Non-glare 15” MacBook Pros are back
In an admission that it may have been hasty in withdrawing matte, non-glare options from its line of laptops, Apple has reinstated that option to glossy screens at a price of $50.
The non-glare option has been quietly added to the 15” MacBook Pro lineup from which it was withdrawn a couple of years ago. There have been rumbles during that entire two-year non-glare hiatus from some users that the glossy screens were not the best idea in some situations and uses. The lack of matte screens has probably not hurt sales badly, but some people were unimpressed with the lack of the option, as noted in an AppleInsider story.
The anti-glare option never left the 17” MacBook offering, though the sales of 17” model have been historically much smaller than those of the 15” MacBook Pro line. The $50 anti-glare option is still available on the 17” Pro model. However, as yet, none of the models which use the 13” screen are available in a finish other than glossy.
It has been suggested that the move away from matte-finish screens was primarily a concession to the wide acceptance of the iPhone, all of which have always had the glossy touch-screen surface. It was shortly after that popularity became apparent that Apple began to withdraw the non-glare option from it’s computer product line. There is speculation that Apple saw a possible cost savings of all of its products used glossy screen materials, though that is just conjecture. What Apple said publicly about the move to glossy screens was that the glossy displays provided “crisp images and vivid colors which are ideal for viewing photos and movies and the edge-to-edge cover glass creates a smooth, seamless surface.”
Resistance to the move was not overwhelming, but it was steady. The art and graphics community, long a staple of Apple computer sales, was fairly vocal about the glossy screen making it more difficult to match colors. There were also complaints from people that had to use their MacBooks in a wide variety of environments, including outside in the sun, and that the glossy screen made it very difficult to see in some of those situations. Those groups will be happy to know that non-glare is back.
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