glossy vs matte lcd screen made in china

Screens of all persuasions, from large TVs through monitors to smartphones, employ either matter or glossy materials. Pros and cons exist for each variety as with everything in life, but in the case of monitors, we have to tell you right off the bat that we wholeheartedly recommend matte screens. You’ll be hard pressed to find glossy monitors, and there’s a good reason for that. Glossy coating materials often cause eye strain due to glare and reflections, while matte materials maintain a more pleasant experience. But still, let’s delve into the topic with sign trade show.

Monitors with bright and shiny glossy screens use reflective glass or polymers. Their high degree of transparency allows almost all of the display’s light output to show through, resulting in a very vivid image. Glossy screens showcase deeper darks, brighter whites, and richer colors than their matte counterparts. However, they do so at a cost. Even with modern anti-glare treatment using magnesium fluoride and similar materials, the downside of glossy screen beauty stems from reflectivity. That means your glossy monitor or TV shines every light source in your environment right into your eyes. Room lights and windows reflect very clearly on glossy materials. Instead of enjoying game graphics or focusing on work content, with glossy screens you’ll often end up staring at your own reflection while scrambling to move desk lamps around so they don’t glare up the screen.

Not only does that result in much fuss, it’s also bad for your eyes. Glare has been repeatedly shown to cause fatigue and eye strain. There’s a reason offices around the world almost universally opt for matte monitors. Additionally, glossy surfaces have the extra issue of smudges and finger magnetism. Touch a glossy screen and oil from your fingers shows quite obviously. Dust similarly has a tendency to stick to glossy screens, so they need considerable maintenance to keep clean.

Having said that, if you can REALLY control lighting in your environment and make sure no light sources reflect onto a screen, then glossy offers the better image rendition. Television sets from older CRTs to the latest OLEDs/QLEDs all use glossy screen surfaces treated with anti-glare chemicals. That’s because big screen TVs usually sit in living rooms where light sources don’t shine directly onto the display from nearby. In those scenarios a glossy screen can work. In a desktop environment, where most monitors live, a glossy display would be ill advised as light sources usually reside nearby and glare can’t be avoided.

Yes, matte screens objectively don’t look as good as glossy. But that’s in a highly controlled environment. In the real world, matte monitor surfaces are the only practical and rational way to go.

Matte monitors employ plastic surfaces made of different polymers that undergo an etching process. Either chemical or mechanical, the etching creates an enormous number of grooves or indentations in the screen surface. These serve to reduce reflectivity by scattering light that hits the monitor. While some minor glare may still occur, it never even comes close to the full-on reflections you have with glossy displays.

But a screen that rejects light invariably also blocks light. While glossy screens allow whatever the display shows to come through nearly unfiltered, matte screens block much more of the monitor’s light output. In essence, with matte screens you get less image illumination, or just less image. Some minor details may be diminished, contrast gets lowered, and colors don’t appear as alive as with a glossy screen.

But your poor eyes also don’t need to put up with stressful reflections and tiresome glare. Nor do you need to fear touching the screen, as matte displays don’t grab fingerprints as readily as glossy screens. Thus, for monitors matte makes the better option. You don’t need to worry about placing a lamp on your work or gaming station, because reflections won’t be an issue. You don’t have to think ten times before opening the curtains and letting some light in. With matte screens, light isn’t your enemy.

Unlike TVs, for monitors matte makes for an absolutely obvious choice, especially since modern monitors continue to add brightness. While even five years ago a 300-nit monitor was good, today you easily get 500-1000-nit panels that meet DisplayHDR 400 and DisplayHDR 1000 requirements. While monitors get brighter, matte materials stay the same and so in effect more light shines through the anti-glare protection. Simply put, image quality on matte monitors keeps improving. You’d be hard pressed to tell the difference in most cases.

Whether working, gaming, or watching a movie, if doing it on a monitor you’re best off with a matte display. Keep the gloss in the living room where it belongs. With regards to monitors, matte materials free you from worrying about glare and eye strain. Why would you choose otherwise?

When searching for the best TVs, one of the most important areas of consideration is the display. There are a few major areas of difference when it comes to matte vs glossy TV screens, and it’s important for any TV shopper to know what they are.

The main difference between glossy screens and matte screens lies in how each reflects light. Matte surfaces have an anti-glare coating feature built-in, whereas glossy displays don’t. Matte displays, absorbing more sunlight, have duller visuals but remain visible in the presence of intense light. In a controlled environment with little natural or bright light, glare isn’t noticeable in either. It’s when they are put in direct light that the difference is noticed. These differences are extremely noticeable, unlike the comparison of 1080i vs 1080p. And if you are wondering what are TV screens made of, we have an article you can check out as well.

If the screen in question needs to be used in direct sunlight, it would be a good idea to go with a matte screen. The reason is that a glossy surface in sunlight is nearly unusable, and a matte finish is designed for places with glares, similar to the difference between LED vs LCD TV screens.

However, if the screen in question is going to be used outside, in a room with lots of natural light, or somewhere with bright lights, it may be best to go with a TV screen with a matte display. Additionally, when cleaning your matte screen, ensure not to damage the anti-glare coating. Use a microfiber cloth to clean your screen. Whether you use high vs low-pile microfiber is up to your preference.

It’s commonly understood that when it comes to a bright display and depth of color, glossy screens are superior to a matte finish. This is why glossy screens remain relevant even though they are hard to use when exposed to bright light. Matte displays, on the other hand, do not produce vivid color or significant color depth. This should be taken into account if you want an HDR display so you can get the full benefit of HDR. Be sure to read our article to learn more about the benefits of HDR vs non-HDR TVs. For those considering a screen for gaming, it’s also essential to understand the differences between a monitor vs LED TV.

