Matte or glossy?

[Tan3l6]

Might be a bit redundant/useless poll, still interesting to see what kind of panels do voters prefer. Assuming they have used both type of panels.

I used to think matte is better, as I assumed in lighted environments the glossy would reflect too much. Now I'm all in on glossy.

[HanZie82]

5 minutes ago, Tan3l6 said:

Might be a bit redundant/useless poll, still interesting to see what kind of panels do voters prefer. Assuming they have used both type of panels.

I used to think matte is better, as I assumed in lighted environments the glossy would reflect too much.

One is NOT better then the other, they just have different uses.

 

Also why notebooks are more likely to come with shiny screens and monitors more likely to come with matte screens;
In home matte is nicer when in the evening with more lights on.
But outside with the single light source i prefer a glossy screen thats only useless in that one direction and fine in all others.
And so much more reasons to use either.

[Blasty Blosty]

I hate glare with a burning passion, if it's not matte I don't want it

[Tan3l6]

5 minutes ago, HanZie82 said:

One is NOT better then the other, they just have different uses.

Well, AMD is not better than Intel either in general case, but still people have strong opinions. And opinions is that I'm after.

 

  

5 minutes ago, Blasty Blosty said:

I hate glare with a burning passion, if it's not matte I don't want it

I used to think that too, now I see why glossy has fans. Not the 120mm kind though.

[Mihle]

I was sceptical about getting a laptop with glossy screen, but the glare is much less distracting than I thought it would be.

[ImWilly]

Although I prefer matte, especially when I use a "hydrogel" / "soft gel" for phone screen. It looks really great when I view my screen on my room, but when I'm outside at high noon, it's really dimmed to the point that I hardly see anything even with max brightness.

So matte is good, until you're in extreme bright or dark surroundings.

 

Here I share LTT's video about matte and glossy comparison, hope this could be a good reference

 

 

[Stahlmann]

I have never seen a glossy LCD panel before, but I have used a lot of matte LCD monitors. When I made the switch to OLED, I really started to appreciate the glossy finish. Colors have more pop, the picture looks clearer, and the mirror-like reflections aren't nearly as distracting as I thought they would be. You get used to it. Tbh, I'd still only think about the coating as an afterthought, because the underlying display panel is much more important. But all other things being equal, I'd prefer glossy.

 

Edit: Also, specifically for LG OLED panels, glossy will also result in deeper perceived blacks. It's another story on QD-OLED because their panel lacks a polarizer layer and LCDs don't benefit as much because they don't get deep enough black levels to begin with.

[YoungBlade]

Glossy panels do have better colors, however, as you mentioned, they are more susceptible to glare.

 

My first ever laptop had a matte finish. My second had a glossy finish, and I thought it was great. I definitely preferred the glossy look when indoors.

 

However, the glossy finish made the laptop almost unusable outdoors. I had to make sure I sat in the shade. If I tried to positioned it correctly in sunlight - which often meant that I was facing towards the Sun, so that's bad - then even when I used it so that the Sun didn't reflect on me, I would then notice that I could see my own reflection clearly in the screen, which was also distracting.

 

My current monitor has a matte finish, and I think it looks good. It's important for the current lighting setup in the room, as there are multiple lights in the ceiling, and a glossy finish would make the glare way worse. I can vaguely make out my own reflection in it, and I can tell that there are lights reflecting off of it, but it's much more tolerable than if the display were glossy.

 

I'm sure the colors would pop more with a glossy finish, and if I kept the room dark, it would certainly look better, but I don't like gaming in the dark. For those that do, I'd certainly recommending looking into a glossy display - they look great in darker environments.

[Motifator]

Glossy does not make a bad panel good, lol. It just makes it glossy.

All those non-OLED panels you see down PC stores on laptops that are shiny as heck are using glossy forms of IPS such as IGZO to make themselves look brighter than they already are.

I'm also a fan of matte, I don't want my monitor to mirror my own self. Sometimes it gets so bad you lose what you're trying to focus on, ending up looking at the reflection which is yourself. This happens especially on a black background which sucks.

[HanZie82]

1 hour ago, Tan3l6 said:

Well, AMD is not better than Intel either in general case, but still people have strong opinions. And opinions is that I'm after.

Ah ok gotcha, well in that case it also was a little bit my opinion ofcourse.
Here's more;
I have matte monitors at home and 1 thats glossy, they both are fine for me, but the glossy one is a touchscreen so has way thicker glass over it. So hard to compare.
As with the matte i like the actuall display is right in front.
As for any reflections, i dont care if when off i can see my reflection.
I do like that the glossy ones are easier to clean. needs less rubbing to get any tougher dirt off. (dont ask and no, nothing that nasty!)

[WereCat]

I have glossy ntb with OLED and even in pitch black you can see mirror of your keyboard backlight on the screen but if you disable it and watch movies it's amazing. 

[Tan3l6]

16 hours ago, Motifator said:

Glossy does not make a bad panel good, lol. It just makes it glossy.

Indeed opinions do not make em' facts, just preferences.

And yeah, I'm in the faction of glossy just because of a high quality QD-OLED probably. First glossy monitor, yet the best.

[Doobeedoo]

There'a a good reason monitors are matte, you sit in front of it and you don't just watch movies, you interact with small elements, look at details, all up close. Reflections are horrible and distracting regardless of no windows or direct light on monitor. Tires eyes a lot. 

So yeah matte always. Same on laptops, even Samsung on latest ultra phone made it more matte which I'm so glad as I hate how glossy phones are.

