Apple iMac users fed up with glossy screens want a matte option

Apple users a generally a fiercely loyal bunch, often sneering at the mere mention of ever using a PC again. One long standing “feature” about the company’s iMac computers, however, has users so frustrated that they have been petitioning four years for a change, and some have even chosen to go to “the dark side.” The culprit: the glossy monitors.

The movement for matte iMac displays was reignited this week as Apple released some speedy new models of their popular desktop without the option. Potential Mac customers have begun flooding the MacMatte Wordpress website with their comments on the issue, many of which state that they will not upgrade at all as long as glossy monitors are the only option.

“I have to stay in front of a screen more than 10 hours a day. With glossy screens I start having headaches after one or two hours,” Mário Moreira wrote on the petition site. “I haven’t bought a MacBook yet because of the glossy display. I will stick with PCs until then.”

“The lack of matte is the only thing preventing me from buying a Mac,” says Rob Dobson, another petitioner. “Glossy screens are awful for text and graphics.”

Some have posted with the suggestion of simply using matte screen protectors on the glossy Mac displays, but many don’t find that workaround acceptable.

“Matte adhesive screens for iMacs degrade the screen quality,” the MacMatte editor responded to one such suggestion. “It might be adequate for a small iPhone screen, but sticking a piece of adhesive to a gorgeous new iMac make is look — cheap, particularly if dust and bubbles get trapped under the sheet. This is accentuated by the size of the iMac, in a way that is far more pronounced compared to the tiny screen of an iPhone or iPod Touch.”

In addition to the 1440 comments currently standing on the MacMatte online petition, several polls have been conducted on other sites showing that matte displays are in high demand. So what is the reason behind Apple’s lack of response on the issue? Profitability issues? The fact that glossy looks good on a showroom floor? Nobody knows for sure.

I can definitely sympathize with the glossy monitor complaints, as I am also prone to computer monitor-induced headaches. Rather than posting on a site that Apple employees may have largely overlooked, however, it would be a good idea for matte display lobbyists to begin posting their complaints on Apple’s new Customer Pulse website as well, since it is supposed to be a direct line for customer concerns.