Because of the nature of the finish, matte screens are far better on the eyes whenever a glare is present. It’s better because a matte tv screen absorbs ambient light and doesn’t reflect into the viewer’s eyes. With glossy screens, the light bounces off of the screen and reflects into the retina. For this reason, the matte anti-glare screen is better for the eyes when comparing a glossy vs mirror-like TV. Your field of view will also have an effect on your eyes. If your TV is too large or your sitting too close, you may hurt your eyes trying to keep up with the action on the screen if it’s not directly in front of you. You can read more about this in our article on TV screen size comparison. Additionally, if you are in the market for a big-screen TV that is anti-glare, you can read our Samsung QN75Q80TAFXZC review and see if it suits your needs.

The effect a screen has on the eyes depends on the location of the screen. There won’t be much of a difference if it’s in an indoor room with little ambient light and bright light. However, if there is a glare, then matte screens are better because they don’t reflect any light into the viewer’s eyes.

Choosing a screen depends mainly on where you plan on using the screen and for what. For example, many recommend glossy screens for anything that involves bright displays, such as gaming, film, and anything with vibrant color. But if you plan to use the screen outdoors or with heavy light, matte screens are superior.

If you have a glossy screen and need to reduce the amount of glare, matte covers are available for purchase. However, this will affect the brightness of the display.

STAT:The level of brightness you should keep your screen at to keep eye strain to a minimum depends on the amount of ambient light in the room. (source)

Speaking of "out of touch" another issue with new screens is the format: On my old IBM/Lenovo X41 and X61s laptops the 4:3 screen format was perfect for the 12" screen. Although the screen was small I used the X41 as my main laptop for about half a year (without an external monitor). On my current X201 the 16:10 format is much worse: I"m a programmer, I don"t need horizontal space, but vertical space. Even for non-programmers I guess that for reading web pages or other documents vertical space is also more important than horizontal space. With Lenovo"s new X210 they"ve introduced a further step in the wrong direction by switching from 16:10 to 16:9.

Mostly agree, but my opinion on this matter was somewhat swayed after I started using :vsp in Vim on my 13" widescreen notebook (combined with a full-screen mode in iTerm). Not only had splitting the screen vertically right in the middle helped me recover the "lost" space, but it also forced me to wrap my code consistently to 80 characters, so now it looks/prints better. I guess the moral is that sometimes a bad thing can lead to something good.

It"s for this reason that I can"t bring myself to upgrade my Lenovo X61t. A 4:3 1440x1050 12.1" screen is vastly superior to anything available today. God, how I wish the new Lenovo tablets came in 4:3.

Cheap glossy screens have exactly the same issue, but more expensive glossy screens such as the ones in Apple"s Macbooks or Lenovo"s X1 laptop are basically a glass board right in front of the screen. So they are much more resistant against scratches and against other types of physical abuse.

As someone who has no office and works every day either from home or from a coffee shop on a laptop, the glossy screen is pretty annoying. It"s not impossible to work on it and you do get used to it, but my next MacBook Pro will be the matte finish. It"s more annoying that a matte finish costs $50 more.

Not true. Apple"s retail stores often stock the high-end (high-res matte with the top-end i7) 15" model, so they can upsell. Not all stores will have it, and there"s no guarantee (they typically only stock just a few at a time), but it"s not online BTO only.

Matte films are easy to come by and I"m rather surprised that given this sort of market research there isn"t someone out there selling them by the boat load.

On a 44" LCD television. I got it through a window tinting contractor who had a relationship with 3M (they bought their window tinting film from them).

People who love matte tend to be the bargain shopping type already, only buying stuff on sale. The retail giants don"t want those customers anyway, they want the people who get dazzled by the high contrast and will buy anything you tell them to.

I ordered a T61 back in the day, expecting a 1920x1200 LCD as specified. After decades of delay, I got my laptop, and they substituted a shitty 1440x900 screen instead. Not as ordered.

If the survey had been done with a picture of a glossy screen, and a matte screen, and readers would have been asked to choose, I suspect the results could have been closer.

Optical coating used to be standard on high-end CRT monitors. It seems like the right solution here as well. I wouldn"t miss the matte finish nearly so much if I could get the glossy screen coated.

1) It"s better in sunlight. Counterintuitive I know, but it"s far, far better. Matte screens diffract light and render the screen unreadable. Glossy screens can be made visible either passively (in very strong light) or actively if the screen is bright enough (as many now are.)

2) Glare is controllable and not diffused on a glossy screen. With a matte screen, glare manifests as blobs, and spread across the screen. With a glossy screen, glare is localized and easily defeated by repositioning the screen.

I was initially skeptical; after using an iPad outdoors I found it hard to believe matte could be worse! But some quick research seems to confirm your point.

It"s essentially a netbook with a special screen that can can work in both daylight and indoor light. In the sun, most of the colors wash away and it becomes a mostly black&white screen. But you can read it perfectly easily (similar to eink, but I don"t think it actually uses eink, despite what their PR claims).

While matte screen coating effectively reduces reflections, it also makes the image quality slightly more dull and hazy. Glossy monitors, on the other hand, have a more vibrant and intense picture quality, but a very reflective screen.

The type of screen coating plays a big role when you’re looking for a new PC monitor or a laptop. Besides the effect of the screen surface on the image quality itself, ambient lighting is a crucial factor to take into account as well.

Glossy screens allow for more vivid colors and expressive contrast, but under heavy sunlight reflection or too bright room lighting, they can become mirror-like and not very pleasant to use.

The matte finish monitors, on the other hand, include an anti-glare treatment, which eliminates the issue of reflections. However, the image quality is more grainy and less clear.

