much richer, colors are much more vivid, and even text is sharper and easier to read. And, despite using it in mixed environments (office with fluorescent lights, studio with hot lamps, home with lots of windows, airports & planes) glare has really not been the issue I had feared. I do not use my laptop outside, so I can't speak to that specifically.
So from now on it's glossy laptop displays for me. Will I do color critical work on it? Heck no, but then again I wouldn't do that on the matte version either. That remains the domain of my Cinema display. But for most everything else, the glossy display, to my surprise, looks much better.
I hope that helps.

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Led backlighting

I just came across an online review that provided three screenshots of a T400 LED backlit display next to a CCFL lenovo display. I was ready to dismiss the 'hype' until I saw this.
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4569&review=Lenovo+ThinkPad+T400+2767+%2D+Core+2+Du...
I, and I think many others, would just LOVE to see a few similarly direct comparisons of the wsxga+ ccfl 15.4 screen and the wxga led 15.4 option posted here.
I am reasonably certain that I want no less than a 15.4 inch display in wsxga+. I need my next laptop for cad work and non-critical photo editing and hope to be able to move about with it (no separate monitor).
I'm stuck in indecisionland now with this talk of LED backlighting. I did read somewhere that the WSXGA+ TFT, w/ CCFL Backlight option for the T500 is very bright and possibly not even distinguishable in brightness and color from the LED backlit screens. I noticed that someone asked of the R500 anticipating a WSXGA+ screen with LED in another forum. No answer as of yet. Is it the case that there just are no 15.4 inch LED backlit screens being manuf now? How can that be? They've been announcing this improvement in the trade publications for years now!
I realize that that anticipation of this sort of thing in terms of real dates is probably verboten among industry insiders. If I'm holding off a decision to purchase based on this, then I'm probably not alone. Maybe it's not in manufacturers marketing interests to let anyone know that it will be available next month? Or is this not the case?
Just what is the status of this stuff?
As a postscript... there are, evidently, 15.4 inch LED backlit screens available (like the wxga option listed for the T500) but I've found that a few other brands offer the same compromise... either LED backlighting in lower resolution, or CCFL in higher resolution. Does anyone know why this is? Is it a matter of consumer demand and marketing or is there some engineering difficulty in matching LED backlight with higher resolutions in a laptop screen?
Message Edited by bjamesw on 12-29-2008 04:11 PM

bjamesw wrote:
I'm astonished. Has all of this been covered already in posts I haven't found? This would seem to be a pretty important topic to anyone interested in thinkpads and it's generated utter silence?
It's the holiday season - forum traffic is down all over, not just here.
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Jane
2015 X1 Carbon, ThinkPad Slate, T410s, X301, X200 Tablet, T60p, HP TouchPad, iPad Air 2, iPhone 5S, IdeaTab A2107A, Yoga Tablet, Yoga 3 Pro
I am not a Lenovo Employee.
I AM one of those crazy ThinkPad zealots!
If you find a post helpful and it answers your question, please mark it as an "Accepted Solution"!

15.4" WXGA TFT with LED Backlight - What are people's impressions?

I've had my T500 with WXGA TFT LED Backlighting for about a week and I have to say I am very unimpressed.
The Thinkpad works fine but the screen is terrible. Everything on the screen is washed out and videos are pixelated.
I wish i'd never chosen it. I'm considering sending it back to get the non backlit LCD.
What experiences have other users had with it? And for that matter with the standard WXGA?
Cheers
Lyndon

The 15% restocking fee is Lenovo policy, unless you can negotiate it out with them before you buy. I heard they drop it if you return it and buying something more expensive....
My T500 has the LED panel. Apparently, it is a very recent addition to the options. It is certainly very bright, but it is not appear evenly lit. I blame that on the odd way the panel handles off axis performance, because I can't imagine an LED screen being anything but uniform.
I've since complaining run my Eye-One screen calibrator on it and totally fixed the incredible blue shift in the display (though I knew that could be fixed). I am thinking I can limp by with this laptop while I look for the 'one' that has a decent screen. Then this puppy will be up on eBay. (I wish I hadn't bought upgraded the video card, but maybe some gamer will want that feature)
I started thinking about why I want to take the $175 hit on price and start the search all over again. I'll just use that money to soften the loss of selling it on eBay someday.

LED Backlight flicker within specification!

Hi All,
I recently purchased a 2.2 GHz LED backlight Glossy MBP. After using the unit for a few days I noticed repeated eye strain and headaches.
I calibrated the LCD to no avail and can honestly say that I have never had such an issue with my glossy CCFL backlight MB or new 24" iMac.
After almost a week of use, I stumbled upon a background that exposed a clear flickering on the LCD. (Here is a copy: http://www.csse.uwa.edu.au/~lucas/background.html)
I called Apple and was told to take it in to an authorized repair center (Next Byte, Nedlands WA). Upon showing the unit to the technician, he stated that the flicker was evident and that he would let Apple know.
I called Apple a little later but they had still not heard back from the repair center, even though I had been called by Next Byte and told that Apple had been filled in. However to my surprise, the current technician proceeded to inform me that the flicker on my unit was standard across all LED backlight units and that it was "within specification"!
I was and still am very disappointed that a flicker on any LCD is acceptable and fail to see how such a disappointing "feature" can be palmed off as tolerable.
I am waiting to hear from Apple on Monday but so far I am so far disgusted with my experience. A 2,700 AUD machine should not exhibit an LCD flicker, least of all one that causes its user considerable discomfort.
Rami

Make sure you have installed the most recently MacBook Pro updater (version 1.1 I believe) and upon restarting, reset PRAM…
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238

Matte or Glossy????

