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Some people seem to be indifferent about it, but I just cannot work with glossy screens. Not even with those called "anti-glare". So I decided it is important e

Some people seem to be indifferent about it, but I just cannot work with glossy screens. Not even with those called "anti-glare". So I decided it is important enough to make an extra section for matte displays on Product Chart. How do other developers think about this?

etiam 11y ago
I strongly prefer matte. For laptop I still nurture grand dreams of a relatively large, fully sunlight readable screen with support for a good stylus. Seems like it would be heaven for outdoors/bright place work when conditions invite to that. I've yet to find a way of realizing that.
imakesnowflakes 11y ago
Same here. I struggle every day with my 24 inch Dell glossy monitor. I originally had a matte display, but It went dead during guarantee period and it was replaced with one with a glossy screen. I am thinking of getting a smoked window glass and putting it in front of it. It is that bad.
pasbesoin 11y ago
Matte. Even if you "don't notice it", fatigue you experience over time may be related to unconscious strain to tune out reflective glare. I hate looking at marketing material for monitors where they don't at all describe whether the monitor is matte or glossy, or where they hide this spec or use other unspecific descriptives that leave one wondering, "Huh?" Glossy has its place; however, I think that place is not the general nor varying workplace. Not for me, at least. So, make it clear what I'm getting with your product.
markbnj 11y ago
Very strongly prefer matte.
finnh 11y ago
Such a personal choice. I don't mind the reflections, and I strongly dislike matte - everything looks dead & second-rate to me on a matte screen, so much so that I just gave away a matte 4k monitor rather than use it.
rayiner 11y ago
I'm okay with a very light matte. Laptop displays however tend to be way too strong, and I prefer glossy for that. I can control my room lighting--I can't do anything about text looking like I'm seeing it through wet wax paper.
eponeponepon 11y ago
Matte all the way. I can't understand why anybody would choose a glossy screen for any purpose.
- sgarman 11y ago
  Glossy screens are used to get good color representation in a dynamic lighting environment - although often hidden behind the reflections. If vibrancy and color are important to you (designers) a glossy screen might be the right coating. If you are just trying to see your monitor and don't care if colors change depending on external light source then matte.
  - mindslight 11y ago
    And yet the Dreamcolor on which I'm reading this is matte. The worst part visually is the bounce from the white wall behind me, which would be much worse if it were glossy. Colors are always going to be dependent on ambient light, since your perception of the white point changes. And if color is important to you then vibrancy probably isn't, since calibrating a monitor can only ever shrink its gamut. IMHO, glossy screens came from the same place as shortscreens and white backgrounds (for emissive displays) - Hell. As far as laptops, just get a used Thinkpad (real one - X, T, or W). I hear HP has a good business line too, if they're your kink.
- smrtinsert 11y ago
  Glossy screens are usually used to provide a better contrast ratio on an otherwise unremarkable TN panel. TNs are used for their higher response aka - gaming laptops. Mattes are fine for IPS panels where response time typically isn't a factor.
Narishma 11y ago
It's just a personal preference. I don't think being a developer has anything to do with it.
meatysnapper 11y ago
As the Navi say "I see you". I hate matte screens even more than I hate open office plans, which is more than I hate genocide, java and the IRS. EDIT: If you are forced to use an Apple 27" display, you can remove the glass panel on the front; it is a magnetic snap on panel.
vitd 11y ago
I don't mind glossy for just programming. It's not usually enough to disturb my text (though I use a bright background and dark text rather than a dark background with bright text). But I hate it for working with photos and videos.
hatsix 11y ago
Love it! Just an FYI: The Lenovo W541 and W550 both offer 2880x1620 screens as well as 1080p. And for Linux users out there, the W541 seems to have fixed some of the ACPI incompatibilities, so the nouveau driver works with the quadro cards out-of-the-box (with Ubuntu, at least). Great compiz performance at UHD resolutions w/ dual monitors. (Apple 27")... I'm loving it! Only two nitpicks: The left wrist rest gets uncomfortably warm (fairly certain it's the graphics card, as it only really happens when I'm plugged into the second monitor). And the number pad on the right leads to an off-center keyboard. Neither of these are deal-breakers, as the temp is on-par with the MBP I had been using, and the keyboard is still immensely better than the shallow keyboard on the MBP (Plus, I love the touchpoint.)

