Do you prefer a glossy or matte screen?

This poll goes in conjunction with the other post about difference between glossy and matte screens. What's your opinion? Which is your preference?

 

For the most part, glossy is just a gimmick and I would never order it if I had a choice. Still, I wouldn't turn down a "deal" to avoid one.

 

matt all the way, I hate glossy with a passion

 

I feel like some sort of compromise might be refreshing... something that isn't quite like a mirror, but not so matte that the colors begin to look "washed out". Possibly that depends more the screen internals rather than screen finish, though.

 

A compromise would be pretty popular I think. I like both but it's incredibly difficult to find a matte screen on something under 2500$. One day we'll have lappys with near full desktop power that also have 10hrs battery life and matte-ish touchscreen enabled... aw dammit, I want that now

 

Plenty of relatively cheap (sub $1000) business notebooks you can get with matte screens. Just look at any of the "mainstream" ThinkPads, Elitebooks, or Latitudes...

 

I would be OK with glossy, its not the glossyness that bothers me tbh but the horrible quality and bad viewing angles with most. but maybe I just think that cause the only quality screens I ever buy are not usually glossy.

 

Work with both - Matte at the office and glossy at the house - actually prefer the glossy.

 

Uh I can't answer this. For a laptop that I take outside, matte all the way. What use is the screen, even if it looks amazing, that I cannot see on the bright light?

For computers that are mostly at home, such as desktop replacements, glossy rocks. You can just turn it away from the light source.

 

I definitely prefer matte over glossy, in fact that was the main reason I was looking at business-grade laptops in the first place. I can't stand the reflections from glossy screens.

Yep - you can get a T410 or E6410 with a matte screen easily for under $1000 (granted, it's not a particularly high quality matte screen).

 

Semi-glossy all the way

 

Yup, if you look at the HP8740w Dreamcolor-2 IPS screens, they look GORGEOUS.

And Dell Precision M6500 RGBLED screens, the colors look as if on steroids.

Heck just look at the matte external monitors, and the vibrant colors!!

 

My desktop monitor is matte - Dell 2407FPW. Superb monitor, no issues here. I prefer matte all the way.

 

Good antireflective glossy screen. The one on my Acer is very good as I live near the equator and have lots of sun, yet can still read well.

 

I used a similar one at home only 19" in size. I moved it to my office now, where the lights are pretty bright. That's 19" monitor with resolution 1440x900. And works just fine.

 

I'm in the majority in preferring matté. The relative dearth of matté screens is one of the reasons I don't mind hanging onto my laptop despite its increasing age. The lack of matté plus decent graphics adds to this even more. If there were as many matté screens in consumer laptops as there are glossy, I might have actually bought a new laptop this summer. Instead, 90% of the interesting laptops are glossy-only, so it's only too easy to dismiss them.

As a bit of a compromise I do like the screen Sony uses on its 13" Z-Series. Extremely clear and crisp, not too many reflections, no screen door. It's about the only laptop screen I've seen that I like as well (or better than) than my Inspiron's (matté) screen. Unfortunately that line starts at $1800 or something like that, so it's out by price alone.

 

Sony Z is not completely matte but not glossy either. No reflections.

Macbook Air is slightly more glossy but no where near as glossy as the Macbook Pros, Acer, Asus notebooks.

 

Matte for me.

I want complete lack of my face reflection in dark screen.
I don't want to turn my laptop around trying to minimize reflections from windows and light sources.
I like to let sun in my dwelling.
I aim for high-end screens in other parameters so little losses from matte surface is not an issue.

 

Die glossy, die DIE DIE DIE

(who are these 10 people who say they prefer glossy screens?????)

 

Are you going to have them killed?

 

My eyes kill me with glossy screens. It's so dificult to find even anti-reflective screens only.

 

I'm not a huge fan of glossy screens, I'd prefer matte but it is usually more expensive and/or hard to find. Sony has a decent compromise, their glossy screens don't feel glossy to me.

 

I think people would gladly pay $100-$200 extra for a matte screen (depending on size). I do not get why manufacturers are not simply passing this on to the consumers and choosing matte screens in their consumer laptop lines.

 

Write them and let them know you want a choice. So many of us sometimes forget we can do that.

 

I think most people on here would do so but this forum represents a very small sample of computer users - ones who are invested enough in computers that they sign up and give up a certain amount of their recreational time to post here.

I am of the opinion that paying $200 extra for a matte screen is not something most notebook users in general would go for. If they did, then most companies would build matte finish screens into their consumer notebooks because theres money in it. What it says to me is that most people don't care whether its glossy or matte as long as its cheap and theres a certain price threshold where no matter how well designed or well featured a notebook is or however good the screen is, it is simply costs more than most people are willing to pay for a computer. Conversely, if its cheap enough, most users will be willing to tolerate many more inequities because you expect compromises when you aren't putting down alot of cash.

If you want to bring back matte you have to vote with your wallet and only buy notebooks with matte screens.

 

I'm one of them. I prefer the vibrant colors and extra contrast of glossy displays. I even want it on my TV. Reflections don't bother me as long as the back light is bright enough.

In my opinion all matte displays look dull. Even high quality displays like the one on the MBP matte. I don't really like the semi glossy on Sony Vaio Z either. I'd rather have real glossy.

 

If a laptop is going to be used in places where glare is a problem then matt is the only way to go. Otherwise I don't particularly care; there are more important factors in screen choice.

One problem matt screens have is that glossy screens look more impressive in a store display and consequently tend to sell better.

 

Then at least give consumers the choice. Based on this very limited user base here, it's 2 to 1 preference for matte over glossy. I'm sure there's plenty of market for users to accommdate machines to offer both glossy and matte varieties. I just don't like it when companies think they know what the customer wants and forces options on them when in many cases the customer would happily pay more for the alternate option.