Other benefits of matte-coated monitors are that dust is less visible, and they’re better for your eyes as you don’t have to look through the reflections like you would with glossy displays.

For instance, if you’re looking for a laptop for outdoors, a matte screen laptop is the obvious choice, whereas if you spend most of your computer time in a dim-lit room, you will benefit more from a glossy screen.

As none of the screen coating types are perfect, manufacturers are working on improving them. So far, there are certain semi-glossy and light matte screen finishes that deliver an in-between and more balanced result. All of these are essentially matte coatings, but with lesser light diffusion and thinner layers.

AU Optronics developed a semi-glossy coating for their VA panels, which features only 13-18% haze value as opposed to the regular 25%. This low-haze matte surface makes for a considerably less grainy image, but it’s also a bit more reflective than the usual matte finish.

Samsung also has its own ‘very light matte’ surface that they featured on some of their latest curved VA panel monitors. These offer an 18% haze value as opposed to the usual 24-28%. The result is pretty much the same as it’s with the semi-glossy surfaces and some of LG’s AH-IPS panel models.

In the end, you’re back where you’ve started. The panels with the lighter matte surface may preserve image quality more than the common matte finish does, but not as effectively as glossy ones.

You’ll also find glossy screens with anti-glare (low 1-4% haze) or anti-reflective treatments. These are a bit less reflective than the standard glossy screens, but still not nearly as efficient at mitigating glare as matte coatings.

Can you not see your laptop’s screen in a bright room, or do you think the colors on your desktop computer’s display look dull and lifeless? Maybe you chose the wrong type of display coating.

Glossy and matte displays use the same LCD panels. The only real difference between these two types of displays is the coating applied to the screen. In controlled situations, glossy and matte displays will look fairly similar.

This similarity is why there’s such a great debate between the two. Manufacturers can’t settle on one best coating, and different users prefer different coatings based on what they want out of a screen. You have a choice between screens with different coatings when buying a computer monitor or laptop.

Glossy displays have more vivid color and contrast. Colors appear more intense and saturated, while blacks appear deeper. However, light shining on the display can cause extremely noticeable reflections. Sunlight is the worst case scenario — either direct sunlight outside or even just sunlight coming in through a window. Reflections can make a glossy display basically unusable in direct sunlight.

Matte screens have an anti-glare coating applied to them, so they’re much better at preventing reflections. It’s easier to see a matte screen in a bright room, whether you’re dealing with sunlight or just intense light from overhead fluorescent light bulbs in an office. The downside is that this coating makes colors appear a bit more dull.

Glossy displays tend to look better in stores where there are no bright lights to cause glare, but you may want a matte display if you plan on using the display in a bright room. Matte displays may counteract glare much better, but that doesn’t really matter if you’re never going to use it in a bright area.

In the below image, you can clearly see the difference — both in color and glare — between a matte Dell display on the left and a glossy Apple display on the right. Bear in mind that these are different monitors using different panels, so you can’t make a direct comparison. Not all of the difference in color is down to the matte or glossy coating, but it’s still instructive.

If you’re buying a monitor for a desktop computer and you always use its display in a room that isn’t extremely bright, you’ll probably want a glossy display for the more vibrant colors.

If you’re buying a laptop and might want to use it outdoors or in a bright room on sunny days, you’ll probably want a matte display. Even a matte display isn’t perfect here — in direct sunlight, you’re going to get some glare. It’s just less extreme on a matte display.

On the other hand, maybe you’re buying a desktop computer monitor for a bright room, whether it’s for a desk that gets direct sunlight or an office with bright overhead fluorescent light bulbs. You’ll probably want a matte display to reduce the glare.

You may also be buying a laptop that you intend on using indoors and out of direct sunlight, so you may prefer a glossy display with more intense colors versus the matte display and its anti-glare coating.

Let’s be honest — it’s tough to know exactly how you plan on using a display for its entire lifetime, especially if it’s a laptop. Maybe you want a matte display for the increased flexibility, or maybe you want a glossy display for the more vibrant colors. Either way it’s a trade-off.

In the photo below, bear in mind that the display on the left is on an older laptop, so you can’t directly compare the displays. The differences are due to much more than a glossy or matte coating.

There’s no end to this back-and-forth weighing of positives and negatives. It goes on and on, and it’s all a matter of personal preference and how you plan on using the display. There’s no one clear answer for everyone. If you think about it, you may find that there’s not even a clear answer for you.

If it were possible to flip a switch and change a display’s coating from glossy to matte, we’d probably switch between glossy and matte depending on the situation we found ourselves in. Sadly, it’s not — we have to pick one. (You can buy anti-glare screen films for some glossy displays, but you’re probably better off just getting a matte display in the first place if you’re going to do that.)

There’s not much you can do here besides look at displays in person, but even that won’t help much because the glossy display will look better in an electronics store where reflections and glare aren’t a factor. Actually using the different types of displays in your day to day life is the best way to really know what you want — and, even then, you may prefer different types of displays in different situations.

A few people even claim to prefer the colors on a matte display, saying that they’re too vivid on a glossy display. These people may just be used to matte displays, but they still have a real personal preference. This is a complicated choice.

One thing that we weren’t sure of right away was the glass-covered display. While we’ve come to accept that today’s LCD displays, particularly on notebooks, are mostly of the glossy variety, Apple took it a step further with a glass sheet on top of what already appears to be a glossy LCD screen. The affect is an unsettling double-reflection from a display that’s mirror-like.

We’ve spent a considerable amount of time with the full range of Apple notebook displays, from the matte and glossy from the previous generation MacBook Pro to the “glassy” unibody MacBook. And we’ll be the first say that the aesthetic designs of the new unibody MacBooks are worthy of a museum, but in terms of usability, the glass-covered screen is a pain to work with even when indoors.

