Trying to understand processor vs memory

chas_m said:

MikeFromMesa, thanks for the info. I was curious because while I have certainly heard of people complaining about glossy screens before, I'd not heard of any specific eye or medical conditions to label that. I now understand better that this is in part a perception issue, and may be associated with aging eyes or other medical conditions such as a propensity to headaches (and could be triggered by some of the same things that trigger those).

My understanding -- and maybe you've already looked into this -- is that Apple has greatly reduced the glossiness of its screens over the past couple of years, for example:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/macbook-pro-retina-display-only-slightly-less-glossy/

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I am old enough to be retired, but my eyes are still pretty good and my eyesight has not changed much from when I was a young child. I have always been a bit far sighted, even as an 8 year old, and I need glasses for reading, but not for driving. My far vision is about 20/30 and I have no eye problems other than my far-sightedness, but I am sensitive to glare. I would not say that this sensitivity is related to any medical condition as I have had it for as long as I can remember and every optholmologist I have seen has told me that my eyes were healthy and normal, but I understand that the term "normal" infers a range of sensitivity to external stimuli and that people's reactions vary within that range.

I am not subject to headaches but do get them occasionally when trying to use a high gloss screen. In short my eyes are normal, but subject to the same range of variations as all humans and my problem is a heightened sensitivity to glare.

I had not heard about Apple reducing the glare on their screens (and that may mean that this problem with glare is much more widespread than I previously thought and not just for people with some "medical condition") and that is of some importance to me. If they have done so with the iMac that might be a solution to my problem so I will look into that. Thank you for the information. My MBP is still working relatively well and I had not spent too much time looking into a replacement (other than checking out the specs on the Apple website) but this information will probably spur me into checking it out a bit more. My MBP has a quad core i7 and I would not want a slower chip than that in a new computer.

lclev said:

MikeFromMesa, I know exactly what you are talking about. I found out a long time ago I can not handle glossy screens. I actually sold a glossy screened laptop because it was causing eye strain for me. The first time I tried out a retina screen in an apple store I noticed the reflectiveness and knew that would be an issue for me.

As best as I can explain it, my eyes seem to strain to see around shiny reflections on the screen. Or I find myself distracted by reflections in the screen of things in the room. I end up with a headache. Dimming the lights, changing angles, etc, nothing really helps. Non-glossy screens do not cause any issues for me. According to my eye doctor, I don't have any problems other than old eyes. ;D

Every computer I have has non-glossy screens. I guess I just accepted that as what my eyes preferred.

Lisa

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Yes. Almost every time I mention this in a forum post, and not just here on the Apple forum, someone makes the assumption that there must be something wrong with my eyes and that I am alone with this problem. In fact my eye doctor says that my eyes are in remarkably good condition, especially since I am now what I refer to as a "geezer", and that I have no known eye related issues.

I have made a point of buying only "flat" non-glossy screens when I could and the MBP Retina was the first glossy screen I ever purchased. I made the assumption that perhaps the higher quality of the Retina screen would solve my glare problem for me, but that turned out to not be true and, as I posted, I am now using it with an external flat screen monitor. I feel a bit silly using a MBP with an external monitor, but my eyes are now just fine and that is enough for me. The post concerning how Apple has reduced the glare on its newer screens implies to me that this problem may be much more wide spread than I thought since I would not expect Apple to make a manufacturing change that big without some reason. Perhaps a lot of people were complaining about the glare.

My next problem will be trying to find something to use with this flat screen or find some other Mac that has a screen that will not hurt my eyes.

Thank you for your post.

MikeFromMesa said:

I had not forgotten that suggestion and it might be the best choice, but I am not sure where to look for one of them.

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The two old standby websites when shopping for a used computer. eBay & Craig's List. You'll probably find some on ebay…but don't expect immediate success on Craig's List.

MikeFromMesa said:

I have seen the refurbished section of the Apple website (I bought my Time Capsule as refurbished from the Apple website, but that turned out to be a poor decision as it started having problems about 1 year after purchase) and it would probably be a good idea to look there again.

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A 2012 Mac-Mini may be a bit too old for the Apple refurbished section. But you never know. Also. A quad-core Mac-Mini could in good demand. So if some should show up in the refurbished area. They probably won't last long.

