Having designed electronics products with anti-glare (matte-finished) and anti-reflective (special coating) bezels, I can say for a fact that there's no good way to get the iMac's glossy panel to look matte.
The short story:
There will almost always be reflection off the bezel, and there's no good way to apply anti-glare to the bezel without massively compromising image quality.
The long story:
An anti-glare finish needs to be applied very close to the source, and it must not be covered by a glass or plastic display bezel. This is why it doesn't really work for ruggedized electronics with bezels. The outer bezel is a necessity, and the outer bezel will always be the source of reflection. If you do a survey, you'll find that no outdoor or ruggedized electronics (including cell phones) use anti-glare/matte displays. This is not because the designers think matte is bad, it's because it's impossible to achieve a matte finish that doesn't suck when your device has a display bezel. The iMac has an outer bezel, not for ruggedized reasons, but it has one, and there's not much that can be done about this without majorly sacrificing the aesthetic of the iMac.
There are new, museum grade, non-reflective glasses on the market now. The older "matte" glass was etched to eliminate any reflection, but also needed to be placed very close to the artwork to retain any detail. I have this older etched glass on artwork all over my house. This new glass has a thin metallic coating applied to both sides of the glass to eliminate the reflection and is crystal clear from any distance. It is recommended for use over deeply matted artwork, display cases, store fronts and walls of video monitors. I have some samples on the way and will see how they look overlayed onto the bare LCD screen, in place of the original, highly reflective piece of glass. If it does work, that's great and I will decide if I want to proceed further. If not, the original glass can go back on, I pull all the shades and I save the samples for future reference. Take care!
This thread is giving me hope that the new iMac may be a worthwhile investment. There's some great ideas here and I can't wait to hear some reports once people have their computers in hand. As the simplest solution, I'm especially curious as to how much just removing the glass will do to cut down on glare and reflections. If it's not enough, some anti-glare film on the display itself as the next possibility. As long as the glass isn't there to seal the internal components and keep them clean, who needs it?
There are new, museum grade, non-reflective glasses on the market now. The older "matte" glass was etched to eliminate any reflection, but also needed to be placed very close to the artwork to retain any detail. I have this older etched glass on artwork all over my house. This new glass has a thin metallic coating applied to both sides of the glass to eliminate the reflection and is crystal clear from any distance. It is recommended for use over deeply matted artwork, display cases, store fronts and walls of video monitors. I have some samples on the way and will see how they look overlayed onto the bare LCD screen, in place of the original, highly reflective piece of glass. If it does work, that's great and I will decide if I want to proceed further. If not, the original glass can go back on, I pull all the shades and I save the samples for future reference. Take care!
EXACTLY! - The way to think about Museum Glass as a "possible" glare solution is to realize that it is not "matte". At least in the way we traditionally think of matte. It is clear, even glossy glass that eliminates, or drastically reduces glare. Like "red kiosk", my new iMac is ordered regardless and I don't expect the glare to be too much of an issue in my home-office. I've just seen what this glass can do with art so I'm glad to hear that someone seems to have a good plan of attack and is checking into the possibilities. So thanks "red kiosk" for the effort and reporting your findings. I for one will be watching this thread with great interest!
There are new, museum grade, non-reflective glasses on the market now....
If we can find out how much this costs in square meters, I can consider going to market with add-on panels. I can't imagine the start-up cost is much more than about $2K -- just find a willing glass shop.
So the question is: would you spend $100, $150, $200, or $250 on a museum glass add-on panel? I can't imagine this stuff is cheap. Hopefully we could make the $100 price point, but I doubt it.
Edit: check this link for museum glass pricing. Basically, I expect we're looking at $150 - $200 for the finished piece. I could also sell in a kit for less: maybe $120 (shipping included) if you paint and put the magnets on yourself.
If we can find out how much this costs in square meters, I can consider going to market with add-on panels. I can't imagine the start-up cost is much more than about $2K -- just find a willing glass shop.
