Dell e1505 matte screen madness?

Hi everyone.
After three months of following the notebook scene and gathering much valuable information on all these forums, I’m almost set on a Dell E1505. As a computer enthusiast from the old days, this notebook will naturally playback films, occasional games and all kinds of emulators and demos sometime.

But I am concerned with those long hours of document editing in office environments, the critical task I want the machine for. Due to this, I am almost set on a matte screen. On the other side, I have read long threads of owners praising their glossy coatings.

Can anyone share any experiences with actual matte screens on E1505s? Are they that bad? Are reflections the only way to go?

Screen resolution is not an issue for me. Thanks for any feedback.

Cheers,

 

I'm currently time sharing between my old I1100 [matte] and the new E1505 [glossy]. Still fighting the MediaDirect problem, another clean install likely ahead.

For me, I can't wait to get back to the Truelife screen. Its so much brighter and crisper than the matte. Text is much sharper and I've had no problems with longer sessions, so far ~2 hours.

The reflections are VERY noticeable when the screen is black, but as soon as you turn it on the remaining few reflections become a non-issue.

FWIW
Hermit

 

One look at the Mac Pro laptop, with matte screen, and high resolution, will make you want to go back to a matte screen. Dell had them but succumbed to Sony marketing competition and only offers high rez in the reflective screen. I'm ready to buy the 1505 too, but I do a lot of photoshop work and require perfect color and contrast. Other than buying a separate monitor, what do I do? I'm not ready for the Mac yet!!!

 

I prefer the matte screen too & I'm speaking from a 700m owner's perspective.

 

I second that question.
I am in the same boat with you and looking for a convincing answer. The
owners of the glossies seem to be praising their screens just because they
have it. "I love my glossy screen!" type of answers don't help much.

I would really love to see some photos of a glossy and a matte screen. That
could be reasonable comparison.

Many people claim that they are brighter or sharper. Well, when I set the
brightness to max on my 19" crt, it just hurts my eyes. So it doesn't really
mean a brighter screen is simply better. But what you are trying to say is
that the matte screens are too dim that it hurts your eyes due to low
contrast, then it makes sense. But as far as I know nobody makes this claim.

 

One suggestion that I have is to go your local computer store and look at other laptops that are within the 15in range. This will give you a better idea of what you want. If you like the glossy screens on other laptops, then chances are you want to the truelife. While this is a good comparison, the screens that you see at a computer store won't be the exact same quality as what you would get with Truelife.

From my experience, if you have a widescreen laptop, you'll most likely want the truelife. I have the matte screen for a year, and the color/brightness was so dark, it affected daily tasks. Even if you don't plan on doing photo editing, the truelife improves the quality of webpages, MS office documents, general usage, etc.

It is a huge amount of difference in my opinion. Once I got my truelife, there was a significant improvement in everything that I use my laptop for.

 

Yes.... it's such a subjective thing.

Either a leap of faith, or a good 'hands-on' personal evaluation is needed.

I took the leap of faith approach, and was lucky.... I like mine, but to each their own.

Mark

 

Here's a Laptop Screen Reference Guide, it says it has a flash demo. May be worth your time. I'm out of the lappie market for at least a year, so I'm no longer going through your pains.

Hermit

 

Comparing the glare screens will not work -- because all manufacturers have succumbed to Sony mania glare screens! Only the Mac Pro has brought sanity back into laptops screens, and most stores do not place their Macs next to their windows machines! I still say the outstanding matte high resolution 600m that I bought my daughter 3 years ago, has a better screen. I guess I can take hers and buy her one of these glare jobs! I'd like to have the speed of the new but the view of the old!

 

Thanks all for your comments.

I think I am going to go for a matte screen. The choice certainly deserves some thought, as with processors and hard drives you can always go the safe route by getting the best (ok, heat tradeoffs and 64bit issues aside).

As I see it, glossy can be a potential problem down the road for prolonged work. Otherwise, all those expensive business laptops would certainly ship with glossy screens. I have seen glossy screens in stores, and to my eyes the reflections from the strong overhead lights present didn’t favor them.

Unfortunately, I still miss some posts from E1505 matte users in the forum. It would be very valuable to hear their opinion (as after all they chose matte in the first place for the same reasons mentioned here).

Cheers,

 

I hated my 710M screen. I do a lot of word processing and it was annoying probably 20% of the time. If I was in my office, or there was ANY amount of backlighting in my area there would be noticable glare. I went back to a Matte screen and love it.