Do all laptop screens have really bad viewing angles?

I just purchased my first ever laptop yesterday, its a hp g7-1310us. The viewing angle on this thing is horrible, even when your sitting directly in front of it, I find myself having to move the screen backwards and forward alot, just so it doesn't look washed out or really dark. Just the slightest movement of the screen or myself makes it either washed out or way to dark.

Are most laptops like this, or did I just purchase a bad one? I was thinking about taking it back, but I bought it from officemax, so I think it would cost me 15% restocking fee. I figured I would do some research and see if this is normal for laptops before bitting that bullet.

 

Most consumer laptop is like this, period.
If you in doubt, just check the sample they have on show and jiggle them around.

 

If there is an option to get a matte 1080 screen, upgrade.
Just about all 1080 screens have better colors and viewing angles than the st 720.

Depending on how much I want to spend, I may even downgrade the processor (to a certain extent) and upgrade the screen.

 

Sadly, nothing is "wrong" with your display; it's just a reflection of the poor quality panels that manufacturers use.

Cheap TN panels tend to be the norm. Of course, some pleasant exceptions exist:

Macbook Pros
Dell XPS 15 1080p RGBLED
Higher-end Lenovo models
Original HP Envy line (when it was equipped with a Radiance display). The current IPS display has some issues.

 

The TN panels listed, while better than most in terms of color reproduction, still have terrible viewing angles. Only non-TN panels such as IPS panels in Dell Precision M4600/6600, HP Elitebook 8560/8760W, and Lenovo X220 are significantly better.

 

Some TN have better horizontal but vertical just can't help it.

 

RETURN IT. You will never get a good screen at Best Buy. Well, once I saw one on a Sony. You want to order an HP with a 1080p ANTI-GLARE MATTE SCREEN. I have the 15", a 17" would be even nicer, yet big for a laptop. I have had many laptops and would never again buy a glossy screen, the viewing angles suck, it's not about the glossy, but matte is better with less reflections. If you have a Micro Center nearby, go look at the HP Dv6t 15" 1080p screen and you won't believe the difference.

 

Any screen that's 1366x768 resolution is probably going to be crappy, whether matte or glossy.

A screen also doesn't have to be IPS to have better viewing angles. Yes, IPS screens have perfect angles, but a good TN screen (like the screens used on Macs or the 1920x1080 screen on a Dell XPS 15) will have decent viewing angles, much better than the ones found in your crappy run-of-the-mill 1366x768 screen.