Suggestions re: awful glare on Dell 1505

I bought a 1505 for my daughter. She mainly uses it for PhotoShop and web-surfing. It seems to work well except the 15.4WSXGA+ screen has a LOT of glare. It's often unusable even if she has no lights on and the blinds down in her room. We just got off the phone with Dell tech -support. The guy basically agreed that there was a lot of glare bc the first thing he said when he saw the screen was "You need to turn the lights down. They're much too bright." Well, the lights weren't on and all the blinds in her room were closed. We got the laptop so she could work outside as well as in her room. Needless to say, it's completely unusable outside.

Tech support basically said too bad, there's nothing we can do. Which I think is a crock bc we told them before we bought it that we wanted to use it outside and for PhotoShop. Plus the support guy admitted that there was a lot of glare on the screen even when she was inside with all the lights off and the blinds closed (i.e., as dark as you can make a room during the day). It seems bogus to me that my daughter can only use the computer if she's in a dark room and even then the colors aren't good and it's difficult to see the photos or web sites. Is she supposed to wait until after dark to use the computer? :/

She thought about buying a Huey (monitor calibration). She thought that the auto-adjust feature might help her minimize the glare/reflection/washed-out colors due to the glare. After some research, I'm leaning toward the Monaco Optix XRPro or possibly ColorEyes (with Monaco Optix, non-pro) bc it seems like they offer better calibration than the Huey but I'm not sure any of them would help at all with the glare/reflection problem.

Suggestions anyone?

 

You have a Truelife/Glossy screen, so there really isn't anyway to get around the glare. A couple options...

1.) Replace the Truelife screen with a matte screen. The only problem with this is that it can be costly and with the matte screen the only resolution available is XGA. (shame on Dell for not offering higher resolutions w/ Matte screens).

2.) Get one of these or these. For a cheaper, but similar option, see here

3.) There are antiglare films available; however, they seem a little gimmicky to me. They aren't too expensive, but do your research.

Edited to include links.

 

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah, I know we have true life and that the only way to get decent res was to get the glossy screen. That's why I told them before I bought it that we needed to be able to use it outside. The ppl at Dell are supposed to know if you can do PhotoShop work outside or if there will be too much glare so forget it. It's called a warranty. Unfortunately, the tech "support" seem unaware of that.

How much do the shades weigh? My daughter is disabled. We got the 1505 instead of the 1705 only bc the 1705 is too heavy for her to use. (Would have loved to have the 1705). So weight is a very big issue.

I was hoping someone here had some experience with antiglare films or SOMETHING that would make the laptop usuable.

 

If you are within the 21 day return policy, you could return it to Dell. You can probably get out of paying the re-stocking fee. Otherwise I would sell and get something with a matte screen. Yeah you are take a hit, but your other choice is to be stuck with screen you don't like. The monitor calibration will have little effect on the glosiness as it is a coating on the screen that produces the glare. Perhaps you got a bad one. That might be an avenue to persue with Dell. I prefer matte screens as well, but it is not like glossy are unusable. One reason I tell people to go look before they buy. Most notebook screens do not do well outside. Glossy ones tend to be better since they are brighter. A transrelective does work well outside, but they are kinda pricey. Good Luck, I hope it works out.

 

I see you added the Hoodman since my reply. That might be light enough. I'll check it out. Thanks!

 

Thanks, Zaz. We DID look before we bought even though it was a big pain bc both my daughter and I are disabled and going to the store took us over a week to recover. There wasn't anywhere near the problem with any of those screens as with the one we have. The lighting conditions were different but I think there may be something wrong with the screen as well.

 

j4y 7. Love the cardboard box. I'll see if she can play around with that. She works in a semi-reclining position most of the time so I don't know if it will work for her. :lol: But it's much more helpful than tech support. :lol:

 

just an FYI : it doens't really matter if you have a glossy screen or a matte screen, neither are workable outside. in terms of glare, it's really surprising that there is glare with no lights on, sounds almost freaky, like where is the glare coming from then? to rectify, you have the option of returning the notebook for a different LCD or have dell send you a replacement or send it in to be replaced. i'm not sure if you'd have to make a big fuss or if they'll do it without a fight. remember that you can call or email or chat with dell; sometimes trying to get things done over the phone can be frustrating so it may be easier to do it via email or chat.

good luck.

