Question for Linus

ChrisxIxCross · February 17, 2014

I'm curious what you have to say about displays with different finishes i.e. anti glare polarizer, gloss & glass and how they effect picture quality, colors, sharpness, pros/cons etc... I know you have TONS of expertise and knowledge about the ins and outs of monitors and I would like to hear what your take on this is. I am particularly asking this because of Asus' latest announcement of their 1440p G-Sync RoG Monitor, there has been much discussion on their pc diy website concerning as to why they went with a matte screen vs. glossy. The majority of the people have been asking for glossy because this panel is TN, and in order alleviate this I think making the monitor with a gloss finish would make it that much more of a compelling/attractive purchase compared to other competing pls/ips 1440p displays which dont have G-Sync/~ 8ms/ 60hz. One thing that JJ has stated in the discussion is that consumers who are willing to drop 799$ + for a monitor that is glossy are still considered a "subset" of the main target audience.

With that noted we must consider all our users not just subsets. Looking at the feedback of etail, retail, online communities, physical events we attend the majority of users are satisfied with the implementation of AG Polarizer.

This is something I have to disagree on, people who have this kind of money are enthusiast tier buyers, and want the BEST experience money can buy with ZERO compromises. If you are nearly spending a grand on monitor PURELY for gaming you're going to want it to be glossy since you are going to be using it in low light conditions. Monitors that are 200$-300$ are matte and this makes perfect sense because they are within reach of a significantly wider audience that wants a decent panel for multipurpose uses.

Here is a link to the page with the discussion - http://pcdiy.asus.com/2014/01/pg278q-rog-swift-gaming-monitor-the-best-gaming-monitor/

Tmh85 · February 17, 2014

@LinusTech

prolemur · February 17, 2014

I would like a matte monitor all the way, I don't care about the tiny bit of sharpness it loses I don't want blaring sunlight on my screen from 5-8pm and I don't feel like shutting all my blinds because I feel even more secluded

LinusTech · February 24, 2014

Having seen it in person, its TN-ness doesn't bother me much and I'd defend ASUS' matte decision...

Hard to say since I've never seen it with a glass front side-by-side though.

Linus

BrightCandle · February 24, 2014

I prefer a matte screen myself, and the ROG screen is exactly what I want to be getting assuming its not terrible. So actually I agree with Asus' decision, if it was glossy I wouldn't be considering it. Not all of us play in darkened basements, I suspect most don't actually.