Why does (almost) everyone like GLOSSY screens?!

Ok, I've been out of the laptop market for years. I'm still hacking away on my old Dell Inspiron 4000. Must be 7 years old by now. It's on it's last legs so I'm looking to get something new.

Glossy screens apparently have taken over now. Any actual store I've walked into have nothing but glossy screen laptops (PC). I know they look good vor watcing a movie but anything else is just glare, glare, glare. Hey sure I can be in a coffee shop and discretely use the mirror-glossy screen of a laptop to check out the cute girl somewhere behind me I suppose.

I thought maybe I'm just not used to it so I spent 90 minutes in a store the other day playing around with them. I would put up word processors and type or bring up web pages and sure I can read them ok, but light glare is all over the screen in different areas.

If these glossy screens are so great then why are the flat panel stand alone monitors in the store, 95% of them, matte then?

I nice high-res matte LCD screen is still bright as heck, crisp colours, and looks fantastic.

There were some great deals on laptops at a couple of these stores and if I didn't mind the glossy screens I wold have bought nice $599 cdn HP dv2610.

It seems pretty much my only choices for matte screens are business models or some Dell models. I wanted to avoid Dell this time around due to bad TV buying experience with them. I may have no choice but also Dell's are still so dated looking and boxy compared to the HP's and Sony's.

The Sony has an XBRITE-ECO screen that seems to be glossy but the website says it also has an anti-reflective coating to minimize glare so maybe it's better than most glossy screens.

Thanks for the rant. Cool forum by the way. I've spent WAY too much time on here reading since I found it a couple days ago during my research.

 

This is an old abuse topic. Screens are very subjective, some people like matte and others like glossy. It is the same with resolutions.

I personally like both.

 

I honestly don't know what your talking about when it comes to the glare. I have a high gloss screen and I like it. I guess it's a matter of personal preference. I guess matte screens are more "durable" too? I might be wrong on that.

 

The same discussion is going on in another forum

This link may help
http://netwalker.nl/2007/07/28/glossy-vs-matte/

 

You get used to not paying attention to the glare (I don't see in anymore (If I don't want)). But if you are migrating from Matte to Glossy that will take a couple of months.
But funny thing: When I just migrated I told about this to a friend whose first laptop was glossy, and he replied: What glare are you talking about?

 

i never noticed a glared screen, wierd i guess it depends on the person or how long theve been around the newer laptops.

 

I still prefer matte. Glossy is just too hard on the eyes (especially WSXGA+ screens ).
Tim

 

I love glossy screens!!

 

I've used glossy screens for for quite awhile now, just don't see the glare anymore.

 

turn off the lights around you and mess around in the dark, no glare there

 

i love glossy screens ive been using matte through school and stuff, but glossy kinda is stylish, definitely brighter and more vibrant.

 

Keep yourself in a dark box and use you're laptop in there and you won't notice that glare

Seriously though, I don't like glossy screens either, but it depends on where you use them. Most of the people nowadays are probably using them in the house or in areas that they don't have much light.

It's basically the reply manufacturers give people asking for cheaper laptops but they still want a good looking screen, no matter if it reflects anything or not.

In all comes down to the manufacturers using it as a cover up to disguise the cheap LCD panels they use. Consumers bite due to the demand on cheaper and cheaper computers, and OEMs reply with the cheapest possible way to make the screen look better, slap a layer of gloss onto it.

 

You can still get a matte screen on some ThinkPad models. I've even seen ThinkPads at the store with matte screens (some of those also had Windows XP).

The glossy screens do work nicely as mirrors if you can get the right angle. That's part of the reason I went with matte - unfortunately Dell's options for that have since become more limited.

 

they don't 'slap a layer of gloss' on top of a matte. screens don't come w/ matte by default. i believe gloss layer costs just as much as matte layer

 

What mystifies me is how they can make a gorgeous matte external display but matte laptop displays these days seem to have taken a real dive in quality.

 

I had a nice long post but my son just deleted it :/

Anyways to shorten it up some.

I prefer matte, sure a glossy screen may give the effect of more "vibrant" colors but matte gives normal colors which are just as good.

If your using a matte screen you wont notice the difference unless its side by side with a glossy display, but no matter what with a glossy display you will notice glare, I for one almost always use my laptop in a well lighted area too.

 

Just take a look at this poll. You're not alone... There is a substantial amount of people who prefer matte. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=49330

 

some people like it because they can see themselves on the computer screen while working jking
anyway i think the glossy screens are better in clear in watching movies and other things in a different angle. for example if i look at the glossy screen at the 45 degrees for hp, i don;t see any deformation in the picture , but vostro already has the color difference and black instead of the rich colors.

 

I have both and I just prefer glossy as the colors stand out much better.

 

Hey guys. Thanks for the replies.

I do like matte much better, but I'm almost feeling like giving in. Why? Just because there is so much more choice. I'm very limited if I must have matte.

I quite like the really thin and light (for 15.4" screen) Dell xps m1530 and Sony FZ but glossy only of course. I could get a Dell 15.4 matte but it's thick and heavy (inspiron 1520). I'd love to have a 15.4 screen but only if it's light/thin.

