Are there effective Anti-glare screens?

Question

I've got a laptop with a glossy screen, and have considered several so-called 'anti-glare' filters, since this glossy thing really gives me a headache. The one I tried might have protected the screen from scratches, (and I don't let a cat anywhere near my laptop anyway) but did little to reduce the glare.

I am aware of the near duplicate Anti-glare filter for glossy laptop screen?, but my question is whether there are any such filters, not regarding specific models.

Clarification: My only standard of effectiveness is that I see only the image on the screen, and not my own reflection, or the neon lamp.

Answer 1

Any anti-glare or anti-reflective screen will reduce the brightness and maybe the viewing angle of the display.

To answer another posting, yes there are some manufacturers that have stuck with or returned to matte finish LCD displays - some HP (ProBook), IBM/Lenovo, Toshiba and Dell models.

Someone else mentioned the there are disadvantages of matte screens. The only disadvantages are suggested by manufacturers' marketing people that images are not as sharp and colours are not as bright compared with a glossy screen. Would someone please explain the physics behind such a claim?

And finally - no manufacturer of HD television screens has made one in a glossy finish in an attempt to improve its colour and contrast over its competitors perhaps because it is simply untrue!

Mark

Answer 2

There are such filters - whether it is effective or not depends on YOUR standard of effectiveness.

Suffice to say, 99.9% of people find certain anti-glare filters effective (not naming brands or models!)

Answer 3

http://www.stereopsis.com/flux/

Try this it actually has helped my eyes a whole lot, since I spend a lot of time on the PC.

Tested on Linux and Windows and it's amazing, and free, even if it might not work for you particular scenerio, I would still give it a try.

Answer 4

There are many filters or screen protector which have very effective way to cut glare or reflection emitted from computer. Yes, you can search the keywords in Amazon or Ebay. They have price. But there are also some useful and free options to make the computer screen anti-glare and anti-reflective. You can install f.lux, which is a freeware to make your computer color automatically changed by the time of day, no-glare on your eyes.

Or you can make changes on your computer location, your sitting position, and others, just to make your screen more comfortable to view. Just refer to this post in SuperUser:How to make a laptop screen more comfortable to look at?

Plus, I want to notice you: the glare is really harmful to your eyes, while the blue light emitted from digital screen is the biggest problem. Don’t overlook the blue light.

Answer 5

3M Privacy Screens work for this as well 3M Canada

Answer 6

"that I see only the image on the screen, and not my own reflection, or the neon lamp"

Given your standard of effectiveness, then yes, there are effective anti-glare screens.

Solutions like the 3M Privacy Screens are, as far as I go, grossly over-priced. You may want to trial more generic solutions on Ebay. Just search on Ebay for Anti-Glare laptop screen Protector to find vendors such as this or that one. They have a wide range of different screen size and aspect ratio combinations, and you should take both factors into account before buying a filter. They're also cheapish, in the 10-15$ range.

I recently got myself a matte filter for my 12.1" laptop (16:9 aspect ratio) from the first vendor. It's not as matte as I would have liked it to be, but it's definitely an improvement! (It's only slightly less matte than my matte-panel desktop monitor.) Before I was always staring into the reflection of myself all day long; now this reflection is much attenuated, to the point where you can easily forget about it. Well worth the money!

Just make sure to properly clean the monitor before applying the filter (literally remove all dust particles), so as not to get such a botched result:

Other than the air pockets on the top half of the monitor (did I mention the need to remove all dust particles?), notice how the screen with the filter is noticeably less reflective than the surrounding glossy area. Before I applied the filter, the screen itself was more reflective than the surrounding area.

Answer 7

There once was a time laptops had anti-reflective screens. For one reason or the other, you can now only buy glossy ones. Very sad...

Update @Dynamic I: regrettably, I am serious. My laptop is perfectly anti-glare. When I bought it in 2007, it was the last of it's kind. Then, the industry made the transition to glossy displays en masse (the term CrystalBrite springs to mind). They told us the colors were much better. And so, we poor users have no choice than to buy displays resembling mirrors.