MacBook Retina display Anti Reflective costing issue

Let’s use a mind model! I just ate lunch, I had a roast beef sandwich. So how was it constructed?

A slice of bread some mayo and a second slice of bread - Done! So I pick it up to eat my hands are on each slide of the sandwich so my mayo and beef inside are not exposed!

Now think of an open faced sandwich which was grilled with some cheese on top clearly picking it up would get your fingers gooey with cheese!

So… having an open faced sandwich is a mess Vs a covered one.

Now how does this relate to your issue??

Your screens coatings is like the cheese of the open faced sandwich, so applying a glass cover sheet over it will protect the coatings from being touched. So that answers the first part, but… there is a bit more.

The coatings are designed to reduce the displays glass surfaces reflections, now by applying the cover glass you’ve lost most of the benefit of the coatings! To add to this taking the cover glass off often damages the coatings as well.

Sadly you really can’t win here ;-{

I personally don’t recommend these covers. I tell people just not touch the display with their hands and only use eyeglass/screen cleaner or distilled water on a lint free cloth for displays/lenses.

I also tell people to wet the cloth and not spray or drip the cleaner on the screen as it will drip down into the bottom area where the electronics are and cause corrosion damage!

Also making sure the upper case area and keyboard are clean of junk, finger oils and sweat. Here I use a household cleaner like Windex. Again spraying the cloth not the system its self and making sure the spray doesn’t hit the screen (I lay a second cloth over it to be sure).

If the coatings are really causing issues then its just best to clean them off. What I do recommend in that case is to apply a matte finish cover glass which will offer better anti-defective properties than the coating. But! Even here you will loose a bit of sharpness so keep that in mind.

Bottomline: Its a tug of war of give and take, with every action there is a good and negative aspect, no true win!