So the question is: would you spend $100, $150, $200, or $250 on a museum glass add-on panel? I can't imagine this stuff is cheap. Hopefully we could make the $100 price point, but I doubt it.
Edit: check this link for museum glass pricing. Basically, I expect we're looking at $150 - $200 for the finished piece. I could also sell in a kit for less: maybe $120 (shipping included) if you paint and put the magnets on yourself.
I would do $200+ if I had an iMac (I don't) if it was:
1) Easy to not screw up and I didn't have to paint or glue
2) I could put the old panel back on easily.
3) It looked the same as the OEM glass.
4) came with everything I needed to get the old glass off safely.
I think it would be difficult to get it the same as the original. If you could get some moulded black plastic or rubber the shape of the black surround on the original glass, you could just inset a museum glass pane into it and fix the magnetic pins into the rubber/plastic. You have to put a hole in it for the isight anyway so if you used paint on the glass, it means drilling a hole in the glass. Drilling a hole in plastic or rubber is much easier.
To get the surround flush on the surface, you could put glue on the edges of a square glass pane and drop it into the rubber/plastic surround. It would probably help to have a small lip at the back to stop it falling through when glueing it in place.
This should keep costs lower as you are just getting a plain square sheet of glass the size of the inside of the original pane, no drilling or curving the corners. To keep the glossy appearance, you can use the type of plastic you get on Samsung's displays:
This glass will have to be pretty thin, which may cause issues with shipping. I reckon just an antiglare plastic screen would do the job and would be a lot easier and cheaper to develop.
Although the process would be slightly different for the last generation iMacs vs the newer models, deconstructing the old front glass panel and rebuilding with new glass would be much easier. For those capable, the finished product could be made to look original. There was a production process to build the original panels (they didn't grow on trees), so why can't we duplicate that with non-reflective glass? BTW, I don't think there is a hole in the glass for the iSight. The painted black border on the back of the glass, has a small circle (center top) without paint. This is for the iSight?so, no hole drilling is needed!
Also, the magnets are on the computer. Thin strips of metal are adhered to the back of the glass within the painted black border. I'm also looking into the proper paint to use. Although the museum glass will accept silkscreen printing (better than regular glass), I want to make sure it adheres enough so when the glass is removed at a later date, it doesn't pull off with the metal strips. Lots to think about, but I think an original-looking, non-reflective (and we need to start using that term instead of "matte") iMac could be possible. Take care!
This glass will have to be pretty thin, which may cause issues with shipping. I reckon just an antiglare plastic screen would do the job and would be a lot easier and cheaper to develop.
Negative: antiglare doesn't work for bezels. If it did, we wouldn't be going through this discussion.
Tru Vue makes acrylic panels, too, but since I'm not really interested in making money on this, the more likely path to take is to design all of the things necessary to build a museum glass replacement panel and submit the designs to glass shops that can do the work. Then, you would buy the piece from any one of a list of glass shops on my website. Any good framing shop should have no problem doing the work.
When I get my 27" iMac I'll see what needs to be done.
Negative: antiglare doesn't work for bezels. If it did, we wouldn't be going through this discussion.
Tru Vue makes acrylic panels, too
That's what I meant - using a non-glass panel that has no glare. Tru Vue's acrylic panels seem ideal for the purpose and have no chance of shattering during shipping or user mishandling. Wouldn't it be cheaper too?
That's what I meant - using a non-glass panel that has no glare. Tru Vue's acrylic panels seem ideal for the purpose and have no chance of shattering during shipping or user mishandling. Wouldn't it be cheaper too?
It's an option, but acrylic is hard to work with, too. When I get my iMac (I am waiting), I will assess all of these things. I suppose the confusion is due to the term "anti-glare," which is a technical term meaning there's a matte finish. Museum glass is an advanced "anti-reflective" treatment.
The other simple fact is that the iMac DOES use AR glass already, just not with something as advanced as museum glass. It's not clear to me how big of a problem reflections/glare will be.
