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Comment by jack_pp | Hacker News Reader

I can never understand how other people stand glossy displays but to each his own

I'm the complete opposite. I hate how hazy and dull "anti-reflective" displays look. I understand being opposed to reflection, but I'd much rather have a display that's as sharp as humanly possible.

To me it's kind of like washing your windows. Sure, it's fine if you don't do it. You can still see outside. The window works. You may even prefer that less light comes in if you're opposed to light for some reason. But once it's clean, you're really getting the full effect.

Matte or glossy, the sharpness of the display (all other things being equal) will be exactly the same. Glossy displays just look "nicer" because we associate glossy surfaces with higher value: glossy magazines, brochures, photos etc.

Matte ends up with lower contrast because it defuses light and washes things out, especially in bright light. I think LTT did a video a while ago showing that it was actually worse in bright light than a glossy screen.

Matte surfaces prevent reflections by diffusing the light rays that hit them. They have the same effect on light rays that pass through them.

There is a reason your house and car windows are polished to a reflective surface. It provides more acuity.

I wonder if there's a way we could engineer a nanotech materical that passes light through a screen in one direction without diffusion, but in the opposite direction diffuses the light to prevent reflections.

this isn't quite right, because the coding used on matte displays definitely makes them a little bit less sharp as you can see comparing the close up: https://youtu.be/jFdtJzAgPtA?t=228

Sharpness is but glossy screens provide wider color range aka gamut, just like glossy photo paper.

It’s worth mentioning that MacBook glossy displays are noticeably better than many (not all, presumably) glossy displays out there, probably because of a decent anti-reflective coating. Some of them on the market look about as reflective as a pane of glass placed over the panel even when on, while in contrast I rarely if ever notice any reflections on my MBP and still have the advantages in image quality.

I far prefer this anti-reflective glossy setup to my previous ThinkPad which of course had a matte display.

> while in contrast I rarely if ever notice any reflections on my MBP

Really? I see my own reflection even in indirect sunlight and it's causing significant eye strain.

It might also depend on the model. The one in question is a 2021 14” MBP with the Mini LED display, and the only other MBP I owned had a matte display.

Yeah the Apple displays are almost like a black hole. I stuck a glass protector over my ipad and noticed the screen became massively more reflective.

Perhaps they've mastered the skill of not pointing the display at a light source...

I'd take a glossy display anytime of day, and have so, since 2005 or so, including external displays. Better color saturation, no artificial fuzziness (which is exactly what the "matte" is in the matte displays, they literally reduce glare through a mesh that also kills contrast and clarity).

I bought two monitors which are matte: 4K 27", IPS, sRGB. Biggest complaint is how hazy/non-clear they look. I personally started to think glossy displays are superior, but I understand others have their own preferences.

I typically work on a 30" Ultrasharp 2560x1600. It's pretty great for media at a distance and physical screen space, but it's so refreshing when I sit down with any of my MacBooks and use theirs for a smaller task. I'd really like a good 5k 30"+ IPS (not 27) but that's just a dream

For me the secret has been in managing the level of the backlight. If the screen is at least as bright as the ambient light level, reflections will not be noticeable. Kind of like how house windows seem so much more reflective at night.

In very bright conditions (like bright sunlight), the backlight can’t be bright enough. But in those conditions, matte screens suck too: they look super washed out, like there is a thick fog n front of the screen. (Optically it is the same phenomenon: diffused light rays start to overpower direct light rays.)

Are you exclusively working with the sun to your back?

It depends but I'd really hate to be limited by using my laptop depending on the lighting of the room I'm in

Let’s not act like most of the other matte displays on the market get bright enough to be useful with the sun hitting your screen anyway. Most aren’t enough to even be sitting out at noon.

My Fujitsu-Siemens laptop from 2005 was great in the sun.

The backlight obviously couldn't compete with sunlight, but the LCD behaved transflectively under enough light, so my Emacs session out in a meadow on a bright, sunny day was perfectly readable. That was unexpected. It wasn't an advertised feature. I don't even know if it was deliberate, but it worked great.

Why, do you often work at random unfamiliar rooms, or cafes that impose a specific seat to the patrons?

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