Going to upgrade from a powerbook g4 to an original MBP. (2.2 or 2.4 ish for the LED). Just want something quicker for my day to day usage and the N networking would be nice too. Cant justify the 1700 for the unibody so Im sticking with a year or two old aluminum.
Question is. Do I go Matte or Glossy screen? Have a matte in my PB. Looks OK, but another reason for the upgrade is I want a prettier screen. Im wondering if the Glossy is that much better. Can you see it in sunlight? does it show glare from every window and light bulb, etc? I have a sunny house and live on a golf course so from time to time I'm out on my deck playing on the computer (the deck is covered so not like sun is beaming right onto the screen).
Please, weigh in people, with what you have, what you like about it, if you wish you had the other screen, etc. Would love to hear any and all opinions.
Thanks.
Message was edited by: Tmilless

I have a Late MBP 13" and, at the time I wish they made it matte. Did no wish to go bigger because I am travelling a lot and wanted a small machine. I was really scared about the glossy. Turns out that I love it! I find the colors way more crispier than my old laptop (was an acer with LCD not LED). I the odd time I see glare in the screen i just move it a tiny bit and its gone.
In the house, I never see the glare, only when the screen is really dark (i.e. when watching a movie) but nothing to make me hate it.
This is my experience, hope you will have more opinions to have a better idea.

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I have been using my iPhone 4 for e few months after replacing my old iPhone 3G, and slowly realized that I almost always felt asleep after being exposed to this phone's, my laptop's and desktop's screen only in about several minutes. After googling around, I came across a recently published medical research result in a physiology journal, which mentioned the evening exposure effect of the LED backlight screen's blue-range short wavelength, http://jap.physiology.org/content/early/2011/03/10/japplphysiol.00165.2011.abstr act
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Thanks Xardas,
One week and we have BIOS Update 1.9 !! = aproximately one update a week. On one side very nice to see that Toshiba takes care of the problems. On other hand why are so many updates needed? Was this Tecra A11 is sold as final product with 1/2 unfunctional BIOS? Wenn I bougt it I had BIOS 1.4 and I tell you there were mistakes even when you went through the menu, so if someone tested it in Toshiba he could see it. So I have really feeling that Toshiba didnot test BIOS properly. That is maybe why they need to update BIOS so oft. They use users as testers, what is for some rare problems OK, but not for common bugs!
Why does not Toshiba describe what exactly is updated in new BIOS version? Where can I find this information, e.g. what is changed between BIOS 1.6 and 1.7 and so on.? I need this information because I really do not know what is going to happen if I update to 1.9 now. I do not want to spend another day with playing with bios, and in worst case to kill my eyes with bug in LED Backlight. So where can I find what is new in BIOS 1.9 ?
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RE:Matte or Glossy Screen

I am purchasing a Mac Book Pro .. and wanted to get opinions on which screen to choose...
can you help me out ..Matte or Glossy Screens..

Honestly ..it's a personal preference thing. Go to an apple store and look at both for a bit to see which you like. If you don't have an apple store nearby ..go to Best Buy or any other store that sells laptops ... the matte/glossy conundrum happens across all makes/models.

Matte or Glossy - opinions

I have a dilemma ---------- matte of glossy 15" screen.
Currently at work I have a glossy 15" CRT connected to my desktop. It's nice and clear and based on my position I have no glare. I have a notebook (non-mac) which will be replaced - which has a 13" matte.
I will use my MBP 75% of the time at home in a non-glare environment, and inside. The other 25% of the time I will bring the MBP to work daily to take online classes 1 hour per day during lunch in my car (where i't nice and quite) connected to the net wireless.
I will not use the MBP for any designing/art purposes. Just to connect to the net, email, print, download pictures off my digital camera, itunes.
So just wondering if anyone has the glossy how they like it ? It would be nice to compare both in an Apple store --- but there would most likely be trouble with the lights....
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Bob

Hi Bob Primiano;
I was having all of the same questions myself about what screen to get on my MBP. After spending quite a bit of time at my local Apple store I think I have finally found the answer. Since what I was looking for was a portable to show clients my pictures and allow them to make selections, I felt that the glossy screen presented my pictures the best. As far as lighting in the store goes, I found that by using all of the laptops in the store in various positions I was able to see the various screens in all kinds of lighting to test for reflections. Once the staff in the store was on to what I was doing they even allowed me to use a MBP from the Genus bar which I was able to move around to change lighting. They were most helpful and told me to be sure to come back when I got my tax return. As soon as my tax return comes in I will be going back to get my MBP with a glossy screen.
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