I'd say the glass is a hair thicker than your average compact disk. It's very thin. Anti-reflective? I think not...
Yeah, the more I look at this, the more I figure replacing the glass won't work. The problem is that the display underneath is glossy, so even if you covered it with a 100% non reflective material, light will still reflect off the LCD itself... however you would see decrease in reflection overall, but not better than having it without glass.
Another problem with replacing the glass is getting it cut properly. It would have to be very exact. Then the paint and mounting bracket... I think the only real solution is to get rid of the glass altogether. Just by doing this you reduce the reflection by at least 60 to 70 percent.
Also, without the glass you can easily make the display matte with film, which would also protect the display.
I'm using the display without the glass right now and I can say for sure that the improvement is very noticeable.
First off - Thanks BDBLACK for the photos, they were a big help.
From what I have read on other Mac forums, the glossyness of the newer LCD screens on Imacs is actually another piece of thin glass laying on top of it. Some iMac screens were getting black streaks that could not be cleaned by just removing and cleaning the front glass. The dirt seemed to be behind the front of the LCD. A few people removed this other glass laying on top of the LCD, cleaned it and also the front of the actual LCD, and this solved the problem. It turns out that this other glass was not sealed around the edges where it came into contact with the LCD and air +dirt was pulled through by the fans. This dirt was then deposited between the LCD and this other piece of glass. Hopefully, the new iMac have these edges sealed so this will not be a problem again.
I'm in the other camp with this project and feel that it will work like a champ. I'm still waiting for the non-reflective glass samples to arrive and have high hopes for success. Museum glass is actually too thick, unless you want to have the glass panel stick out past the front of the case (not so much with the latest iMacs because the glass goes right to the edge of the case on three sides. There is another brand of glass that is available in a 2mm size which should do the trick. I'll keep you posted.
First off - Thanks BDBLACK for the photos, they were a big help.
From what I have read on other Mac forums, the glossyness of the newer LCD screens on Imacs is actually another piece of thin glass laying on top of it. Some iMac screens were getting black streaks that could not be cleaned by just removing and cleaning the front glass. The dirt seemed to be behind the front of the LCD. A few people removed this other glass laying on top of the LCD, cleaned it and also the front of the actual LCD, and this solved the problem. It turns out that this other glass was not sealed around the edges where it came into contact with the LCD and air +dirt was pulled through by the fans. This dirt was then deposited between the LCD and this other piece of glass. Hopefully, the new iMac have these edges sealed so this will not be a problem again.
I'm in the other camp with this project and feel that it will work like a champ. I'm still waiting for the non-reflective glass samples to arrive and have high hopes for success. Museum glass is actually too thick, unless you want to have the glass panel stick out past the front of the case (not so much with the latest iMacs because the glass goes right to the edge of the case on three sides. There is another brand of glass that is available in a 2mm size which should do the trick. I'll keep you posted.
What your talking about is actually the backlight. you can separate the LCD panel from the backlight and clean it. Basically, those weird streaks or "burn marks" are dust that managed to get blown between the LCD panel and the backlight. The backlight is usually made of a plastic screen that provides the illumination, and a series of thin plastic sheets that condition the light.
The front of the LCD has nothing in front of it except the polarizer, and if you tried to remove that you would destroy the LCD. Once the iMacs glass bezel is removed the LCD panel is fully exposed. Most consumer panels are like this and simply use a thin plastic coating to protect the glass. The only thing that makes a glossy and matte LCD different is the coating on the front.
Apple makes their laptops matte by using an LCD panel with a matte coating, and replacing the glass with an aluminum border. One could simply replace the glass on their computer with some kind of border, which would reduce the glossiness. They can also add a good quality matte film at this point and then they would have a matte display.