[saintlouisbagels]

I have the Apple Studio Display standard glossy screen and it's mounted next to a Samsung Neo G8 VA display with heavy matte coating.

...

...

Glossy display is miles better, holy crap.

[saintlouisbagels]

On 4/30/2024 at 11:18 AM, Motifator said:

Glossy does not make a bad panel good, lol. It just makes it glossy.

That's incredibly wrong.

Glossy displays allow more vibrant and deeper colors.

Matte coating dulls everything in comparison.

 

I have a glossy Apple Studio Display next to a Samsung Neo G8 with heavy matte coating. The difference is staggering.

 

I use my displays in a brightly-lit room with 5000K lighting and I have never noticed my reflection when watching dark content. I definitely notice that dark content looks like shit on the Neo G8 in comparison. Maybe my brain automatically ignores reflections - which I'm grateful for lol.

[Motifator]

No lol, what you're saying makes no sense whatsoever. The coating is IRRELATIVE to the panel behind it. You can't just compare an Apple Studio Display to some Samsung VA (completely different products) and come up with this conclusion.

I've seen SHIT panels with glossy coatings. Years ago my father had a work laptop that was a TN with glossy coating. All it did was to make it look bright, aka fake itself into making it look better than it already is. Think it was a Dell with an old school C2D or something. It was one of those silver Inspiron models I believe, has been long.

Point is, it's just glossy... that's all there's to it. It doesn't necessarily make your colors richer on the calibrator's scale lol, it's fooling your mind into thinking that way.

[saintlouisbagels]

5 minutes ago, Motifator said:

it's fooling your mind into thinking that way.

Our mind's perception is extremely important to displays...

 

Pictures are a bunch of RGB pixels arranged together and our brain interprets an image out of it.

MicroLED panels are mostly blank space, but the lit up areas are enough to fool us.

We think 24 images a second is enough for motion.

Bias Lighting improves contrast despite not doing anything to the display.

 

Glossy is NOT just glossy.

[Motifator]

3 minutes ago, saintlouisbagels said:

We think 24 images a second is enough for motion.

 

Glossy is NOT just glossy.

I think you need to go back to Frank Hertz's and learn some stuff on how this was created in the first place right from electricity before you try to pull a 24 FPS is enough on me lol, come on.

What I'm saying is, you have no professional equipment to show how much superior glossy is... then again, nobody does that. Think why? Because it's just a glossy film after all... lol. It doesn't necessarily make the panel beneath the coating any better on color uniformity, response quickness or any of that kind of stuff. 

I do think that Apple display is just giving a better image than that Samsung VA in the first place, which is why you think it is better. Not because it's glossy...

Saying glossy makes a display %200 better is like entering a car lot and picking cars by their looks. In that case, the car with the prettiest looks would be the best choice, right? Deep down we all know what really matters is under the bonnet and inside the cabin.

Makes the sense this does not...

[Tan3l6]

I only wish there was a secret weapon against smears on a glossy monitor. 

Used a micro fiber cloth to clean up a small stain - smeared it around 5x the area.

 

[HanZie82]

6 minutes ago, Tan3l6 said:

I only wish there was a secret weapon against smears on a glossy monitor. 

Used a micro fiber cloth to clean up a small stain - smeared it around 5x the area.

 

That blue windows spray is perfect.
And if you still smear it out, you might need this: _{(Plastic razor, to scrap of the most egregious of dirts)}

[Tan3l6]

2 minutes ago, HanZie82 said:

That blue windows spray is perfect.

What's that? Windex? If so, not available here.

[saintlouisbagels]

1 hour ago, Tan3l6 said:

I only wish there was a secret weapon against smears on a glossy monitor. 

Used a micro fiber cloth to clean up a small stain - smeared it around 5x the area.

You have a bad microfiber cloth.

I use a random microfiber cloth from my car cleaning supplies, and a bit of saliva and my glossy television screens and Studio Display look spotless.

[Tan3l6]

5 minutes ago, saintlouisbagels said:

You have a bad microfiber cloth.

Yeah, it might have been in use too long.

But now, with a newer microfiber cloth the stains can't be cleaned without some liquid. Just breathing "fog" on the spots and cleaning them won't move anything in the good or bad direction.

I guess I will google the solution...

 

And yeah, my glossy preference is probably because currently the best monitor I've used is glossy, but not at all reflective as I was expecting/fearing.

[SolarNova]

Glossy hands down.

 

If you havnt ever seen a Gloss finish panel on a suitably high contrast display, like a good VA panel LCD, OLED, Plasma, or CRT, then you really dont know what your missing.

 

Even on the best high contrast displays, a Matt finish will reduce contrast, and black will no longer look as black as it should.

 

The drawback, reflections, sharp bright reflections.

 

But, if your the kind of person who is really into displays, you will already have the environment adjusted to account for the type of display your using. So reflections shouldn't be a problem.

 

Ofc, if the panel itself is total crap, the final coating used is irrelevant. Sure a glossy finish may look less crap than a Matt one, but its still crap.

[Mark Kaine]

On 4/30/2024 at 3:54 PM, HanZie82 said:

One is NOT better then the other, they just have different uses.

 

Also why notebooks are more likely to come with shiny screens and monitors more likely to come with matte screens;
In home matte is nicer when in the evening with more lights on.
But outside with the single light source i prefer a glossy screen thats only useless in that one direction and fine in all others.
And so much more reasons to use either.

while i understand having preferences, objectively shiny / glossy has no advantages over matte... it'll just always be worse because you literally cannot avoid the reflections **especially** outside.