Glossy monitors are laughable

nathanm · « **on:** 21 Jul 2011, 03:42 pm »

I had occasion to visit an Apple store yesterday for the 2nd time and while I was waiting at the "genius bar" I had some time to poke around on an iMac. Oh my goodness, those glossy monitors are a joke! How the heck does anyone put up with that crap? The wall behind me was as bright as whatever was on the screen! It's like a mirror. Who needs an in-monitor video camera when I can see myself perfectly fine in the monitor? How does this work, are we supposed to cover our walls with black velvet and wear cat burglar outfits when we use these things? Are we supposed to feel like we are sitting by a window at a fashionable cafe or something? Completely absurd. It's a shame too, cause I like the Thunderbolt stuff, but it would be nice if it was put into a screen I could actually look at.

MaxCast · « **Reply #1 on:** 21 Jul 2011, 04:14 pm »

Well,

I really like the imac screen (21.5"). Much better than two dells (regular and an ultra sharp) I have, would trade them instantly. Plus, kids have a ball making videos in front of the mac. It can be amazing what goes on in their little creative minds.

JohnR · « **Reply #2 on:** 21 Jul 2011, 04:18 pm »

Quote from: nathanm on 21 Jul 2011, 03:42 pm

The wall behind me was as bright as whatever was on the screen!

Um... isn't that the problem right there?

nathanm · « **Reply #3 on:** 21 Jul 2011, 07:31 pm »

Not really, you can see the whole room reflected. Obviously bright things are going to be more distracting than dark things, but by any measure I think it's almost comically unusable.

kingdeezie · « **Reply #4 on:** 21 Jul 2011, 07:59 pm »

Not to say that they are anywhere near ideal, but the gloss is not that bad when you are at home.

Its the same reason people needlessly mock plasma televisions. Of course in a Best Buy or Apple Store, where the ambient light is significantly more elevated then your house, its going to have a fair amount of glare.

In your in home environment however, the glare is not that bad. The kids use the IMAC we have in the living room, and the glare is not that bad.

I can see how someone might not prefer a glossy screen, but they are not "laughably" bad by any stretch of the imagination.

macrojack · « **Reply #5 on:** 21 Jul 2011, 08:16 pm »

Do not loose your composure over this matter, Nathan. With my iMac, the screen is not noticeably reflective unless the drapes behind me are open. In normal room lighting, the screen looks damn good. It's real glass, you know.

Elizabeth · « **Reply #6 on:** 21 Jul 2011, 08:24 pm »

My 42" plasma has an antiglare coating. And i am very careful when I clean it. I have owned the TV for many years already, and have only cleaned off the screen four times.

bunnyma357 · « **Reply #7 on:** 21 Jul 2011, 08:35 pm »

I both agree & disagree with you. I've got a glossy iMac in a controlled edit suite, and it is by far the easiest display on the eyes I have ever used. And the look is much easier to unofficially "calibrate" to my delivery medium - HD video.

If I couldn't control the room environment, it would be pretty worthless. For me the bigger issues are the screen burn with Apple monitors - don't know if the LED's have it, but it really makes critical viewing difficult.

Jim C

kingdeezie · « **Reply #8 on:** 21 Jul 2011, 08:39 pm »

Quote from: Elizabeth on 21 Jul 2011, 08:24 pm

My 42" plasma has an antiglare coating. And i am very careful when I clean it. I have owned the TV for many years already, and have only cleaned off the screen four times.

I don't know if this way directed at my post, but I was agreeing with you for the most part if you read my entire post.

Every display in my house, outside of my projector is a plasma. I wouldn't buy any other kind of TV at this point in time.

However, they all have varying levels of anti-glare. My Samsung 8000 series 3D plasma antiglare is very very efficient.

The 6500 series in my bedroom is not so much; not bad, but not perfect. The lamp directly across from it will reflect off of it if you have it turned on.

Regardless, my main point was that the glare issues always seem exaggerated in a store environment as opposed to a normal house hold environment.

Rocket_Ronny · « **Reply #9 on:** 21 Jul 2011, 08:52 pm »

I had to replace my 15' Powerbook as the motherboard fried. Hard to get a matt finish screen like it unless ordering directly from Apple. I ended up with a glossy 15' powerbook. I can work with the screen. It actually is nicer than the matt in general terms until the back lighting gets too bright.

For the most part I don't use the powerbook's screen as I mainly use a larger 26 monitor that is more matt in nature.