BDBLACK - Thanks for clearing that LCD "glass" issue up for me. So if I understand correctly, to do this correctly, we would need to place an anti-glare or non-reflective film directly onto the LCD panel in addition to the non-reflective outer glass panel. I have noticed that there are both anti-glare and anti-reflective films available for placement directly on to the LCD panel. Anti-glare seems to be the matte finish and anti-reflective more of a glossy finish. Maybe what is on the iMac now is a somewhat anti-reflective film/coating, but not to the extent that the Museum glass is. Doesn't the matte film/coating degrade the image quality somewhat? I've also read that a matte finish is not the best for color correction. Just thinking out loud here. Take care!
Maybe the perfect happy medium would be to retain the glossy , but somewhat non-reflective film that is on the LCD now (to retain high contrast, image quality, color retention properties) and couple that with a high quality non-reflective (Museum Glass type) glass cover. The question is, what is more important to the individual user? image quality or absolutely, no reflection. Maybe a happy medium would be the best of both worlds. Some users swear by the image quality of the glossy screen (and they probably have their Mac in an environment that is OK with this type of screen), others take the Black or White approach to Matte vs. Glossy, saying that they could never live with a glossy screen. If you could get the best of both worlds and compromise, that may be the ticket. Once my non-reflective glass samples arrive, I'll have a better idea. BDBLACK - could you live with the reflection your Mac has now, being without the glass screen? Would a non-reflective cover glass, that might reduce the reflection of the LCD and finish off the beautiful design that was intended, be something that you could live with? Once again, thinking with my fingers. Take care!
Maybe the perfect happy medium would be to retain the glossy , but somewhat non-reflective film that is on the LCD now (to retain high contrast, image quality, color retention properties) and couple that with a high quality non-reflective (Museum Glass type) glass cover. The question is, what is more important to the individual user? image quality or absolutely, no reflection. Maybe a happy medium would be the best of both worlds. Some users swear by the image quality of the glossy screen (and they probably have their Mac in an environment that is OK with this type of screen), others take the Black or White approach to Matte vs. Glossy, saying that they could never live with a glossy screen. If you could get the best of both worlds and compromise, that may be the ticket. Once my non-reflective glass samples arrive, I'll have a better idea. BDBLACK - could you live with the reflection your Mac has now, being without the glass screen? Would a non-reflective cover glass, that might reduce the reflection of the LCD and finish off the beautiful design that was intended, be something that you could live with? Once again, thinking with my fingers. Take care!
Honestly, I had got used to the reflection a long time ago. After removing the glass though I decided that it would be wayyyy better like that. :P
It just looks better without the glass. There is defiantly a huge reduction in reflection. You can still see a little bit of reflection in the deepest blacks but nowhere near as distracting as with the glass. I'm working on a solution for removing the glass and replacing it with a black border, so it will be more like a normal LCD. This is the best option because you can add a matte finish and then you will have a truly matte display.
If you put any glass in front of the matte or glossy finish, it wont work as well because any glass will have some reflection. Even if its 1% more, thats still 1% plus whatever percentage the LCD itself reflects. This is why the iMac has such bad reflection. Your getting twice the reflection.
As for colour accuracy, thats an entirely different issue and depends on the quality of panel you have and the quality of the matte film. A lot of the colour issues people are having, they due to the construction and mounting of the panels themselves. You know... Uneven backlights, etc. I have a few theories on how to fix that but for now I'm considering that a separate issue and focusing on the matte problem.
I think I'm with you on the whole border idea. We just need a frame fabricated so we can cover up the ugly part when the whole glass is removed. seems like it should be easy enough make something like that which could be sold for $40-$50 tops.
Quick update, I just had a chat with a local plastic fabrication outfit. Apparently they can cut the piece I want out if a sheet of plastic with a cnc machine. I'm going to haul my mac down there so they can take some measurements. I'd like to have it cut from a nice sheet of black polycarbonate or similar plastic. I'll post updates when I get this rolling.
Comments
The short story:
There will almost always be reflection off the bezel, and there's no good way to apply anti-glare to the bezel without massively compromising image quality.