etiam 11y ago

I strongly prefer matte. For laptop I still nurture grand dreams of a relatively large, fully sunlight readable screen with support for a good stylus. Seems like it would be heaven for outdoors/bright place work when conditions invite to that. I've yet to find a way of realizing that.

imakesnowflakes 11y ago

Same here. I struggle every day with my 24 inch Dell glossy monitor. I originally had a matte display, but It went dead during guarantee period and it was replaced with one with a glossy screen. I am thinking of getting a smoked window glass and putting it in front of it. It is that bad.

pasbesoin 11y ago

Matte. Even if you "don't notice it", fatigue you experience over time may be related to unconscious strain to tune out reflective glare. I hate looking at marketing material for monitors where they don't at all describe whether the monitor is matte or glossy, or where they hide this spec or use other unspecific descriptives that leave one wondering, "Huh?" Glossy has its place; however, I think that place is not the general nor varying workplace. Not for me, at least. So, make it clear what I'm getting with your product.

markbnj 11y ago

Very strongly prefer matte.

finnh 11y ago

Such a personal choice. I don't mind the reflections, and I strongly dislike matte - everything looks dead & second-rate to me on a matte screen, so much so that I just gave away a matte 4k monitor rather than use it.

rayiner 11y ago

I'm okay with a very light matte. Laptop displays however tend to be way too strong, and I prefer glossy for that. I can control my room lighting--I can't do anything about text looking like I'm seeing it through wet wax paper.

eponeponepon 11y ago

Matte all the way. I can't understand why anybody would choose a glossy screen for any purpose.

sgarman 11y ago
Glossy screens are used to get good color representation in a dynamic lighting environment - although often hidden behind the reflections. If vibrancy and color are important to you (designers) a glossy screen might be the right coating. If you are just trying to see your monitor and don't care if colors change depending on external light source then matte.
- mindslight 11y ago
  And yet the Dreamcolor on which I'm reading this is matte. The worst part visually is the bounce from the white wall behind me, which would be much worse if it were glossy. Colors are always going to be dependent on ambient light, since your perception of the white point changes. And if color is important to you then vibrancy probably isn't, since calibrating a monitor can only ever shrink its gamut. IMHO, glossy screens came from the same place as shortscreens and white backgrounds (for emissive displays) - Hell. As far as laptops, just get a used Thinkpad (real one - X, T, or W). I hear HP has a good business line too, if they're your kink.
smrtinsert 11y ago
Glossy screens are usually used to provide a better contrast ratio on an otherwise unremarkable TN panel. TNs are used for their higher response aka - gaming laptops. Mattes are fine for IPS panels where response time typically isn't a factor.

Narishma 11y ago

It's just a personal preference. I don't think being a developer has anything to do with it.

meatysnapper 11y ago

As the Navi say "I see you". I hate matte screens even more than I hate open office plans, which is more than I hate genocide, java and the IRS. EDIT: If you are forced to use an Apple 27" display, you can remove the glass panel on the front; it is a magnetic snap on panel.

vitd 11y ago

I don't mind glossy for just programming. It's not usually enough to disturb my text (though I use a bright background and dark text rather than a dark background with bright text). But I hate it for working with photos and videos.

hatsix 11y ago

Love it! Just an FYI: The Lenovo W541 and W550 both offer 2880x1620 screens as well as 1080p. And for Linux users out there, the W541 seems to have fixed some of the ACPI incompatibilities, so the nouveau driver works with the quadro cards out-of-the-box (with Ubuntu, at least). Great compiz performance at UHD resolutions w/ dual monitors. (Apple 27")... I'm loving it! Only two nitpicks: The left wrist rest gets uncomfortably warm (fairly certain it's the graphics card, as it only really happens when I'm plugged into the second monitor). And the number pad on the right leads to an off-center keyboard. Neither of these are deal-breakers, as the temp is on-par with the MBP I had been using, and the keyboard is still immensely better than the shallow keyboard on the MBP (Plus, I love the touchpoint.)