So I'm looking at getting a new laptop, because the one I have is getting rather slow. However, I do have one question which is rather bothering me. Do people like that bright shiny screen on their laptops, or is the normal LCD screen better? What are the advantages and disadvantages of both? And by that, I mean in practice, not in market-speak-theory. ;-) If you have the shiny screen, are you happy with it? What situations do you find it problematic? Stuff like that.
Thanks guys!
For coding, reading text and other such activities, the shiny screen is extremely irritating as anything bright nearby will get reflected back at you. The only good thing about the shiny screen is that colors come through better and movies and such look better. But because I'm usually coding or reading text, I'd take the non-shiny screen any day.
I don't mind the shiny screen at all...
This might interest you:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061018-8022.html
Read the discussions too.
@John -- thanks for the link, but unfortunately, the discussion didn't help me much. It was "I love glossy! Glare isn't an issue" and "I hate glossy! Too much glare!" LoL, as for the statistics, I don't think
As an "old guy" I looked at the shiny screen and got the other one.
I found it hard on the eyes. Too much glare.
Treat your eyes nice and get what's easy on your eyes.
Isn't it nice to actually start doing comparison shopping after you buy your laptop?
;P
The old adage comes to mind, to wit: 'Get Both'. (then return the one you like least).
Well, my original order had a matte screen, but since that was canceled because *someone* decided to withhold the funds... ;-)
So now I'm doing a bit more of a comparison, just to tease myself. Not like I can buy the damned thing right now anyhow. Stupid PayPal.
Why don't you buy the new PayPal Pro laptop with its advanced security system that prevents you from booting up...ever. ;-)
I'd avoid the shiny screen if there's any chance at all that it increases glare. Aside from the immediate annoyance of reflections, viewing a glaring screen all day long will tire your eyes and decrease your programming time/concentration.
By the way, you do know that you should take a short break every so often from nearpoint work, don't you?
I actually prefer the newer glossy screens now, even though I didn't at first. My main monitor is a normal matte one, but my girlfriend's MacBook is glossy, and it is pretty nice looking. No annoying reflections or anything - at least none that I've noticed. And it does look sharper to my eyes. I think I'll get one for my next main monitor when this one dies.
I like my glossy screen on my HP laptop, as I use it for more media purposes. But when I looked over at my old iBook (G3 that I gave to my dad, who only had a Powerbook with system 8), I think I wouldn't get a glossy screen another time around. Fingerprints, smudges and dirt show up so much better with a shiny screen. But so do movies and cool games. Glare isn't so much of a problem, but light levels are. It is very hard to see in sunlight. Even overcast doesn't help. But I can't remember using my iBook in such locations, so I can't say a normal screen wouldn't be the same.
True, I guess I haven't really used it outside in the sun, so I can't comment on that either. Also the fingerprint issue is there like you mentioned. But when it is actually clean...the do look really nice :)
I have used my iBook in high sunlight areas. The beach in St Maarten was pretty damned bright and it worked just fine. I dont recall getting much work done though as they were all "clothing optional" beaches :)
But it was a matte screen
Does this imply Aaron's getting a Mac Book, or MacBook Pro, since it can run OS X, Linux and Windows ?
These things are awesome because now I only lug around one laptop instead of two or three :)
Matte. Your choice is simple :-)
The matte screen works great under all conditions and backgrounds.
You will find that though the colors look more vibrant on a glossy screen (great for watching movies) you will soon get tired of trying to angle the screen to read stuff. I have had a Dell 17" 1920x1200 Matte screen on a M60 Precision laptop for nearly 3 years and I can vouch for the quality of the screen. Absolutely amazing.
I don't have too much of a preference, but my nice new laptop has the shiny screen, and I don't think I've ever noticed any effective difference. Sure, there is a difference, but it's never been a problem for me. And I do a fair amount of coding on it in various environments.
Both types of screen are subject to glare and reflections. It's just that the matte screen diffuses them and the glossy screen doesn't. In neither case do you really want to work with a huge light shining directly onto your laptop screen. :-) You quickly get used to both, so it doesn't really matter.
In normal working conditions they're just about equal. The glossy screen looks a bit snappier and has blacker blacks (IMHO) under ordinary circumstances.
In high-glare conditions the matte screen is a bit better because of the diffusion. So if you are working in poor conditions where you probably shouldn't be using a laptop (directly under an overhead fluorescent light, on a sunny beach, outside in Antarctica, etc) you might prefer the matte.
If you'd like to sit on your deck outside your shiny news digs get the matte one
You won't regret it
I have since a week now a laptop with a glossy screen. My desktop pc has a matted screen and both pc's are standing side by side. In this week i only used the desktop to copy data from, all other work i did on the laptop. I wear varifocus spectacles with minus 10 glasses. The laptop screen is 15.4 inch and the desktop screen is 17 inch. The readability of the laptopscreen is far better because the characters are far more sharp and the contrast is greater. The colors on the glossy screen are also of more quality, so because i don't have had trouble with glare, my choice would be a glossy screen.
Some tips:
if budget allows:
1) get a laptop with 17 inch screen or greater
2) video-card with its own memory (not shared)
3) let the laptop built right from start with 2 GB memory or more ( most laptops have only 2 slots for memorycards and if you start with 1GB you get most of the time 2 cards with each 512 MB
4) if 17 inch laptop then choose one with builtin numpad
I wish you success with your search (and lots of budget ofcourse (hint,hint Geoff))
My sister got a MacBook with a shiny screen, and I don't like it. I want to look at the stuff *on* the screen, not the shine of the screen itself. My new MacBook Pro has a normal screen :-)
My vision isn't too great, and in particular I don't see "dark" things very easily. As such, the glossy screen works better for me, since it makes everything look a bit brighter and the colors more saturated.
i hate hate hate hate hate my glossy screen. i actually had no idea my new dell would come with it and would do ANYTHING to get rid of it. i basically can only see my computer at night. as a geologist, this really sucks because i can't even find the curser outside in daylight, never mind actually read something on the screen. all day long i do a little dance in front of the screen moving my whole body from side to side repositioning so i can read first one side of the screen then the other. and the finger prints, oh! don't get me started...