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Is your laptop screen reflecting too much light in a room with excessive lighting? Do HD movie colors appear faded on your desktop monitor? You might have picked the wrong type of screen for your usage needs.
1. Mirror or Matte Screen: Which is the Best Option?
Is your laptop screen reflecting too much light in a room with excessive lighting? Do HD movie colors appear faded on your desktop monitor? You might have picked the wrong type of screen for your usage needs.
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Mirror Screen (left) and Matte Screen (right)
When purchasing a laptop or a desktop monitor, you can choose between a glossy screen (glossy) or a matte screen (matte). These two types of screens will provide very different experiences, depending on your usage environment. So, which one should you buy: glossy or matte screen?
Mirror Screen and Matte Screen
Both matte and mirror screens use liquid crystal display (LCD) panels. The only difference between the two types of screens is the outer coating. Under normal usage conditions (moderate brightness, not too much ambient light, and not too dark), the display quality of mirror and matte screens will not differ much.
For this reason, manufacturers have not been able to determine which type of screen is best. Apple even offers both matte and mirror screen options for MacBook models. Each user may prefer matte or mirror screens, but the right choice will come from their usage needs.
Which is Better: Mirror or Matte Screen?
Mirror screens offer vibrant colors and better contrast. Colors on mirror screens are richer, and blacks appear deeper. However, when directly exposed to light (e.g., outdoor use or sitting directly under a lamp), mirror screens will reflect this light and cause discomfort for users. In fact, you will almost not be able to use a mirror screen outdoors in sunlight.
Conversely, matte screens are coated with an anti-glare layer, making them much better at reducing reflections. If sitting in a bright room, you will find matte screens easier to read and view than mirror screens. Unfortunately, the anti-glare coating makes matte screens appear duller than mirror screens.
Choosing Between Matte and Mirror Screen
When choosing between mirror or matte screen for your home computer used in rooms with not too many lights, you should use a mirror screen to get brighter colors when watching movies.
Conversely, if you need a desktop/laptop for use in office environments with too many lights or frequently open windows allowing direct sunlight onto the screen, you should use a matte screen.
On the contrary, if you need a desktop/laptop for use in offices with too many overhead lights or frequently open windows allowing direct sunlight onto the screen, you should opt for a matte screen.
If you need to use your laptop outdoors, you should also choose a matte screen. A matte screen will not completely eliminate overly strong light sources, such as direct sunlight, but the glare of this screen will be greatly reduced compared to a mirror screen.
Of course, users may also find it difficult to imagine all the use cases for their laptops. Perhaps, in the next few months, you will only need to use your laptop in rooms with normal brightness, but in the future, you will need to take your laptop to work in cafes, offices, etc.
Therefore, choosing a matte screen will be the safest choice. However, as mentioned above, you will have to sacrifice color quality if you choose a matte screen.
Challenging Decision
For many people, the colors of the mirror screen are too vibrant and cause eye strain, so their choice will certainly be a matte screen. Additionally, you can also purchase anti-glare films for mirror screens. Therefore, if you want to have a superior movie experience, a mirror screen will still be a better choice. The downside of this solution is that not all mirror screens have suitable anti-glare films, and the display quality of mirror screens when using anti-glare films will not be as good as matte screens.