The long story:
An anti-glare finish needs to be applied very close to the source, and it must not be covered by a glass or plastic display bezel. This is why it doesn't really work for ruggedized electronics with bezels. The outer bezel is a necessity, and the outer bezel will always be the source of reflection. If you do a survey, you'll find that no outdoor or ruggedized electronics (including cell phones) use anti-glare/matte displays. This is not because the designers think matte is bad, it's because it's impossible to achieve a matte finish that doesn't suck when your device has a display bezel. The iMac has an outer bezel, not for ruggedized reasons, but it has one, and there's not much that can be done about this without majorly sacrificing the aesthetic of the iMac.
There are new, museum grade, non-reflective glasses on the market now. The older "matte" glass was etched to eliminate any reflection, but also needed to be placed very close to the artwork to retain any detail. I have this older etched glass on artwork all over my house. This new glass has a thin metallic coating applied to both sides of the glass to eliminate the reflection and is crystal clear from any distance. It is recommended for use over deeply matted artwork, display cases, store fronts and walls of video monitors. I have some samples on the way and will see how they look overlayed onto the bare LCD screen, in place of the original, highly reflective piece of glass. If it does work, that's great and I will decide if I want to proceed further. If not, the original glass can go back on, I pull all the shades and I save the samples for future reference. Take care!
EXACTLY! - The way to think about Museum Glass as a "possible" glare solution is to realize that it is not "matte". At least in the way we traditionally think of matte. It is clear, even glossy glass that eliminates, or drastically reduces glare. Like "red kiosk", my new iMac is ordered regardless and I don't expect the glare to be too much of an issue in my home-office. I've just seen what this glass can do with art so I'm glad to hear that someone seems to have a good plan of attack and is checking into the possibilities. So thanks "red kiosk" for the effort and reporting your findings. I for one will be watching this thread with great interest!
There are new, museum grade, non-reflective glasses on the market now....
If we can find out how much this costs in square meters, I can consider going to market with add-on panels. I can't imagine the start-up cost is much more than about $2K -- just find a willing glass shop.
So the question is: would you spend $100, $150, $200, or $250 on a museum glass add-on panel? I can't imagine this stuff is cheap. Hopefully we could make the $100 price point, but I doubt it.
Edit: check this link for museum glass pricing. Basically, I expect we're looking at $150 - $200 for the finished piece. I could also sell in a kit for less: maybe $120 (shipping included) if you paint and put the magnets on yourself.
If we can find out how much this costs in square meters, I can consider going to market with add-on panels. I can't imagine the start-up cost is much more than about $2K -- just find a willing glass shop.
So the question is: would you spend $100, $150, $200, or $250 on a museum glass add-on panel? I can't imagine this stuff is cheap. Hopefully we could make the $100 price point, but I doubt it.
Edit: check this link for museum glass pricing. Basically, I expect we're looking at $150 - $200 for the finished piece. I could also sell in a kit for less: maybe $120 (shipping included) if you paint and put the magnets on yourself.
I would do $200+ if I had an iMac (I don't) if it was:
1) Easy to not screw up and I didn't have to paint or glue
2) I could put the old panel back on easily.
3) It looked the same as the OEM glass.
4) came with everything I needed to get the old glass off safely.
To get the surround flush on the surface, you could put glue on the edges of a square glass pane and drop it into the rubber/plastic surround. It would probably help to have a small lip at the back to stop it falling through when glueing it in place.
This should keep costs lower as you are just getting a plain square sheet of glass the size of the inside of the original pane, no drilling or curving the corners. To keep the glossy appearance, you can use the type of plastic you get on Samsung's displays:
http://www.dclstore.co.uk/images/pro...23cmzkfv-l.jpg
You could have it moulded with the holes required.
Building the whole thing could be done in about 3 steps:
Get the plastic bezel and put glue on the inside and on top of the lip at the back.
Drop the square glass sheet into place and let it set.
Screw 4 sets magnetic fixtures around the back edges of the bezel.