Engadget got its hands on one of the first 17-inch MacBook Pros with the matte display. Check out the picture below for a side-by-side comparison with a 15-inch unibody.

If it weren’t immediately obvious, the matte screen has the aluminum border around the frame, which some feel looks a little odd. I’ve gotten used to the all-black borders, but Jane, our news editor, said that the notebook is even better with the matching trim. Even if Macs don’t interest you, Apple has a strong influence on the notebooks that PC makers design, so sound off with your opinion in the comments!

Or maybe not. Even if you want to live in a "normal" room with actual light (weird, but you do you), there are steps you can take to minimize, and perhaps eliminate, reflections on your TV. You might not need to spend any money. You won"t have to live in a cave, I promise. Unless you want to, of course. Here are five tricks to help you make sure that no matter what lighting you have in your room, you"re still getting the best picture with an absolute minimum of reflections.

Most modern TVs have glossy screens, which act like a mirror for any light source in a room (from windows to lamps). Some TVs, including many older models, have more matte screens, which don"t show the same mirror-like reflections. Ambient light still adversely affects matte screen TVs though. Instead of bouncing the light right back at you, a matte finish spreads that light energy across the whole screen. Reflections are lessened, but black level gets brighter, so they look more washed out overall.

So no matter what TV you have, if there"s a light in your room that can "see" the TV screen, you"ll be able to see it too, and it will affect picture quality.

Another option is to mount the TV on a wall mount that pivots, tilts, or both. So when you"re getting the reflection, you can move the TV slightly so the reflection is reflected elsewhere (and you can"t see it). Several companies make wall mounts that do this. A few things to keep in mind. Most LCDs look worse off axis (or off center). If you pivot these, you"ll be viewing them off-axis and picture quality might suffer.

If you have a lot of windows, you"re fighting the sun, and your TV isn"t going to win. Sure, today"s brightest LCDs are plenty watchable in many bright environments, but you aren"t getting the best picture quality with that much light in the room.

Motorized sun screens, either inside or out, are a huge help in more ways than one. I live in Southern California, and the west side of my house bakes all afternoon long. I put in some exterior sun shades and, not to sound like a testimonial, my house is now way cooler, temperature-wise anyway. It"s also darker inside, with far less direct light and therefore, fewer reflections.

Matte vs Glossy: Which display should you buy?Best answer: When it comes to matte vs glossy displays, there"s not really a right answer that fits most people. Both types of displays have their pros and cons, along with their passionate fans.Amazon: HP Z27n G2(opens in new tab) ($332)Amazon: Dell S2718D(opens in new tab) ($360)A matte display is great for any environment

Matte displays are anti-glare, great for any sort of lighting environment. Whether you"re working under the bright fluorescent lights of an office while in your cubicle or have your desk bathed in sunlight through your office window, a matte display will let you continue to see your work.

Anecdotally, I always have a much easier time using matte screens for extended periods without experiencing eye strain. It"s not exactly scientific, but I"ve heard the same thing from others, as well.

The biggest downside for any given matte display compared to glossy screens often comes down to color. Colors on a matte display are, generally, not as vibrant as those you"ll find on a similarly-specced glossy display. That"s not to say that a matte monitor will have bad color, far from it, but unless your monitor has HDR support, when compared to a glossy display, you"ll probably notice that colors don"t quite "pop" as much. While this might be alright if you"re working with colors (as colors on a matte monitor do tend to be more accurate), it leaves something to be desired when using your monitor for entertainment.

You may get a lot of glare on a glossy display, but when it comes to color, you can"t beat it. While the nature of matte displays may dull down colors by varying degrees, glossy displays often offer some of the most vibrant, beautiful colors out there. In particular, glossy displays are great for entertainment like movies and games, where colors and contrast both matter a lot.

The biggest drawback of any glossy monitor is obviously glare. Some glossy displays, like the Dell S2718D (our glossy pick), often have some level of anti-glare coating, but it"s not going to be as effective as using a matte display. And while vibrant color might be great for viewing photos, watching movies, or other entertainment activities, if you do work that requires accurate color, you"ll generally be better off with a matte monitor.

The HP Z27n G2 is a matte LCD monitor with a resolution of 2560 x 1440. It"s got a USB-C port for USB data, though it won"t charge your laptop. It has excellent colors, while it"s minimal bezels and adjustable stand make for a thoroughly modern design.Dell"s S2718D is a sleek glossy option

Speaking of modern, the Dell S2718D is also a 1440p monitor, though glossy instead of matte. This monitor is thin and modern, and instead of placing its controls on the underside of the monitor itself, has consolidated them in the base at the bottom of the stand. That"s also where you"ll find the S2718D"s USB-A ports, HDMI port, and USB-C port.

The Dell S2718D also supports Dell HDR, which allows you to view high dynamic range content formatted for HDR10 with a full range of vibrant colors.A lot of this comes down to personal preference

At the end of the day, you can"t say that there"s one definitive monitor type for everyone, because a lot of this comes down to personal preference. Want to keep glare down? Get a matte display. Looking for more vibrant colors? Check out your glossy options.

Outside of actual specs, one of the biggest advantages that matte monitors have is availability and variety. It is easier to find exactly what you"re looking for in a monitor (1440p and 4K, higher refresh rates, G-Sync or FreeSync support, etc.) if you"re looking for a matte display.

Unfortunately, glossy displays aren"t as plentiful as matte options are, particularly in higher resolutions like 1440p and 4K. But there are choices out there. You"ve just got to do some digging.

