Apple again offers matte screen option for 15-inch MacBook Pro

Having said that, the glass on the unibody does look easy to keep clean.

No. Not choice. Evidence says you're wrong. Evidence trumps theory. Them's the rules of science.

Don't go by sketchy memory. Take one of each laptop - borrow a co-worker's, if necessary - go outside, and expose each screen to direct sunlight.

This isn't sketchy memory I'm talking about here. I still own the glossy screen laptop, and I also have a new Mini 9 with a glossy screen, and both can be cranked up nice and bright. I know they're unusable outdoors. And I know that my new laptop is quite usable outdoors even in low-power (dim screen) mode. I just took them all outside for a side-by-side. I mostly see my face and shirt in the glossy lappies, while the matte screen is quite usable.

Neither type of screen is great in direct sunlight, of course, but the matte screen can actually be used even in direct sunlight. The glossy screens cannot. At least not by me...maybe my eyes are worse than most (actually that's not a maybe, I'm damned near legally blind without glasses or contacts).

Anyway, as I mentioned, sufficient brightness can somewhat overcome the problems of glossy screens outdoors. Newer laptops are brighter than older ones, so if you upgraded from a matte screen from a few years back to a newer Apple laptop with a much brighter glossy screen, you might feel like the newer screen is more usable even in sunlight.

But, I'm absolutely certain a good matte screen is better for working outdoors than a good glossy screen.

The good news for you and your glossy screen preference is that since glossy screens are cheaper to manufacture, they are far more common. You will be able to buy glossy screens to your hearts content. I, on the other hand, have to be a bit more selective, and usually spend a bit more (generally only the high end Dell models have the matte option).

What the problem is with glossy displays is that they act like a half-silvered piece of glass. If the brightness on the outside gets too high, they turn into a mirror and it's near impossible to see through. However if the brightness remains high on the inside, you can see through with perfect clarity.

So long as the back lighting can get brighter than the fore lighting, the glossy screen can be amazing. It has a few problems, like glares (where reflections and such cause light levels to peak higher than the back light), however these are really only a problem if you have to max out your back light.

Apple should be designing their laptop screens like they do their iPod screens. My brightness on my iPod is set to ~0% and inside it is perfect, even for most tv shows (no dark moody movies though), and outside I rarely need to put it up to 100% on the sunniest of days. This would be the ideal, but until laptops actually become ultra-portable I don't think this is a huge concern.

I think it's a trend of the new-geek to want to be outside in nature when working, so hopefully some ultra-powerful back lights are going to be available on high-end laptops for use outside.

The only time glare has been a significant problem is when I'm outside (at my house or a coffee shop) and the sun is in the wrong position (solved this on my deck with a patio umbrella). For what it's worth, the same conditions where the glare is bad tend to make my previous matte 15" mbp totally unusable (washed out).

Again, I don't do photo work, but for e-mail, coding, etc... it takes a lot for the glare to get to the point where it interferes, and the matte screen is usually useless long before then.