Matte vs Glossy Screens, Laptops, Monitors and other Computer Accessories

7 September 2009

I have no idea who started this fashion of gloss, but I know for sure that I don’t like it at all. Everything that is related to computers and other electronic devices seems to become more and more glossy these days.

I try to avoid buying anything that has a glossy finish, but, unfortunately, it happens more and more often so that I have no choice. As a result, my monitor’s frame and stand (luckily not its screen!), new laptop, mobile phone, graphic tablet, mp3 player, keyboard and mouse are glossy now. This glossy finish not just looks cheap, it is also absolutely impractical as it is a perfect fingerprints collector, so I am about to damn and curse the manufacturers every time I am wiping fingerprints off.

Software is contaminated by the glossy fashion too. The meaninglessness and absurdity of glossy interfaces appearance does not stop the interface designers from spreading the shiny epidemic. Nearly each element of interface became bulging, semi-transparent and glossy. The Earth globe is made of glass in software icons, flags that are flat pieces of fabric in reality turned into sleek pillows, and Windows Vista recycle bin became a ridiculous drinking glass. Of course, it is not life-threatening, but it is very pity to see how design is losing its meaning of usability, beauty, simplicity and reliability in favour of being “cool”.

Thoughtless usage of gloss: our planet looks like a marble and recycle bin turned into a drinking glass (Windows Vista standard icons)

But the worst of all are glossy screens. They are advertised as having “richer” colours and sharper image, but in fact they are mirrors with over-saturated colours that show the reflected user’s face and light sources from above and in front of the screen better than anything else, causing eye strain, dry eyes and a dull headache. To be objective rather than emotional, I listed and compared aspects of glossy and matt screens usage in the table below:

Glossy Screen		Matt Screen (my experience)
As advertised	My experience	Matt Screen (my experience)
More intense, saturated colours	Over-saturated and inaccurate colours	Real, natural colours
Deeper blacks and brighter whites	Exaggerated shades and lights, poor greyscale accuracy	Better greyscale accuracy
Sharper image	Too sharp, especially for long reading	Softer edges
More readable in extremely bright conditions, like outdoors	Not true, especially when the screen is under direct light	Most of the time I use computers indoors, but matt screen is better to use outdoors
	Interfering reflections of lights, windows, user’s face and clothes causing “competition” for the eyes’ focus and resulting in fatigue and headache	No noticeable reflections
	Distracting glare	No glare
	Easily show fingerprints and smudges	Good resistance to fingerprints
Wider viewing angle	Irrelevant: I seat in front of monitors, not at their side	Narrower viewing angle, but it does not bother me
	Tire, strain, hurt and damage my eyes	No effect on my eyes during the last 6 years that I use matt LSD monitors

As a designer, photographer and artist, I find glossy monitors absolutely unsuitable for graphics work which requires colour accuracy. Also, I noticed that glossy monitors damage my eyes, so I cannot consider a glossy screen as suitable for serious usage. I am very happy that I managed to find a matt screen monitor and that my old laptop that has no glossy parts at all still works, so I can afford to work for hours every day without pain in my eyes.

No matter what “experts” claim about advantages of gloss, pure logic says that there must be economic reasons behind all the guff about deeper blacks and richer colours. I remember that years ago people paid extra to get anti-glare or anti-reflective coating for their displays to make them non-glossy.

Though glossy things may be a current fad, manufacturers could satisfy their customers and benefit much more by offering their a matt option for all models of laptops, monitors and other computer parts. While there can be some arguments in favour of glossy screens, nothing can advocate glossy outer surface of laptops, mice, keyboards and mobile phones, as they are unquestionably unpractical.

Sign: No glossy screens without matte alternative

P.S. Dear manufacturers, your customer does not want to suffer because some marketing guys think that shiny things are better; instead, the customer wants to have a choice of matt surface of screens, laptops and other computer accessories.

Choice is a wonderful thing: those who like glossy will go for it, but those who prefer matte should have an option to get what they want too.

The price of nice looks: Anti-aliased fonts hurt eyes and damage eyesight

Matte vs Glossy Screens, Laptops, Monitors and other Computer Accessories

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