24" iMAC: Is the Glare that Bad??

jdryan3

I have an 18 month old 15" MacBook Pro (matte) that I use with a 24" S-IPS monitor (3-4 years old). My wife needs a new(er) laptop and bigger monitor, so I was going to give her this setup. And then get the 24" iMAC. The reason I would like to go this route is it saves $1000 over a 17" MacBook Pro for the "recently-laid-off-back-to-consulting-damn-my-G4-MacBook-is->6yearsold!" wife. She needs portability - I like it every so often.

But I am leery about the stories I hear about the glossy screen. I calibrate my monitor and the room I do my photo editing in is a dark cave with grey walls, so not a lot of ambient light falling on it. I have heard that the calibration is a little tricky, but all panels seem to be compared to CRTs.

BTW - Just how much different is using the glossy screen compared to the old ($2K+) Sony Trinitron?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

DavidTO

I'm not sure if it's the glare so much as the colors are more intense and are a bit misleading, is my understanding. The blacks are deeper, too, I think.

We have the 20", which is not as good as the 24", display-wise. It seems fine, but it's my wife's. I never really use it other than to help her out. It's definitely better than using my older LCD MacBook Pro. I can't compare it to the newer LED laptop displays, but I would much prefer to work on the iMac to the MBP, if that helps at all.

dlplumer

Suggest you wait for the new iMacs which should be out this quarter (imo). That's what I'm doing.

jdryan3

DavidTO wrote:

It's definitely better than using my older LCD MacBook Pro. I can't compare it to the newer LED laptop displays, but I would much prefer to work on the iMac to the MBP, if that helps at all.

It does. Thank you for the feedback.

jdryan3

dlplumer wrote:

Suggest you wait for the new iMacs which should be out this quarter (imo). That's what I'm doing.

Unfortunately this is not an option. The old G4 PowerBook just won't cut it. And the former employer's 3 month old 17" MacBook Pro has to be returned. Thursday. :cry

pathfinder

David,
I bought Nightingale ( my spouse ) a 24 in iMac for Christmas, and it has the mentioned glossy screen. I prefer the matte screen myself, it just does not show the reflections of the glossy screens. The iMac is not too bad really.

Now the 13 inch MacBook I got for myself for email and such is horrible - I see every venetian blind in my office when I use it.

The glossy screens look cooler short term - more saturated ( less shadow detail ), deeper blacks ( poorer gray scale) - but are much harder to live with long term for image editing in my opinion.

Neither comes close to my matte Cinema Displays!

Pupator

pathfinder wrote:

David,
The glossy screens look cooler short term - more saturated ( less shadow detail ), deeper blacks ( poorer gray scale) - but are much harder to live with long term for image editing in my opinion.

It's not that the screen on my Macbook Air is so glossy as to be frustrating (unlike David's MB), it's that it lies to me. Color correction on that screen is a total waste of time because I'm just going to have to re-do it when I get to the desktop.

pathfinder

I have a 15 in MBP with a matte screen ( calibrated with the3 Spyder2Pro I use for my desktop also), but I have never liked editing images on smaller screens.

I never do any serious editing anywhere other than my 30 in Cinema Display ( also calibrated with my Spyder2Pro). My prints are a match for desktop's screen, so I know what I am doing ( I think anyway:D )

DavidTO

Pupator wrote:

It's not that the screen on my Macbook Air is so glossy as to be frustrating (unlike David's MB), it's that it lies to me. Color correction on that screen is a total waste of time because I'm just going to have to re-do it when I get to the desktop.

Mine's the older matte screen, so it's not the gloss that's my problem. I just don't like the display for correcting.

ashby

You know, I'm sitting here using my iMac 24 glossy and have had it about a year and I have never even thought about the glossy screen until I started this thread. Now, I have the monitor facing away from the window so glare isn't a huge problem, but when I started looking carefully, there is some glare visible. It has never been a distraction and I'm on this thing several hours a day. If you are in a place with a lot of light coming from behind you, it might be an issue, but for me, not at all. I've never used the Cinema displays, but I'm pretty happy with my screen.

jdryan3

ashby wrote:

You know, I'm sitting here using my iMac 24 glossy and have had it about a year and I have never even thought about the glossy screen until I started this thread.

Isn't that how it always is? You are perfectly happy and satisfied until someone tells you you aren't.

More feedback is welcome, but I think we have a plan in the short run to get us through. And it does allow for waiting for the new iMACs to come out. Plus I may be able to swing it so that I can get a 24" iMAC in here next to my current setup. Looking at one in the store just won't cut it.

Linh

I found it mildly annoying, the gloss. Most notably when I had darker things up. Overall, I got used to it. But you really have to have control over your lighting IMO. I only used it for a week while I set it up, but it was iffy for me.

my main concern would be color correction, how well does it work? Also, the 24" at 0 brightness... was far too bright. That actually bothered me more for the short time I used it.

jaswebpics

The glare is bad. At work I avoid wearing bright/light shirts and I have some 3x2 metre black material pinned up on the wall behind...

At home I pull the blinds behind me and open the ones to the sides...

Is it worth it? Yes! The screen is ultra sharp and as long as you can control the light, it's fantastic IMO.

Brendan

DavidTO wrote:

I'm not sure if it's the glare so much as the colors are more intense and are a bit misleading, is my understanding. The blacks are deeper, too, I think.

I'm thinking about buying a 24" iMac to replace my six year old laptop, and color integrity is one of the key concerns. I do not trust the view on my laptop at all, as even the slightest movement of the screen completely changes color/contrast/etc.

Does anyone have any further input into the color accuracy of the iMac? Is there any way to 'desaturate' it to compensate for the effect of the glossy cover? Or is it not a huge issue?

I am not actually selling any photographs or printing for anything terribly serious, so it's not a huge concern at the moment. But I would eventually like to try to make a bit of money to fund a new lens or two with photography, so it would be good if this monitor would be adequate.

Thanks,
—Brendan

PS - I'd also be looking to upgrade from CS2 for Windows to CS3 or CS4 for Mac. If anyone has any experience with upgrading cross-platform and has any information on cost/etc. (or whether Adobe even does this), I'd appreciate it. A PM would be fine so as to not derail the thread.