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Users Want Matte LCDs While Glossy Screens Dominate
Barence writes "A survey of PC Pro readers suggests PC makers are out of touch when it comes to glossy vs matte screens. Almost three quarters of those surveyed said they preferred matte screens despite laptop makers moving almost exclusively to glossy screens. ... Why is the industry hell-bent on not giving customers what they want?"
Users want to use matte, but are initially attracted to shiny screens which make the images displayed seem more vivid. So shiny sells.
You can almost not find laptops with normal aspect ratio monitors any more. 10 years ago I bought a laptop with 1600x1200 resolution. Even desktop LCDs are vanishingly rare any more except in widescreen.
Yet people prefer widescreen for TVs, not for monitors, where it's inferior for almost every common task such as web browsing, email, or programming, where vertical space is critical. A laptop can't be easily used on its side!
Same thing: there is demand for normal aspect ratio laptops, but there are almost none available.
Laptop manufacturers discovered that their keyboards fit better with widescreen displays.
It used to be laptop keyboards were always cramped. with widescreen displays they keyboards are just that much bigger and it looks better too.
though I do I agree with you. I miss my 12" Powerbook. small lightweight yet still useful.
To bring back onto topic. I am waiting for mirasol display tech to catch up with LCD's . Low power and daylight readable here we come.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
Glossy screens reflect ambient light back at the same angle at which it hits the screen, which means when there is light shining on them they're next to useless. However, when there isn't direct light, they allow for much deeper blacks and higher contrast.
Matte screens, on the other hand, scatter ambient light and reflect it back at all angles, thus diminishing the amount of light. So when there's a light shining on them, you can still see the image on-screen. But this also means that all ambient light is reflected back, no matter the direction of the light as it hits the screen, leading to much weaker blacks and less contrast.
While consumers love the non-reflective nature of matte screens, they prefer the higher contrast and darker black level of a glossy screen much more, and are typically willing to sacrifice occasional reflections for better picture quality.
I do note, however, that there is a kind of glass that's (almost) entirely non-reflective. Head down to your local picture framing place (Michaels, for certain, has it) and take a look. Quite why this glass/coating isn't in use on LCD screens right now, I have no idea.
However, there may be a new option on the horizon: Japanese scientists have manufactured a "screen" for projectors that only reflects light beamed on it from a certain angle. So if you have a projector on the floor pointing up, it'll reflect the projector's light out into the room, but not the light from the overhead fluorescent tubes.
I can't use a glossy screen in bright lighting conditions because it behaves like a mirror. My eyes focus on the distant objects reflected in the screen rather than the text. Very tiresome. Matte does wash out in the sun, but at least I can still focus on it.
Yeah - I was just eying my T410 and it's matte. I turned it to face the window (where the sun happens to blasting in right now) and I can read the screen fine, disproving in the above mentioned thesis that "all matte screens wash out in direct sun."
I just checked T43 and it's also matte and shows up ok in the sun (not as nice, maybe related to being an LCD instead of an LED screen?)
See, I've heard that argument before, but seriously: Who buys 12-17 inch TVs? It might explain the change to 16:9 in the 20-odd inch category, but I really can't see how it is relevant for laptops. Can someone explain: Is there some part of the production apparatus that is shared between the different screen sizes? Or is it just to make the screens seem bigger than they are, and for bragging about "Full HD resolution"?