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jeff k · May 15, 2011, 12:14 AM

I own a white laptop, about three years old.
I'm in a cafe today. Boy the glare, Hard to read.

Do today's laptops fare better and if so how?

Also, if I did upgrade, can I clone my Mac OS (Leopard) to Lion? thanks!

mduell · May 15, 2011, 03:57 AM

The white Macbooks all come with glossy displays... all of Apple's 13" models do.

For $2000 or so you can get a 15" or 17" with an anti-glare coating.

Spheric Harlot · May 15, 2011, 04:16 AM

The 13" MacBooks Pro come with extremely glossy displays, but the brightness and image quality are *so* much better that it's much easier to live with.

jeff k · May 15, 2011, 02:34 PM

Wow, pricy.
So the new regular macbooks or mac book air, do not come with anti-glare?
I "thought" is was because of my "older" model did not have backlit, led, no?

mduell · May 15, 2011, 02:35 PM

The backlight technology, CCFL or LED, is unrelated to the screen coating (glossy or anti-glare).

Why the unnecessary quotes?

Waragainstsleep · May 15, 2011, 05:58 PM

You will be able to migrate Leopard to Lion when Lion is released.

SierraDragon · May 15, 2011, 06:13 PM

Some folks including me do find the glare very offensive. Apple fortunately gives us a matte option on the higher end laptops. And Mac Pros of course can utilize quality anti-glare displays from Eizo, NEC, ViewSonic and others but folks have no choice with iMacs or lower end Mac laptops except to retrofit a third-party anti-glare coating.

-Allen

jeff k · May 15, 2011, 06:53 PM

Mduell, thanks! I am overdoing the quote lately. It's i the culture. thanks everyone for tips. They really should get this antiglare stuff on all their laptops!

Spheric Harlot · May 16, 2011, 02:16 AM

They'd sacrifice image quality and make them unusable in direct sunlight - just a different set of compromises.

jeff k · May 16, 2011, 12:33 PM

S-
They are currently not good in direct sunlight.
They only read good indoors, where it is very shaded.

Spheric Harlot · May 16, 2011, 01:01 PM

The current glossy MacBook Pros are a LOT better in direct sunlight.

The matte displays are just a huge white smear.

You can at least get some work done on a glossy screen. Adjust against reflections, and you're set.

jeff k · May 16, 2011, 02:17 PM

So these have some techonology that's not include with normal new macbook or airbooks?

Spheric Harlot · May 16, 2011, 02:30 PM

Yes. It's called a "much better display".

The difference to the current MacBooks and Airs is quite obvious, but if you're coming from a pre-unibody machine, it's downright startling.

jeff k · May 16, 2011, 06:40 PM

S
So the current starting laptops and airs will be lot better than my 3 year old laptop display? better technonlogy. waht is unibody?

Spheric Harlot · May 17, 2011, 02:27 AM

Let me google that for you