I'd say this is the product of brand dna, targeted audience and a bit of randomness. I think a good glossy screen with this special coating which makes reflecti

I'd say this is the product of brand dna, targeted audience and a bit of randomness. I think a good glossy screen with this special coating which makes reflections barely visible and if, then they are deep purple such as on MacBooks, is on par with matte screens. Latter try to avoid the reflection by blurring them which might work here and there better but at the end of the day it's a matter of taste since this matte blurs coming from reflections are also annoying. Non-coated glossy screens or with a cheap coating are clearly inferior in this regard. Coming now to other motivations, a glossy screen at the point of sale: A Macbook with a glossy screen in a shiny Apple Store is just way more impressive and will trigger more impulse buys. It's like a jewel or expensive watch sparkling in all its glory at you. Glossy screens go also seamlessly to the edges or in other words, there is no bumpy plastic edge which just looks more like a slick and polished product. In contrast, ThinkPads are more of an enterprise product and not in need to trigger impulse buys + need to signal "hey I am workhorse for professional users" => matte screen. But be aware that Lenovo puts glossy screens on very similar specced Yoga models which target consumers and are found at the point of sales. Those models have also more showy aluminium cases while the Thinkpads have also beautiful cases but their beauty is more of a subtly beauty which needs longer to lure buyers into a buy (if they aren't loyal ThinkPad users already). To drive this even further, Lenovo recently introduced alu-cased Thinkpads and a new subbrand "Thinkbooks" to target really any user out there. So, matte or glossy is more about demographics and their value system and beliefs than about functionality. Last advantage which most forget: High-dpi screens have eg way crisper fonts on glossy than on matte, hence are overall sharper, eg code or a terminal on a 300dpi glossy screen is just incredible (check out 4K 13-14 inch notebooks or Dells 8K 32 inch).