Judging by the depth of the inset:
http://web.mac.com/khuffman/pics/imac_hd/2.jpg
This glass will have to be pretty thin, which may cause issues with shipping. I reckon just an antiglare plastic screen would do the job and would be a lot easier and cheaper to develop.
Also, the magnets are on the computer. Thin strips of metal are adhered to the back of the glass within the painted black border. I'm also looking into the proper paint to use. Although the museum glass will accept silkscreen printing (better than regular glass), I want to make sure it adheres enough so when the glass is removed at a later date, it doesn't pull off with the metal strips. Lots to think about, but I think an original-looking, non-reflective (and we need to start using that term instead of "matte") iMac could be possible. Take care!
Jim
This glass will have to be pretty thin, which may cause issues with shipping. I reckon just an antiglare plastic screen would do the job and would be a lot easier and cheaper to develop.
Negative: antiglare doesn't work for bezels. If it did, we wouldn't be going through this discussion.
Tru Vue makes acrylic panels, too, but since I'm not really interested in making money on this, the more likely path to take is to design all of the things necessary to build a museum glass replacement panel and submit the designs to glass shops that can do the work. Then, you would buy the piece from any one of a list of glass shops on my website. Any good framing shop should have no problem doing the work.
When I get my 27" iMac I'll see what needs to be done.
Negative: antiglare doesn't work for bezels. If it did, we wouldn't be going through this discussion.
Tru Vue makes acrylic panels, too
That's what I meant - using a non-glass panel that has no glare. Tru Vue's acrylic panels seem ideal for the purpose and have no chance of shattering during shipping or user mishandling. Wouldn't it be cheaper too?
That's what I meant - using a non-glass panel that has no glare. Tru Vue's acrylic panels seem ideal for the purpose and have no chance of shattering during shipping or user mishandling. Wouldn't it be cheaper too?
It's an option, but acrylic is hard to work with, too. When I get my iMac (I am waiting), I will assess all of these things. I suppose the confusion is due to the term "anti-glare," which is a technical term meaning there's a matte finish. Museum glass is an advanced "anti-reflective" treatment.
The other simple fact is that the iMac DOES use AR glass already, just not with something as advanced as museum glass. It's not clear to me how big of a problem reflections/glare will be.
http://picasaweb.google.ca/BD.Blackw...eat=directlink
I'd say the glass is a hair thicker than your average compact disk. It's very thin. Anti-reflective? I think not...
Yeah, the more I look at this, the more I figure replacing the glass won't work. The problem is that the display underneath is glossy, so even if you covered it with a 100% non reflective material, light will still reflect off the LCD itself... however you would see decrease in reflection overall, but not better than having it without glass.
Another problem with replacing the glass is getting it cut properly. It would have to be very exact. Then the paint and mounting bracket... I think the only real solution is to get rid of the glass altogether. Just by doing this you reduce the reflection by at least 60 to 70 percent.
Also, without the glass you can easily make the display matte with film, which would also protect the display.
I'm using the display without the glass right now and I can say for sure that the improvement is very noticeable.
From what I have read on other Mac forums, the glossyness of the newer LCD screens on Imacs is actually another piece of thin glass laying on top of it. Some iMac screens were getting black streaks that could not be cleaned by just removing and cleaning the front glass. The dirt seemed to be behind the front of the LCD. A few people removed this other glass laying on top of the LCD, cleaned it and also the front of the actual LCD, and this solved the problem. It turns out that this other glass was not sealed around the edges where it came into contact with the LCD and air +dirt was pulled through by the fans. This dirt was then deposited between the LCD and this other piece of glass. Hopefully, the new iMac have these edges sealed so this will not be a problem again.
I'm in the other camp with this project and feel that it will work like a champ. I'm still waiting for the non-reflective glass samples to arrive and have high hopes for success. Museum glass is actually too thick, unless you want to have the glass panel stick out past the front of the case (not so much with the latest iMacs because the glass goes right to the edge of the case on three sides. There is another brand of glass that is available in a 2mm size which should do the trick. I'll keep you posted.