Excellent colors, slim bezels, and USB-C all help elevate the HP Z27n G2 into an excellent 1440p matte monitor that will keep the glare off of your work.

Another 1440p screen, Dell"s monitor also has a sleek, modern delight, with all of its ports located in a nice, compact base. Colors are vibrant, as you"d expect on a glossy monitor, helped a lot by the inclusion of HDR support.

Have you ever properly checked the display quality of the LCD you habitually use? Very often people become aware of previously unnoticed problems in display quality when they run a check using test patterns and so on. This time we are going to talk about the basic points used to assess LCD display quality, and show you a simple way to test it.

Below is the translation from the Japanese of the ITmedia article "The difference in image quality is perfectly obvious! – Let"s check the LCD"s monitor" published April 22, 2010. Copyright 2011 ITmedia Inc. All Rights Reserved.

That"s right. The answer is "LCD" (it is displayed if you drag the space between the brackets). We assume that probably many users could read the letters concealed in the squares.

This time the answer is "EIZO" (it is displayed if you drag the space between the brackets). Depending on the lighting or the user"s environment it may be hard to make out but, if you can read these four letters, the display quality, or more accurately the still image gradation expression, of your LCD is extremely high.

Let"s get down to details then. "Image quality" is the top priority of the LCD, of course. However, recently LCD prices are fiercely competitive and there are surprisingly few products that insist on high image quality and performance. It may be nice to be able to get hold of a wide-screen monitor with full HD (1920 × 1080 dot) resolution or higher fairly cheaply, but it cannot be denied that such LCDs tend not to place too much importance on display quality.

On the other hand, the increasing opportunities to enjoy things like HD videos and games, and high resolution digital photographs on the computer make LCD display quality even more important. As far as possible it"s best to use an LCD with excellent display quality in order to fully enjoy the charms of the visual content.

Even so, perhaps you think that there can"t really be that much wrong with the LCDs that so many people are using at the moment. Here we would like to show you a simple method to check LCD display quality. You can get a good idea of whether the basic display quality is good or bad just by looking at how some simple test images are displayed, just like in the introductory quiz. First of all, we would like you to get a sense of how important it is that "image data can be properly displayed" by checking the display of the LCD that you currently use, (that"s right, the one you are using to view this page!).

Before starting your visual check of the display quality, please return to your LCD"s setting to default, and select Adobe RGB or sRGB as the image quality mode. If these modes are not available it is fine to set the color temperature to 6500K and gamma to 2.2. If you cannot adjust the color temperature and gamma, simply adjust the brightness and contrast so that they are easier to discern. Of course, if it"s an LCD environment that has been color calibrated it"s OK to leave it as it is.

The average LCD takes some time for the monitor to stabilize after it is switched on so, after start up, please wait at least 30 minutes or so before doing the test. (Most EIZO monitors are an exception to this as they are equipped with our proprietary dimming function and the monitor stabilizes in a short time after start up.)

We would also like you to adjust the monitor stand so that things like the room"s lighting are not reflected on the screen. You have to be particularly careful with products that have a glare (glossy) type screen as they are highly reflective. Visual assessment is impeded when ambient light is reflected. It will be much easier to make an assessment if you turn off the room lights at night and exclude as much ambient light as possible. This applies for both glare and non-glare (matte) types.

The surface treatment of an LCD makes a difference to the background reflection. Glare panels impede the surface diffusion of backlight, which does make it easier to achieve high color purity, but also makes distinct reflections of the user or lighting much more likely (photo on the left).

For your reference, we ran a test on an EIZO 24.1-inch wide-screen LCD, the FlexScan SX2462W, for this article. The FlexScan SX series comes with a number of high image quality functions and boasts top class display quality as a general-purpose LCD intended for a computer.

When we displayed the quiz images (the more difficult ones, of course) on the FlexScan SX2462W, the four letters appeared faintly when we stared closely at the screen and we could read what they said. This indicates the high image quality level.

When checking the display quality of an LCD it is comparatively easy to understand the gradation expression capability by a visual check. Let"s display color and monochrome gradation images and check whether the entire image is smoothly reproduced. If there is a problem with the gradation expression it produces things like blocked-up shadows in dark areas and blown-out highlights in light areas, banding (vertical or horizontal stripes) in the middle gradations, and color cast, so you should check for problems like these.

Test images of color / monochrome gradations are shown below. Each test image is prepared for three resolution levels (1280 × 800 dots / 1680 × 1050 dots / 1920 × 1200 dots). When you click on an image it is displayed in that actual resolution. We would like you to download the images in the resolution which matches that of your current LCD. Gradation expression can vary according to whether the image is viewed horizontally or vertically, so it will be more effective if you rotate these images and view them vertically as well.

A gradation pattern where the colors red, green, blue, cyan, magenta and yellow go through 64 gradients as they change to white or black. Each color bar is divided into 64 rectangular blocks. With this many gradients we expect that many LCDs will find it hard to make distinctions in the dark areas or the areas that are close to primary colors.

A smooth gradation pattern where the colors red, green, blue, cyan, magenta and yellow go through 256 gradients as they change to white or black. At this level of difficulty you cannot distinguish between adjoining colors from a distance but, if you have an LCD with excellent gradation expression, if you look closely you should be able to see that each color is divided into thin rectangular blocks.

On an average LCD gradations of gray that are close to black tend to appear as blocked-up shadows (gradations of gray that are close to white are displayed comparatively accurately). If your LCD"s OSD menu allows you to adjust the contrast, please try gradually turning down the contrast. Turning down the contrast often makes it possible to see gradations that had been subject to blocked-up shadows or blown-out highlights.