 

all lcd displays get washed out in sunlight, I have wsxga+ truelife and I dont have much trouble with glare at all, all in all I'm really happy with the screen

 

i just ordered my e1707 with glossy screen and I was freaking out when I read this thread, but after reading your statement I feel better. I dont care if its true or not I want to go on pretending. I wont be using it outside much anyways, mostly in my dorm room.

 

its amazing what people expect out of things.

 

for what I spent on my 1505, I cant complain at all, from some of the posts I've read, I dont understand it, these are budget units, they will have flaws, and I honestly think dells return policy is too lax, they could tighten it up a bit and shave a little more off the upfront price.....all in all they perform remarkably well, decent support, and they are cheap, the screen might not look as nice as the one on a $2000+ unit.....but for around half the cost, with pretty much the same features, personally I cant complain about mine, what it does and what it cost, I'm very satisfied

 

Hahaha, so true mate!

 

I don't expect perfection. I don't expect a Sony in terms of how the screen looks. But I do expect a usable notebook and, if I ask the sales people about using it in certain situations and they say I'll be able to do that (i.e., use the notebook outside for PhotoShop), I expect that information to be true.

FWIW, this notebook cost about the same as several other notebooks we were considering (HP, Tohsiba, IBM) so I don't expect a bottom-of-the-line notebook either. I also expect better service; if they're selling a notebook as usable outside for PhotoShop and the notebook isn't usable for PhotoShop in a dark room, there's a problem and Dell tech shouldn't blow ppl off when they call to try to fix it. (And since the Dell tech agreed that the screen was difficult to see and that it looked like there were a lot of bright lights on even though the room was dark, there must be some problem.)

BTW, outside here isn't all that bright here now. I live in a valley with about 100+ mature trees in my yard. The sun on west side of the house, which is where my daughter would like to use the notebook, is blocked by the foothills, several houses that are uphill from us, and several oak that are probably about 80 ft tall plus even more shorter trees. It's hard to grow plants in that part of the yard bc of the shade, even though I try. Plus there's the fog from the bay that blows in many afternoons. It's really not at all bright most of the time. (Nice in the summer, sucks in the winter.)

I hope the screen on other ppls' Dells is better than this one. I've read that there are 3 mfgs of the laptop screens (though the problems I read about weren't like this one) so maybe another screen would be better. As I said, the laptops at the Dell store didn't have anywhere near this much glare. Even the tech that we talked to agreed that it looked like there were a lot of bright lights on when he looked at the screen even though the room was as dark as we could make it. So, clearly, this isn't how most of the Dell screens look.

I wasn't posting to complain; I hoped someone would have some good suggestions for dealing with the problem. I'll try the shades to see if that works. I was hoping maybe there were some anti-glare material, adjustment setting the tech didn't suggest, or something easy that we could do to fix the problem. If anyone else has any ideas or experience with a similar problem, I'd love to hear them. Of if you think I should make Dell fix the problem, I appreciate that advice too even though I'd rather find a quick easy fix .

I bought the computer about a month ago (just past the 21 days, unfortunately, but my daughter was too sick to do any PhotoShop stuff or go outside before now). I have a 4 year on-site extended warranty and accidental damage warranty as well as the implied warranties (merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose - i.e. Photoshop, including outside) so you'd think that Dell would be more helpful about this problem. Thanks to all who've made suggestions. Good luck to those of you who bought Dells recently. I hope yours are problem-free.

 

In my opinion, the truelife screen is unusable in MOST applications. I couldn't stand using the thing unless the room was completely dark. Even a lamp or overhead light would produce such a glare that it drove me nuts. I returned my e1405 true life for the matte screen. I gave up a little on the resolution, but that didn't bother me after about two days of using it. I absolutely love my new one....

 

rickdawg, have you done any photo or graphics work on your computer? That was our hesitation about the low-res. We know that for the final work, my daughter will probably have to use the desktop and CRT bc most laptops (or LCDs) aren't suitable for good color matching, etc. But it's hard for her to sit up for long enough to do that so we wanted a laptop.

I know that, in general, I'd prefer the matte. We weren't sure if the resolution was sufficient for PhotoShop. E.g., do you tend to sharpen too much on a low-res screen?

Thanks for the info.

