Ask HN: Glossy displays, form over function?

2 points by anr 15 years ago | 5 comments

I'd like to share my pet peeve against glossy displays, because nowadays it is hard to find notebooks with matte displays.

I suppose people like (or don't mind) glossy displays, which I find intriguing. To me, their reflective properties are very distracting.

To reduce eye strain, I prefer to use dark backgrounds for my editor & cli, and this makes things worse.

The other day I was watching a World Cup match on a restaurant, and all the LCD TVs had glossy displays. They reflected the internal illumination in a way that made it hard to follow the match.

Perhaps my brain is wired in a strange way, but I think this a plague! What do you think?

smiler 15 years ago |

Most definitely agree with you - my boss just spoke to me about ordering me some new monitors and I said that the screens must be matt :)

starkfist 15 years ago |

People tend to use their laptop like a TV these days and watching video looks better on a bright, glossy screen.

anr 15 years ago | |

Not necessarily. When I was watching the match, whole parts of the image were hidden by reflection.

If you can control the illumination around you, then maybe you have a point. But I think that the frequently that is not the case.

wmf 15 years ago |

Yes, we all hate glossy displays and the masses love them. As much as I agree with you... flagged.

anr 15 years ago | |

I don't understand your reaction. Perhaps someone has a good explanation or comment that could help people who can't cope with glossy...