MacBook Pros Regain Matte Displays…At A Price

By Geoff Duncan August 11, 2009

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Glossy notebook screens seem to be popular amongst digital media consumers—perhaps they believe being able to see whether they have any spinach stuck in their teeth while using their system is a useful feature, we truly don’t know. However, a number of mobile computer users who work in bright environments—as well as designers, writers, and programmers—aren’t fond of glossy displays, and Apple annoyed almost all of them when it converted its entire MacBook Pro line over to glossy displays, beginning almost a year ago. A matte display has been an option on the high-end 17-inch MacBook Pro for a while, but now Apple is throwing a bone to its customers who prefer matte displays: for $50 extra, users can custom-order a matte display for the 15-inch MacBook Pro.

Apple still only offers glossy displays on the 13-inch MacBook Pro, as well as the thing MacBook Air and entry-level MacBook.

Proponents of glossy screens generally believe the displays offer better quality, with higher contrast and richer color; however, the screens are infamous for being almost unusable in bright environments due to reflections and glare. Matte displays use a polarizing coating that diffuses ambient light, so the displays are less susceptible to glare and reflections, but some users claim matte displays look fuzzy.

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Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

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