I could go 14.1 matte with a Dell 1420 but that thing is no thinner and no lighter than my 7 yr old Inspiron 4000. I'd even go down to a 13.3 with xps 1330 but glossy only.

This is frustrating me much more than I expected it to. I think I may just cave in and get a thin light glossy (either m1330/m1530/sony fz) and when I'm at home plug it into a nice big matte stand alone flat monitor.

 

I don't use my laptop outdoors, but my room isn't exactly what you'd call dark and yet I don't see any glare at all.

Anyway, preference depends mostly on where you plan to use your laptop.

 

The difference is in the polarizing layer in the screens. Both Glossy and matte screens react to reflections, as the reflections originate outside the screens themselves. A glossy screen allows the reflected light rays to enter into the screen and as they are reflected out again, they use anti-reflective chemical layers to absorb some of the light. Like the anti-reflective coatings you can get on eyeglasses.
A "Matte" screen is one that has had the polarizing layer molded with a rough finish, similar to sandblasted glass. These screens receive the same reflections that a glossy screen does but when the reflected light bounces back out to the viewer the rough surfase dissipated the light rays horizontally across the screens surface and smear the reflection into a generalized halo of light rather that retaining a sharp image. This dissipated reflection reduces contrast as light is spread into dark areas, and degrades sharpness. It is a personal matter as to which you prefer. I had a Fujitsu screen for the last 5 years. They are Very bright (350-450 nits) Extremely clear and deal with reflectiions with anti-reflectiion coatiings. To me, the screen looked like a clear window to what was on the screen. Window buttons pictures, and other items on the screen looked like I could reach out and touch them with real 3 dimensioality. I recently bought an HP8510w with a matte screen of about 200 nits. The screen seems to me like I am looking at a printed paper page rather than actual touchable objects. And becouse of the diffusion, colors are all a bit more pastel and blacks are a dark gray instead of deep rich black. I accept these as a trade off for the other features of the machine. But after living with it for 4 months......The next machine I buy will definately have a brighter, clearer screen.
This again is my opinion and my experience of the different screen types.

 

One other thing I noticed while looking in stores was that the glossy screens seem to crush blacks/black detail. Anyone into graphics or video should know what I'm talking about.

I pulled up the same picture of a bird (tucan I think) and on side by side screens the matte screen showed lots of detail in the black body/feathers of the bird while on trhe glossy screen, even though it looked more 'vibrant' the feathers and body of the bird were just totally black with very little detail. Just looked artificially over colourful.

The matte screen looked more realistic. When you look out at real life, the colours aren't all neon/animated/uber vibrant like but that seems to be what glossy screens look like.

 

I chose glossy for several reasons:

Glossy Screens look sharper. I have seen them advertised as having a 10-20% better contrast ratio. Another good thing about glossy screens is that if you were to poke it with a pen really hard, it would just put a small scratch / dent in the glossy plastic. If it was just the bare LCD, the screen would likely be damaged and a cluster of surrounding pixels would be destroyed.

The only real advantage to a matte screen is that it does not reflect.

 

I just think that a glossy screen looks better, I couldn't care less about the glare. If you're in a spot with glare, move to somewhere else.

 

Even if I, in general, like and use matte screens the most, there is not one clear winner for me. It depends on the purpose.

For multimedia, I prefer glossy for the more vibrant colors.

For business, practicality and working in very bright surroundings (well lit rooms and outdoors) I definitely prefer matte. I also prefer matte for the more stealthy and professional look it gives compared to the more flashy look of the glossy screen.

Correction: You will get a matte screen on all ThinkPad models - not only some. Recently Lenovo has started to offer a glossy screen option - but only for the ThinkPad R61.

Part of the reason why you went for a glossy screen was so that it can work as a mirror? Are you joking or being serious?

 

I agree with you Jabba, each type of screen has it's own place, tho I would tend to lean on the side of a matte screen being you can use it everywhere easily, which you can't do with glossy due to the effects bright light has on the screen.

besides that, I'm color blind and photo sensitive, so I prefer darker muted colors over bright and garishly blinding :laugh:

 

I prefer matte, which is what I'm using right now on both my laptop and desktop LCD monitor. Well, I also think it's better because you can easily buy a screen protector or overlay that can easily turn the screen into 'glossy'. I've always thought of getting one for my laptop, but nearly everyone I know has a glossy laptop screen.

Then again, it's a matter of personal preference. Most people tend to like shiny things. I tend to be more practical since glossy screens are hard to view in areas with extreme lighting. But as of late, I've been seeing less and less laptops with matte screens.

 

They're actually easier to view then matte screens.

 

This is an invalid comparison because you just can't put two different monitors side by side. Any comparison between gloss and matte is null and void because you are also using two different LCD panels and different calibration settings. There is no telling where the LCD panels came from, what type they are (TN, MVA, PVA, IPS, etc) and what the quality of the driving electronics behind them are. These things, along with the implementation of backlighting have everything to do with black/shadow detail, and not the finish on the screen.

I applaud you for bringing this up though, more information never hurt anyone.