How will watching movies be on a 14.1" WXGA screen?

Non HD of course, as the Vostro 1400 doesn't have that option. I'll be watching a lot of movies, or at least I'm planning to anyway. How will it be? It's also a matte screen if that makes a difference.

And of course I'll get some headphones too. Sorry if this sounds strange, but I'm pondering if I should go for a larger screen with a higher resolution or not.

 

umpbay......

 

True life screens will look better. Btw, your screen is HD already...

 

How much better do you think? After looking at some pictures I at least thought I was set on a matte screen. Would it still be good for the occsaional movie?

 

It will be fine. Just that trulife, despite reflective, has better colors than your matte. It still makes it very watchable obviously and considering your resolution is HD, like majority of them are, it will be fine.

 

Well I still could go either way, seeing how it'll be at no extra cost over the matte screen. I definitely want to go glossy for the enriched colors and whatnot, but I can't bring myself to it. Anybody with a glossy Vostro want to add their two cents?

 

Oh alright, go with the Trulife then. The only downside to glossy it is very reflective so you can see your face in it when its off, or when its very dim. Though if you think about it, LED displays that pwn both trulife and matte are also reflective... theres no reason not to go with Trulife.

Even looking at other lead manufacturers like HP for example, though I dont really like them. I like Compaq.. but.. thats not the point. The point is HP's laptops are also glossy reflective displays as well.

Whats holding you back?

 

LED isn't an option on the Vostro 1400. The only thing that is holding me back is the pictures I've seen of the horrible glare. Other than movies, I will be doing a lot of word processing, internet, and all the basic stuff. And I won't be in an "office environment" either, I think I should just go for it.

 

Cameras tend to overshow details, so I wouldnt trust some of the pictures out there. It really isnt that bad. From my personal experience that i can share with you.

I have an Inspiron E1505 with Trulife glossy display. On a black screen, yes you will see yourself in it because of the reflection. Though on the login screen, you really can't unless you actually look very hard to try to see yourself. Pictures that you might have seen on ideastorm where someone recommends using a non-glossy display, is most likely because either their camera really overexposed it, or they purposely turned the brightness down to get it to reflect more, which is kinda stupid, but hey, it gets their point across.

Matte backlit screens, though you might think wont have the reflective, would probably have higher quality pictures... no. The trulife glossy will show better pictures.

Im not sure what you mean of in an "office environment", but with a glossy screen, it is usable outdoors, though if you have a matte screen, you have to have the brightness at maximum for it to be barely usable. In other words, if you have max brightness on both the matte and the glossy trulife display, the glossy trulife display will be much more viewable than the matte guaranteed.

It really has to do with brightness. With my new LED backlit however, there is smaller amounts of reflection, but because of the awesome brightness and color reproduction... I seriously can't see my self in it at all even though I try my best to look for my reflection. I have to turn it down a lot to see myself.

 

Why can't I just have both? I'm thinking of going glossy now. Any opinions are welcome, but Forte is swinging me to glossy...

 

How about going and actually looking at a glossy screen. Its not like its new technology...

 

Aside from glare, are there any other things that you feel matte is better for that you want me to check or address? I'd be happy to check on it for you. I do have a Matte Inspiron as well so... yeah.

Just to give you more information, despite not having as much glare, you can still see yourself in the screen when its black. The main thing is, because its matte, it kinda blurs out your reflection so you can't see yourself as clearly which is what makes the reflection not as directly noticable as glossy.

Just to give you a bit more details here, the glossy screen is also less likely to be damaged than a matte screen due to the fact that glossy does add a protective layer.

Just to get a bit more specific on why matte screens are less reflective... matte screens by definition have lower contrast ratios and affect the light coming FROM them a lot more than a glossy screen.

When you make a matte screen, you have to diffuse the light coming from it. Thats accomplished by applying a coated layer on the display that affects both the light reflecting from it and the light it emits, so you will never have as much contrast or clarity that you would have with a completely clear display like trulife glossy.

Just to give you an example, its like a window. You look through a clear glass window, you see through it clearly. Though when the sun shines through it, you probably cant look right into it. Though if the glass window was frosted, the light coming from the sun outdoors wont seep through as much into the glass so you can look at it, though... if someone had a light shining from indoors behind you, the light would be very much noticable.

Side by side, glossy screens render color and contrast much better than a matte screen. If you want to talk image quality, thats precisely why a lot of photo studios and print shops use CRT monitors with glossy displays for the true color calibration.

So whether you want to watch a movie, view pics, or just use your computer in general, you will always have the upper hand with glossy.

 

I watch movies just fine on my 14.1 screen. Three of use squeezed on the bed to watch MatchPoint. The horizontal viewing angle is great for a laptop, IMHO.

 

Just to slap on a technical explanation that relates to what surfasb just posted, yes, glossy trulife does have better viewing angles than matte. Matte, due to the decreased contrast, results in a narrower viewing angle whereas glossy, having increased and much better contrast results in a wider viewing angle.

 

I will always go with a matte display. Movies look just fine on every matte screen I have ever used.

Glossy screens might be "shinier", but the glare can be incredibly annoying.

People who do work that requires monitors to be colour calibrated generally prefer matte screens (when talking about LCDs). Glossy screens are shinier with brighter colours, which look nice in movies, but they are not ideal if you need colour accuracy.

Glossy screens - Bright colours, more contrast, annoying glare.
Matte screens - Not as bright and shiny colours, no annoying glare.

I much prefer to work with matte screens.

 

Movies look fine, but they could be better. Remember my example of looking through a frosted glass window vs a clear window? The concept is exactly the same.

Glossy with Trulife offers superior color reproduction, not just "shiny". The glare can be annoying if your not using it at full brightness or outdoors, but seriously, use your matte outdoors. Its not really usable with the sun out. Though with glossy, you can see it better than matte on max brightness.

People who do work that requires monitors to be colour calibrated actually prefer CRT screens, which are essentially glossy, NOT matte as they do not cause the "frosted effect" when you look at the screen. There is perfect color, but the only disadvantage? Greater chance of glare because its just plain glass.

If you think about why exactly there is annoying glare, like I said in an earlier post, matte prevents light from going out due to its coating of the screen which distorts your own reflection in the screen so it blurs it out. Matte screens can have nice colors too, but it will never look as great as glossy screens simply because it has that coating to diffuse the light.

If you are working on word processing, or anything excel, etc. Matte screens are great since you really dont need to care about watching movies or anything like that. On the other hand, if you do intend to watch movies and look at pictures in clarity, go with the glossy. Sure there is glare, but the glare becomes less and less of a deal the higher the brightness setting you go.

 

I gave you some +rep Forte, thanks.

And nizzy, thank you, but I didn't just discover these glossy screens. New technology or not, it is still a decision that has to be made each with their own positives and negatives. I have seen both, but I just can't seem to make up my mind. At least that was the case a day or so ago, but I'm pretty sure I want to glossy now, just because I will be watching tons of movies!

 

Are the lines rolling up/down? Or does this ressemble more the "interlacing" effect of old CRT's/tube TVs?

 

There are two 1420s in my house, 1-1400x900 glossy, 1 1200x800 matte. I have watched movies on both and honestly dont see a significant difference. The slight edge might go to glossy but to my tired old eyes it really not that big a deal, their both fine.