 

Its expensive to give the customer options. Although many builders now offer configure to order notebooks theres a fairly clever illusion of choice going on. They aren't nearly as customizable as they look and restrictions are partly imposed through pricing. For example, if you charge +£200 for an 8gb RAM upgrade, you can safely bet that very few people are actually going to choose that upgrade path because its cheaper for an informed consumer to buy aftermarket for less. In such a way it is possible to railroad consumers into buying very similar configurations that they have plentiful parts for.

The easiest, cheapest thing they can do is have one monolithic range of notebooks with identical components since they can be factory assembled with the least amount of human oversight. But consumers like choice so they throw a few options at them to keep them happy. They price out the upgrade options that they don't have the inventory for and stamp deal of the week on the parts they need to get rid of in order to make way for new supply.

Most will draw the line at offering different panels from different suppliers. If its possible to get everything from the same supplier at discount then you'll see them offering the option otherwise it just doesn't make sense. If a glossy and matte panel cost the same and one is more popular than the other, then you only need to buy and sell the one thats cheaper and more popular.

 

:whistles:


...

 

I just hate the "squeeze every penny in profits" mentality of the corporate world (esp publically traded ones). I'm sure the companies would make profits if they offered real choices; but that perhaps wont make them as much profit so they dont do that. HP has a glorious 1920x1200 dreamcolor IPS screen on the 8740w but its only offered on super expensive 3000 euro+ configs.

 

*Puts Phil on The List*

Have you looked at the RGBLED matte displays; or even the normal backlit displays say on the HP 8710w?

 

I never saw those as far as I know. I did see some sort of HP 17" with 1900*1200 display. I've also seen Vaio Z and Macbook Pro 17" matte, which are considered to be good displays.

Even very good LCD TVs with matte displays lack the punch of glossy displays that I like so much. I'm a big fan of plasma TVs. Very saturated colors and very glossy.

Another display I really like is Samsung's SAMOLED, I'd love to see those on a laptop.

 

I prefer matte, but like a lot of folk here, I wouldn't turn down a notebook just because of it had a glossy screen.

 

The problem (for me) with super saturated glossy panels is that they don't match reality - ever.

Yeah, I'm a photog...


No matter how nice they look, editing images (accurately) is quite a balancing exercise in how nice the image looks like 'now' with how it will look like when printed.

Matte is more accurate.

Pleasing, is a different matter.

To get my work finished the first time, matte is the hands down winner.

 

Glossy are fingerprint magnets.

 

I prefer matte to glossy simply because there are no reflections. Five out of the seven notebooks I bought since 2004 have been matte; I have regretted buying the two glossy ones. The reflections are very annoying and hurt my productivity.

I find it difficult to see dark pictures or movie scenes with any sort of reflections . . . the room needs to be dark. Also, I noticed that a matte screen is easier to see at lower brightness levels than glossy; it seems that screen brightness compensates for some of the reflections but only so much.

 

Colour accuracy, black/white levels, transition time matter more to me than glossy or matte.

Yes glossy can be annoying in high ambient light situations but that's only sometimes. Whereas it's always annoying if you're always looking at a crap quality LCD.

Glossy may be fingerprint magnets but who the hell touches their screen all the time? I don't and neither should anyone else without a touchscreen.

 

Yep, having recently switched from glossy to matte screen, I went back to using bathroom mirror when I need to shave...

 

Or you could use your notebook's built-in webcam, if it has one.

Kidding aside, I have utilized my glossy screens as a mirror on more than one occasion.

 

Bwa ha ha ha ha....best comment ever...

Charles, why did you buy the SECOND glossy laptop? The first one wasnt punishment enough???

 

Ah it doesn't have one built in , it was a fixed-configuration laptop on sale so I bought an external web cam.

No one commented about glossy screens, with anti-glare reflector covers. How does that work in real life? Good, bad, grainy? I'd take it that's somewhere in between pure glossy or pure matte.

 

The second laptop I bought with a glossy display, an HP Pavilion dv5t in 2008, was offered with a very nice 1680x1050 resolution . . . and unfortunately only came with glossy screens. Not many competing notebooks offered the same kind of price/features ratio. It has one of those edge-to-edge glass displays, which is actually worse than plain glossy (didn't know that at the time). Anyways I'm not dissatisfied with it, I still use the laptop a lot. However I learned my lesson; now I definitely won't buy another glossy screen laptop.

 

You may not have much choice! Seriously. I won't have it be an end-all decision in a laptop, but if it's got all the other specs for the right price and has a glossy display, I'll have to buy it. It's just too bad.

 

Have you guys seen the displays on the new Macbook Air?

They're glossy but hardly reflective. Very good contrast and brightness.

 

How do you make a glossy but hardly reflective display? Is it polarized or something? Maybe the baklighting is super bright to offset the gloss.

 

Yes both. The coating is anti glare I guess. And the back light is indeed very bright.

 

They need to stop cheaping out on good anti-reflective coating for glossy screens. Much better than regular glossy and matte.

 

so, what effect do very fine abrasives and sandpapers have on glossy screens?

If no one tells me I'll have to find out on my own

 

I have seen it and it's nothing unusual, as far as "good quality glossy" displays go. It's pretty bright, that helps, but against black colors you still see your face as in the mirror 100% well. This does not help black level at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-reflective_coating
This type of interference coating is easy to detect because it gives (greatly diminished) reflections a distinct violet or blue tinge.
But I have not seen displays utilizing that tech, I suppose its either not yet possible or prohibitively expensive to implement on big and very thin glass panels.