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Comment on Ask HN: Why are monitors matte and laptops glossy and not the other way around?parent

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I've never seen an apple laptop with an anti-reflection coating that worked. I think that's just marketing. Sit in a well lit room and you stare at yourself on anything besides a 90% white background.

Wait, is this why they push minimalist, tons-of-white-space design?

I had a late 2009 MacBook Pro with matte screen, the one with the "ugly" silver bezel around it. It was the last model ever that offered a matte coating. It was fantastic. I used it for over 8 years and even after the first retinas came out I still preferred my old matte screen. Then they reduced the glare but still... I think even better DPI and contrast don't make up for the fact that you're staring at your own face all the time. And it really puts a strain on your eyes as they need to constantly "filter" the focus.

I hate glossy screens.

That model still had the sculpted silver keys? That was, by far, my favorite laptop keyboard: I still have a 15” ‘08 MBP that I boot up occasionally.

Agreed,I liked that the silver keys, silver body and bezel, almost invisible logotype made the screen the main focus. That matte screen was fantastic. In bright situations, everything around is also bright and reflective, but with matte, nothing reflected in the screen. It was great.

At the time, I was a designer and it allowed for total focus on the work. By far, my favorite laptop experience.

I hate glossy screens

I cringe when someone shows me something on their laptop and the screen is imprinted with keyboard finger cheese.

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