First off - Thanks BDBLACK for the photos, they were a big help.
From what I have read on other Mac forums, the glossyness of the newer LCD screens on Imacs is actually another piece of thin glass laying on top of it. Some iMac screens were getting black streaks that could not be cleaned by just removing and cleaning the front glass. The dirt seemed to be behind the front of the LCD. A few people removed this other glass laying on top of the LCD, cleaned it and also the front of the actual LCD, and this solved the problem. It turns out that this other glass was not sealed around the edges where it came into contact with the LCD and air +dirt was pulled through by the fans. This dirt was then deposited between the LCD and this other piece of glass. Hopefully, the new iMac have these edges sealed so this will not be a problem again.
I'm in the other camp with this project and feel that it will work like a champ. I'm still waiting for the non-reflective glass samples to arrive and have high hopes for success. Museum glass is actually too thick, unless you want to have the glass panel stick out past the front of the case (not so much with the latest iMacs because the glass goes right to the edge of the case on three sides. There is another brand of glass that is available in a 2mm size which should do the trick. I'll keep you posted.
What your talking about is actually the backlight. you can separate the LCD panel from the backlight and clean it. Basically, those weird streaks or "burn marks" are dust that managed to get blown between the LCD panel and the backlight. The backlight is usually made of a plastic screen that provides the illumination, and a series of thin plastic sheets that condition the light.
The front of the LCD has nothing in front of it except the polarizer, and if you tried to remove that you would destroy the LCD. Once the iMacs glass bezel is removed the LCD panel is fully exposed. Most consumer panels are like this and simply use a thin plastic coating to protect the glass. The only thing that makes a glossy and matte LCD different is the coating on the front.
Apple makes their laptops matte by using an LCD panel with a matte coating, and replacing the glass with an aluminum border. One could simply replace the glass on their computer with some kind of border, which would reduce the glossiness. They can also add a good quality matte film at this point and then they would have a matte display.
Jim
Maybe the perfect happy medium would be to retain the glossy , but somewhat non-reflective film that is on the LCD now (to retain high contrast, image quality, color retention properties) and couple that with a high quality non-reflective (Museum Glass type) glass cover. The question is, what is more important to the individual user? image quality or absolutely, no reflection. Maybe a happy medium would be the best of both worlds. Some users swear by the image quality of the glossy screen (and they probably have their Mac in an environment that is OK with this type of screen), others take the Black or White approach to Matte vs. Glossy, saying that they could never live with a glossy screen. If you could get the best of both worlds and compromise, that may be the ticket. Once my non-reflective glass samples arrive, I'll have a better idea. BDBLACK - could you live with the reflection your Mac has now, being without the glass screen? Would a non-reflective cover glass, that might reduce the reflection of the LCD and finish off the beautiful design that was intended, be something that you could live with? Once again, thinking with my fingers. Take care!
Honestly, I had got used to the reflection a long time ago. After removing the glass though I decided that it would be wayyyy better like that. :P
It just looks better without the glass. There is defiantly a huge reduction in reflection. You can still see a little bit of reflection in the deepest blacks but nowhere near as distracting as with the glass. I'm working on a solution for removing the glass and replacing it with a black border, so it will be more like a normal LCD. This is the best option because you can add a matte finish and then you will have a truly matte display.
If you put any glass in front of the matte or glossy finish, it wont work as well because any glass will have some reflection. Even if its 1% more, thats still 1% plus whatever percentage the LCD itself reflects. This is why the iMac has such bad reflection. Your getting twice the reflection.
As for colour accuracy, thats an entirely different issue and depends on the quality of panel you have and the quality of the matte film. A lot of the colour issues people are having, they due to the construction and mounting of the panels themselves. You know... Uneven backlights, etc. I have a few theories on how to fix that but for now I'm considering that a separate issue and focusing on the matte problem.