Here's a really nice glossy monitor that everyone would love in their computer rig. The Carnegie Acoustics CSB-1.

Rocket_Ronny

wgscott · « **Reply #10 on:** 21 Jul 2011, 09:07 pm »

I have found the glossy monitors quite unpleasant. I put my glossy-screened iMac in a dark room, and replaced it with a mac Mini plugged into a Samsung LED non-glare monitor, and it is much more pleasant to use. When my wife got her new powerbook, I encouraged her to spend the extra couple of bucks for the non-glossy screen option.

I don't know why they think this is a good idea for monitors and iPads. I've complained vociferously about this, but to no avail. So instead of buying their monitors, I'll buy Samsung LED monitors. They are less expensive as well.

I write this as a slobbering Apple fan-boy, FWIW.

srb · « **Reply #11 on:** 21 Jul 2011, 09:35 pm »

I think glossy monitors are better for things like critical photo editing and graphics work (in a work setting where reflections can be controlled) for better contrast, detail and color accuracy, but for general purpose use and mobile use matte screens make more sense to me.

Steve

Chromisdesigns · « **Reply #12 on:** 21 Jul 2011, 10:21 pm »

I like the iMac monitor look and will probably buy one, eventually. I've almost pulled the trigger a couple times already.

Here's a funny story about shiny screens -- back in the day, I did a lot of work with mainframe computer systems, including IBM and Unisys. This one guy had been giving the tech support staff a lot of crap about how bad the display looked on his IBM 3270 terminal (old block-mode green screen box). We had already been through a couple of iterations of adjusting it, replacing it, etc., so we were all sitting around drinking coffee late one day when somebody said "let's wax the screen!"...which we thought was a great idea, so we did. The next day, the guy called us full of praise for our "solution" to his problem, he thought it looked great. In fact, he said a couple of the other people in his office wanted to know if we could "fix" their terminals to look like his!

It's all a matter of taste, I guess. In fact, waxing the screen on one of those things made it look like the characters were floating on air, not painted on the back of the glass. A bit odd, but at least a few people liked it.

However, the office manager up there was less than thrilled when we told her that she needed to polish the boss's screen every week to keep him happy!

Crimson · « **Reply #13 on:** 22 Jul 2011, 03:11 am »

As an owner of some Mac glossy monitors as well as a few Kuro Elite plasmas, I'm curious as to this ambient light level you speak of. You keep your room lighting at a higher level than the foot-candles your monitors put out?

Buy an LCD/LED/toob monitor and be content with inferior technology.

Rocket_Ronny · « **Reply #14 on:** 22 Jul 2011, 04:41 am »

When I was belly aching about the glossy screen to a salesman he pointed out that customers generally liked the output of the glossy over the matt. In low light I would agree. The glossy also allows for a lower cost from what I am told.

Bottom line:

1. If you go with an I-mac make sure you don't have strong back light.

2. If a macbook get a seperate matt monitor.

3. It is what it is so stop belly aching and deal with the situation. I don't like it either but that's life.

Rocket_still matt after all these years_Ronny

Tyson · « **Reply #15 on:** 22 Jul 2011, 06:12 am »

Laughable pronouncements are laughable.

fredgarvin · « **Reply #16 on:** 22 Jul 2011, 04:34 pm »

I agree, those reflective monitors suck. For all the reasons you mention.

craig223 · « **Reply #17 on:** 22 Jul 2011, 05:50 pm »

It is always a GOOD idea to place a computer monitor so that a window is not in front or behind the user. Also, keep ambient light levels lower in a room where computer work is going on to help prevent eyestrain and screen glare. Spent a lot of years supervising IT and these simple rules helped end many "problems."

wgscott · « **Reply #18 on:** 8 Aug 2011, 04:41 am »

Not everyone has the luxury of placing a computer monitor where glare can be minimized.

I just picked up a couple of the Samsung LED 23" monitors from Costco for $200 each. The 27" is $300. These will be hooked up to mac minis. Although I am a big fan of iMacs, the glare has become a literal headache, so this is a big improvement, and the modularity is nice.

JohnR · « **Reply #19 on:** 8 Aug 2011, 12:32 pm »

Quote from: wgscott on 8 Aug 2011, 04:41 am

Not everyone has the luxury of placing a computer monitor where glare can be minimized.

Maybe it's a luxury. I like to look out windows so tend to place my monitor so I can. That's probably bad, but it does tend to mean that behind me is not a window.