- Nick

I am also one that cannot see past reflections in a screen and glare is a big problem for me. If I have my choice, it's a matte screen for me everytime. Having said that, can't say that I agree with the comments about a screen being too bright - there are plenty of adjustments for brightness and contrast and I use them on practically every monitor I have multiple times a day to alleviate eye strain. And if I'm turning on a screen before/during my first cup of coffee (when everything except blackness is too bright) turning brightness all the way down and inverting the screen works pretty well while my pupils are waking up.

You could get any Mac you want (I am using a top of the line MBA currently), then you put the Mac inside the side table by the recliner (couch) along with an OWC Thunderbolt dock with a couple of RAID drives attached along with a Blu-Ray drive - add in your PS3 and PS4 inside the side table - mount a swinging arm to the top of the side table with a 24" matte gaming monitor to swing over the recliner or out of the way when you don't need it. Grab a trackpad to sit on the arm of the recliner and a Logitech backlit bluetooth Mac keyboard. Ready for a trip out of town, you have 2 cables to unplug - the power and the dock - and you're ready to go.

bobtomay said:

I am also one that cannot see past reflections in a screen and glare is a big problem for me. If I have my choice, it's a matte screen for me everytime. Having said that, can't say that I agree with the comments about a screen being too bright - there are plenty of adjustments for brightness and contrast and I use them on practically every monitor I have multiple times a day to alleviate eye strain.

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Yes. it is certainly true that there is a brightness control on the Retina, but I had problems even with it turned all the way down. In fact, of course, the brightness control was the very first thing I tried, but it did not help enough to solve my eye strain problems.

I also have the brightness control on my Dell monitor turned almost all of the way down but, with a matte screen, it does not bother me at all.

Wonder what sense tommyheadleycox makes of all this? Still the 2014 model Tom.

Still the same one - have an iMac I need to go ahead and get ready to sell now also.

harryb2448 said:

Wonder what sense tommyheadleycox makes of all this? Still the 2014 model Tom.

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Hmmm…??? Do I dare ask who or what tommyheadleycox is???

pm-r said:

Hmmm…??? Do I dare ask who or what tommyheadleycox is???

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+1 as I am also curious.

tommyheadleycox is the OP of the thread.

MacInWin said:

tommyheadleycox is the OP of the thread.

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Dooogh!!! How did I miss that and I'm sure I clicked back to check. Better get an eye check done I guess, but thanks for the info!!

This is what happens when a thread gets "highjacked" (I'm probably mostly responsible).

When I gave MikeFromMesa a hard time about his "mini-review" of three Apple models to the OP way back in post #10.

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

This is what happens when a thread gets "highjacked" (I'm probably mostly responsible).

When I gave MikeFromMesa a hard time about his "mini-review" of three Apple models to the OP way back in post #10.

- Nick

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Thanks for the thought Nick, but it's all my fault for missing the original tommyheadleycox post and the reference.

But at least I have an excuse — I use a mid-late 2011 27" iMac, and it has a glossy screen!!! So I must have been blinded with some reflection I guess and it obscured some critical things!!

A bit of a relief actually to discover, so I cancelled my eye exam appointment I had made.

pm-r said:

Thanks for the thought Nick, but it's all my fault for missing the original tommyheadleycox post and the reference.

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Nah…it's my fault! If I hadn't made my post (post #10). This thread may have had a graceful ending there. And if so…the "confusing" tommyheadleycox topic probably would never have come up.

- Nick

p.s.

pm-r: No it's my fault.
pigoo3: No it's MY fault.
pm-r: NOOO it's my fault!
pigoo3: NOOO it's MY FAULT!!
pm-r: NOOO, IT'S…MY...FAULT!!!

Ok then…it's pm-r's fault!!!

Glad we settled that. Good move, Nick!

MacInWin said:

Glad we settled that. Good move, Nick!

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Phew!! It should be known that it always has been my fault and I often got blamed for doing some things when I was growing up, even if I hadn't even been anywhere near the place where something I got blamed for happened. And yes, it was a small community on a small island off south-eastern Vancouver Island. So now you know, and now back to your regular Mac programs.

pm-r, which island? I used to live on Whidbey Is many years ago.

MacInWin said:

pm-r, which island? I used to live on Whidbey Is many years ago.

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Sorry for my delay and I'll send a PM and not sidetrack the thread too much…