Probably most LCDs will be able to detect some degree of banding and color cast in the middle gradations. Banding in the middle gradations is tone jump (Missing gradations) and, along with color cast, means that the RGB gamma curves are unequal. Unlike blocked-up shadows or blown-out highlights, this is an area that it is hard to improve with adjustments made by the user.

Smooth color and monochrome gradations displayed on the FlexScan SX2462W. This data is of screen displays photographed with a digital camera so some of the gradations may seem to have been destroyed, but they were cleanly represented when checked visually.

The answer is "The far right" (it is displayed if you drag the space between the brackets). If the other grays looked correct, color may not be being correctly recognized for a variety of reasons, such as the lighting environment or the LCD settings.

Now let"s assess the gradation expression with some slightly different test images. Below are color patterns with a spread of pale colors in gradations close to the dark range and the light range. They are arranged so that a distinction cannot be made between adjoining colors on an LCD with insufficient gradation expression.

We expect that you could roughly get the whole picture in the gradation patterns on the previous page, but in the patterns this time some parts that cannot be seen may have appeared in some cases. As we mentioned earlier, LCDs tend to display gradations close to black as a blocked-up shadows, and color patterns that are close to black are particularly hard to distinguish.

Since there are some parts that cannot be seen, the possibility arises subtle skin colors and tones cannot be accurately recognized when doing things like retouching photographs, though the misrecognition will vary according to the user"s eyesight. People who place importance on color reproduction should probably bear this in mind when they think about replacing their LCD or buying an extra one.

Along with gradation expression, it is easy to visually check brightness variation and chromaticity variation. Brightness variation scatters brightness around the screen and is easy to notice when you use full-screen display for things like drawing up documents or using spreadsheets. Chromaticity variation scatters color around the screen and is not as easily noticed as brightness variation, but it makes graphics-related displays unnatural and causes deterioration in color reproducibility.

Every LCD has some degree of brightness and chromaticity variation, but there are many products where the variations become more obvious when the brightness is lowered. A comparison of the brightness and chromaticity variation of a number of LCDs reveals that there is a fairly large difference between products, so this is a point to bear in mind.

Brightness and chromaticity variation can be checked with standard Windows or Mac OS X functions. All you need to do is to set the desktop background to "Monochrome" and look at the whole screen from a little way away. Your check will be perfect if you change the desktop background to black, white, gray, then 100% red, green, blue, cyan, magenta and yellow, and then any "near-white pale color".

If you actually try this test you may be surprised to find more variation than you expected when gray or a near-white pale color is displayed. Generally speaking, the center of an LCD screen is the brightest and it gradually gets darker towards the edges. This is no problem if there is not a big difference in brightness between the central and peripheral areas, but there are some products where this difference is very striking.

An example of Windows 7 settings. Set the desktop background to "Monochrome" and then click on "Other". Prepare a color on the "Color settings" screen and use it as the background. (The background color cannot be changed in Windows 7 Starter.)

Incidentally, this test is also an effective way to test the LCD for dot defects (normal lighting / unlit room). We would like you to check the black display in a darkened environment, for example by switching off all the room lights at night. Although you probably saw the whole screen as uniformly black in a light environment, very often in a dark environment you can find variations in some parts due to light leaks.

The FlexScan SX2462W got good results again when we tried it with the brightness and chromaticity variation tests. The brightness decreased slightly at the edges of the screen, particularly the lower edge, but overall the display was even and pleasing. It is installed with a "digital uniformity equalizer" that measures brightness and chromaticity throughout the screen and makes corrections so that the entire screen is uniform.

Monochrome full-screen displays on a FlexScan SX2462W. Only the screen display is shown. The bottom right is a near-white pale orange. There are not many LCDs that can display this kind of pale color as uniformly as this

However, the pitfall here is that it simply means that "the screen is visible". The thing is that the viewing angle specifications are permitted to use the term "visible" until the display contrast ratio drops to an extremely low 10:1 or 5:1 when the screen is viewed from an angle (the steeper the angle from which the LCD screen is viewed, the more the contrast generally declines). In other words, they do not take into account the display uniformity of the central and peripheral areas of the screen, or the level of chromatic change, when the screen is viewed from an angle.

The ideal viewing angles is that the brightness and chromaticity is very uniform and there is not much chromatic change, even when the screen is viewed from a slight angle. The viewing angles given in the specifications are not really very helpful, but you can judge the standard of the panel type that the LCD (liquid crystal panel) adopts. IPS liquid crystal panels have the least change in brightness or chromaticity when the screen is viewed from an angle, and they are followed by VA panels. An IPS or VA liquid crystal panel can be said to indicate the superior nature of the product itself, so this is often included in the catalog or specifications. It is probably a good idea to look through the catalogs of various products.

On the other hand, monitors installed with cost-effective TN liquid crystal panels are in fact the most numerous. However, the TN type lags far behind the IPS and VA types in terms of characteristic viewing angle changes in brightness and chromaticity. Simply viewing the screen from a slightly different angle makes the coloration change dramatically, and the screen looks completely different according to whether it is viewed vertically or horizontally. If the vertical and horizontal viewing angles in the specifications are different then it is a TN type. There are quite a few products with a 20-inch wide screen or larger where colors look different in the central and peripheral areas even when the screen is viewed straight on.

The display on a VA panel. Compared with the IPS panel the screen is a little whitish and the chromaticity has slipped, but it is a satisfactory viewing angle for actual use

The display on a TN panel. There is a very clear difference from the IPS and VA panels. The display throughout the entire screen lacks uniformity and there is a yellow cast

The gradation images and monochrome images from earlier in this article can be used as they are to check the viewing angles. Display an image on the whole screen, look at it straight on and check whether the brightness and colors are uniform at the top and bottom of the screen, and in the center and at both sides. Then gradually shift the angle from which you view the screen and check how the brightness and coloration change. If you do this with photographic data as well as the test images, you should be able to get a better sense of the difference in the display.

