Which screen to choose: glo y or matte?

Long time TUAW commenter Arkowi, tracked down my personal blog, shot me an email and said: "I see you are picking up a Macbook for your wife. I am ordering a 15" M either today or tomorrow. Still not sure about which way to lean on the glo y screen. At first it seemed like a no brainer...but some of these reviews seem pretty high on the glo . . . . It seems the glo y screen might give more a TV a earance which I find a ealing (I will be using my M as a portable HDTV). However, I will be primarily using it for design work(mostly web based, a few print situatio ). Just wondered what your take on the glo was?? Feel free to a wer on TUAW if you so desire."

Well, Arkowi (and all the others amongst you wrestling with this decision), having both a matte-finish MacBook Pro and a glo y-screened MacBook in the house, I can sum up my o ervatio of the glo y screen in one short sentence: It ain't too sha y.

The glo y finish is not that horrible super-shine that I've seen on oh so many HP lapto in the local Comp USA or Best Buy. My good friend Randall has a glo y-screened HP laptop that I've been forced to use from time to time, and although he loves it, I've gotten a nasty headache any time I've sat down and used it for any length of time. I've used my wife's MacBook quite a bit so far, e ecially when I was setting it up, and I've enjoyed it. the screen is slightly brighter than the matte screen on my MacBook Pro and bright enough that the reflectio are not distracting in co istent lighting.

However, I'd still pick matte for myself. It's all a matter of taste. Try both out in an A le Store before you buy, if you can, and make sure you read through Scott's take on this topic.