 

have you tried talking to different support people?, sometimes you'll get lucky and find someone that actually wants to help, as your is a special case, if you plead your case hard enough and to the right person, I'm sure they could hook you up with a high res matte screen, true life starts out as a matte, then they add the coating, if I had a choice about it, I would've gotten a matte screen, I got my through dell outlet, so it was as is, though its not much of a problem for me, as I have been able to adjust position to minimize glare in every instance so far, and I work in a warehouse with 45 sodium halide lamps 30 feet overhead, and overhead flourescent fixtures in the office, the only time I really have a problem is when my screen is directly facing a window, hope you can work something out

 

Thanks, Iceman. I didn't know that the screen starts out as matte. (Then I really don't understand why they don't offer high res matte as an option.) The computers at the Dell "store" were at a mall kiosk and I think they had florescent lights (though high above). I'm glad that you've been able to work around the glare without much problem.

I spent over an hour on chat with Dell reps today. (My connection abruptly ended twice and I had to start over. I'm dead - had to take a 2 hour nap and have not yet recovered.) Both reps tried to convince me that the glare itself was actually a "benefit" (their word) that "improves" the computer - they didn't say the glossy screen was a benefit, they said the glare was. (Do they read what they're typing? Like I'm going to suddenly decide "oh yes! I love this glare! Why didn't I notice before how great it is? I'm glad I paid extra for a screen that makes the computer extremely difficult/impossible to use for PhotoShop." At least the second guy conceded that the screen is designed for gaming and videos and might not be so good for PhotoShop or web browsing.)

I thought I had the problem solved by lowering the res. It looked OK to me (not great but ok). But then my (teenaged) daughter said the lower res distorted things too much. Apparently, the screen is designed for the highest res and doesn't work so well at lower resolutions. She seemed somewhat peeved that I didn't know that already. She pulled up a photo on the lower and then higher res for my edification. I guess she thinks I'm slow but at least possibly educable.

<sigh> I guess I'll try Dell "support" again. After another nap. I'm really dead tired. Doing anything for over a half an hour makes me deteriorate (I can't control my muscles) so I don't think this is going to be easy. And I can't really use a laptop (which I needed to do for the tech rep) when I'm not having problems bc the keyboard is too small.

Iceman, you hadn't posted when I chatted with the Dell reps. This time, I'll ask about the matte screen if they don't mention it. Thanks.

Thanks to all with tips, suggestions, encouragement, etc. !

 

changing the resolution or the brightness wont have any effect on the glare, the glare will still be there when the screen is turned off, its the gloss coat reflecting any light like a mirror, another thing you could try, though its an awkward postion is to not open it up all the way, like <, that would prevent any overhead lighting from reflecting back,its really awkward unless your lying down though

 

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "glare". The only problem possible with those screens is reflectiveness, and the solution is simple- reangle the screen so that lights aren't reflected. I have no earthly idea how calibrating the colors could possibly change the reflectiveness of the screen surface. Color has nothing to do with reflectiveness, and the poor color reproduction of Dell's screens is a different problem entirely.

 

color rendition hasnt been a problem for me, though thats not critical for my job, color reproduction is above and beyond my needs, for your problem, you need a matte screen, no way around it, wsxga+ is only offered in truelife on the e1505, wich I why I said you need to plead your case to the right rep, you can get wxga in matte, thats only 1200x800, good luck

 

The E1505 glossy screens have a completely unacceptable problem with glare - I found this out the hard way. Anyone who says "well, that's just the way it is" has never used a good laptop screen from IBM/Lenovo or Apple. Both of these manufacturers manage to include far superior screens in their low-end models than Dell does at comparable prices; their high-end models are things of beauty. And while no laptop does great outdoors (unless you get a shade for it), the Dell screens are particularly horrid in this regard.

I'm planning to try this screen cover on my E1505, but I haven't found any reviews (yet) that say whether it'll do the trick:
http://www.protectcovers.com/detail.aspx?ID=8

My recommendation would be to return the E1505 while you still have a chance, and look to spending a bit more on an Apple (the MacBook screen, while not quite as nice as the matte one on the MacBook Pro, is miles ahead of the E1505), or a Lenovo. From your description of your, and your daughter's disability, it sounds like the last thing you can afford is a machine that generates physical stress, and I can guarantee that the E1505's screen will do that in spades.