When we checked the viewing angles of the FlexScan SX2462W there was absolutely nothing to criticize since, in addition to the use of an IPS panel, it is equipped with many high image quality functions, including the afore-mentioned digital uniformity correction circuit. The brightness and chromaticity throughout the whole screen is very uniform, and the coloration hardly changed at all when the viewing angle was changed.

We explained here about easy ways to check LCD monitor quality. How were the results for your current LCD? We think that many people were probably very bothered by the blocked-up shadows and blown-out highlights when the test images to check gradation were displayed, by the middle gradation banding, and by the variations in brightness and chromaticity when the monochrome images were displayed.

As we mentioned at the beginning, recently the number of LCDs with excellent display quality is on the decline. Although we would not go so far as to say that the display quality of inexpensive products is poor. Of course a high quality LCD is indispensable if you want to enjoy using your computer, properly handle the needs of applications that require color reproducibility, and to fully enjoy all the benefits of rich content.

The EIZO FlexScan LCD series has excellent display quality in those regards, and we have no qualms about recommending them to everyone. The product line-up is diverse but each model is clearly ranked according to the purpose to which it is suited and its screen size, and they all guarantee above-standard display quality. They may cost a little more than you had budgeted for but the clear value they offer exceeds their price.

If, after trying these tests, you have doubts about the display quality of the LCD that you usually use, we would certainly urge you to consider an EIZO LCD. We would also recommend that you construct a multi-display environment by making the new LCD your main monitor and the one that you have been using your sub monitor.

Our eyes are constantly fed information through screens. Most of us have jobs that require us to look at a computer display of some kind for several hours a day. After work, we head home and stare at screens throughout the evening and well into the night. It"s no wonder, then, that many people complain of eye strain, blurred vision, or headaches after a long day of work. These symptoms and others, collectively known as computer vision syndrome (CVS), may affect as many as 90% of people who use a computer monitor, tablet, or other electronic display during the workday.

So what can we do about CVS? There"s no escaping the fact that many jobs require computers and, thus, require staring at a screen. In this article, we will discuss a few things you can do to reduce eye strain and alleviate some symptoms of CVS. We will also offer a list of laptop features that may adversely affect our eyes and what facets of notebooks may lighten the ocular load. Finally, we will offer a short list of some recommended laptops with high-quality screens that have some of these vision-saving features.

The good news is that there are several steps you can take to minimize or outright prevent symptoms of CVS. Our eyes work like biological cameras; they are constantly focusing on an image, taking in light, and transmitting visual data to our brain for interpretation. By understanding how our eyes look at electronic displays, we can better control the stress placed upon them. The following list is by no means exhaustive, but these tips should help you if you consistently suffer from headaches, blurry vision, eye strain, or other common problems associated with CVS. Best of all, these are simple solutions that shouldn"t require you to buy new equipment or change your working situation.

Refocus your eyes periodically. Perhaps the best way to protect your vision is to give your eyes a break. If you spend an extended period of time in front of a computer monitor or other display, look away from the screen every 20-30 minutes. Pick out a distant object or spot on a faraway wall and focus on it for about 30 seconds. This refocusing removes the immediate strain placed on your eyes, and focusing on a distant object will help relax the muscles that control your eye.

Adjust your display"s settings. Most modern LCD monitors and laptop displays allow the user to edit some settings. Lowering the brightness of your computer"s display will reduce ocular stress, similar to turning down ambient lighting. There is a threshold, though; if the computer screen is too dim, it can actually cause worse eye strain. Find a good sweet spot by incrementally stepping down the display"s brightness until your eyes aren"t squinting or straining too much to read text or view images. You can also download software to filter out blue light. Blue light has a shorter wavelength than red light and thus can cause greater eye strain, particularly if viewed at night. Blue-light filtering software shifts the color gradient of your computer"s display toward the red end of the light spectrum, increasing the wavelength of emitted light and reducing stress. A good app for this is f.lux, which can be set to automatically shift your display throughout the day. F.lux is free for personal use and is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS (jailbreak required).

In addition to the tips listed above, there are some laptop-specific factors that can directly affect our vision. Laptop screens vary widely from model to model, and there is no one perfect laptop screen when it comes to eye health. Still, here are a few things to keep in mind when you purchase your next laptop.

Matte screens are easier on the eyes. Perhaps the most noticeable facet of a laptop"s screen is the finish across the panel. Laptop displays have either a glossy or matte finish to them. Glossy panels allow more light to pass through from the LCD backlight and are typically brighter and more color accurate. However, glossy displays have a major weakness: reflections. A glossy finish will typically show reflections at lower brightness levels, which can distract our eyes and cause them to constantly shift focus, resulting in increased fatigue. Matte finishes, on the other hand, are made specifically to cut reflections. Matte displays typically show no reflections, making them highly usable in almost any lighting condition (provided the backlight is bright enough). Matte screens do sacrifice some color accuracy and brightness, but most are more than good enough for users that don"t routinely work with color.

Higher resolutions make everything sharper. Most modern laptops come with either a 1366x768 or 1920x1080 resolution screen, which is acceptable for most work. However, users that suffer from eye fatigue may want to consider getting a higher resolution display. A higher resolution means a higher pixel density, which can make text and images look much sharper. While a high-resolution screen will make icons and other UI elements smaller at the display"s native resolution, both Windows 10 and Mac OS X have excellent scaling options. Text on a 4K screen set to 200% scaling will look much crisper than text on a 1080p screen at native resolution.

Screen size affects pixel density. Related to point #2 is screen size. Obviously, a smaller laptop screen will subsequently be harder to see from a normal viewing distance than a larger laptop screen. That being said, a larger laptop screen will have a smaller pixel density than a smaller screen of the same resolution. For reference, a 15.6-inch display with a resolution of 1920x1080 has a pixel density of 141 pixels per inch (PPI). Choose a laptop with a screen large enough for comfortable viewing from your desk chair. A larger screen would need a higher resolution to match this pixel density. It should be noted that Apple"s "Retina Display" moniker is a classification used by the company to describe a pixel density high enough such that individual pixels are not visible at a normal viewing distance. The iPhone 4 had the first "Retina Display" with a PPI of 326. Apple"s Retina MacBook Pros typically have a lower pixel density (~220 PPI) but are viewed from farther away than a smartphone.

Backlight brightness matters. While it"s important to control the intensity of light coming out of a laptop screen, making sure that the LCD backlight is bright enough to remain visible is equally as important. A screen with too dim a backlight can be hard to see in some lighting conditions, causing our eyes to strain to view the display. A backlight that can climb to 300-350 nits should be sufficient for most environments.

Poor contrast muddies up the display. Also worth considering is the contrast ratio and black levels of a display. Poor contrast can result in blurry or muddy images with ill-defined boundaries. This can subsequently force our eyes to constantly refocus in order to make sense of the boundaries of an on-screen picture or text. A contrast ratio of 1000:1 or higher will be adequate for most users.

Check the underlying display technology. The manufacturing process behind a display can heavily impact its quality. Twisted nematic (TN) panels are typically cheaper and offer faster response times but suffer from poor color accuracy, low contrast, and off-angle color shift/inversion. Panels that use in-plane switching (IPS) remedy these issues at the cost of slower response times. IPS panels are commonly found in most TVs and smartphones and are widely available in mid-range and high-end laptops. There are other display technologies, such as IGZO and OLED (Organic LED) that have their own advantages and disadvantages, but these are rare in the laptop world. For example, Aorus is one of the only laptop manufacturers that regularly uses IGZO displays, and one of the only laptops with an OLED display is the now-retired 2017 Alienware 13. It should be noted that IPS displays are significantly more expensive than TN panels, but the benefits may be worth the extra cost.

PWM can be a headache. Many laptops rely on pulse-width modulation to dim the LCD backlight. We have written a detailed article on the issue, so suffice it to say that higher PWM causes less strain on the eyes. Laptops with low PWM (<500 Hz) can cause eye fatigue, headaches, and other adverse symptoms in some users. We measure the PWM (or lack thereof) of almost every device that crosses our test bench, so be sure to check a specific laptop review before buying to see if PWM is problematic.

The laptop display that ticks the most boxes perhaps belongs to the 14-inch HP EliteBook 840 G5. The FHD panel is reasonably pixel-dense (157 PPI), has a good contrast ratio (1170:1), and is fairly color-accurate. What really sets the EliteBook 840 G5 apart is its backlight, which is one of (if not the) brightest on the market right now. The screen shines at an insane 630 nits on average, and the backlight is very evenly distributed (93%). In addition, the matte finish across the panel eliminates reflections and allows for use in all but the brightest conditions. While the 14-inch display may be too small for comfortable viewing from a distance, the EliteBook 840 G5 offers one of the best displays for eye health on the market today.

The Dell XPS 15 has long been touted as the Windows alternative to Apple"s MacBook Pro line for many reasons, but the display is often one of them. While Dell offers an alternative SKU of the XPS 15 9570, its glossy panel readily shows reflections and is thus not as conducive to eye health as its FHD matte sibling. While PPI could be higher on the FHD panel, the screen is pixel dense enough for most users. What makes the FHD XPS 15 9570 a good choice is its bright and relatively even backlight, its excellent contrast ratio, and matte finish. PWM is high enough that it will not bother most users, although some very sensitive eyes may be affected. Despite these small compromises, the FHD XPS 9570 is perhaps the best balanced display when it comes to eye health.

For those that want a larger screen, it"s hard to beat the 4K Lenovo ThinkPad P71. The 17.3-inch display is large enough to be easily viewed from a normal working distance, and the 4K resolution packs 255 pixels into every square inch. The 4K P71 offers a good contrast ratio (1155:1), good viewing angles, great color accuracy, and a matte finish. Its main weakness lies in the display backlight, which is somewhat dim (~330 nits) and uneven, making outdoor use more difficult than with the EliteBook 840 G5 or the XPS 15. The P71 is perhaps the best large display and one of the best for eye health.

There"s a reason why Apple"s MacBook Pro devices are often praised for their displays. The panel on the MacBook Pro 15, in particular, is one of the brightest screens in the industry (~520 nits). The pixel-dense (~220 PPI), color-accurate screen has an excellent contrast ratio (1333:1). The device"s "Retina" display can be set to a wide variety of brightness levels for almost any lighting situation and has almost imperceptible PWM (>20,000 Hz). The one flaw in the display is its glossy finish. While the backlight gets bright enough to help reduce reflections in most lighting conditions, bright days outdoors turn the screen into a mirror, which can be highly distracting and fatiguing. If you rarely or never work outdoors or under bright lights, though, the MacBook Pro 15 should offer easy viewing.

Our eyes are one of our greatest resources, and keeping them healthy is important. As our lives focus more and more on electronic displays, the task of protecting our vision becomes increasingly difficult. Still, there are some laptop displays that are noticeably easier on the eyes than others. That being said, the most important thing to remember when it comes to keeping your eyes healthy is to take action yourself. Look away from your screen periodically and give your eyes a rest. This is the best way to ensure your eyes keeping looking good (pun intended) for years to come.