M6400 Matte sceen owners?

Hello all,

I was wondering if any one out there could give a quick review of the Matte LED version of the M6400?

After reading about the reflections on the covert I think I'm going to go the Matte but can't find any reviews on it. What's the quality like??

Any advice would be great!

Regards,
Simon

 

Here is a review of the E6500 that includes the led screen. Don't know if the M uses the same. I like the matte in my E much better than the glossy HP I had before.

Oops, won't let me post a link. It's on notebookcheck.net.

 

Simon, you are right in thinking that we'll need to see a review of the non E2E before we can make an educated decision. There has been talk on here that the glass gives reflections and nothing else. Well, I'm pretty happy with this screen. If it *does* improve contrast all well and good. If it doesn't affect the picture (apart from reflections) I may or may not get Dell to change it. As I say, I'm pretty happy thus far. You never know, the matte version may not be as good. Until we have them side by side it'll just be speculation/ I think Intoxicate has ordered a matte one, so we'll hopefully know soon.

 

I don't think the screen on the Covet could result in improved contrast over a matte screen. It's pretty obvious to me it's a matte screen behind a plate of glass, so there can't be any benefits that are related to the surface of the screen itself.

As far as matte vs glossy contrast, I was under the impression that the only reason a matte screen was said to have lower contrast, was because ambient light would "light it up" and increase the gray level of "screen black". Whereas on a glossy screen, light coming from most directions bounces off and away from your eyes, but the light behind you reflects completely, possibly leaving some parts of the screen black. (am I right? or is there something else I don't know?)

Anyway my response to that thinking is that:
A) your eyes will adjust quickly to identify the darkest parts of the screen as black
B) Ambient light reflecting off the screen will optically add its light to the light coming through the screen, therefore the white point and black point will increase by the same amount and not effect "contrast"
C) Ambient light reflecting off a matte screen will be pretty much even across the screen unless you have a light shining directly at it
D) The reflective problems of both screens become worse as the amount of light increases, so the catch becomes sunlight... With a glossy screen it will be impossible to avoid reflecting sunlit objects, but with a matte screen you can turn the laptop's back towards the sun and shadow your screen, giving you good contrast in sunlight.
E) In terms of accurate color, the hues displayed on a matte screen will be shifted slightly, but evenly, and towards the color temperature your eyes have adjusted to naturally in whatever environment you are in. On a glossy screen you will have a variety of hues reflecting and chances are that most of them are colorful objects. For me, if I'm painting a texture in photoshop, that could cause me to paint one side cooler than the other causing texture repetition artifacts in 3D, unless I work in a dark room with the lights off. I took photos before showing a perceived left/right hue skew of 40 points in photoshop's scale just because I had a corkboard behind me and to the right.


Anyway, with the Covet, if I shine a light at it from the side I see the same diffuse splash of light that I get doing the same thing to a matte Dell 2208wfp screen that's right next to the laptop. Except that with the 2208wfp the diffuse illumination is much dimmer somehow, even though that's supposed to be the whole purpose of the glass. If I shine the light away from the screen but hold it in front, so I see the reflection of the LEDs in the flashlight, I see both a diffuse specularity and a sharp one on top of each other. (see attached pics.)

I've attached a photo that shows the differences between a Covet, a matte-finish Dell 2208wfp, and an old flat-front tube screen, all reacting to the same light. I took all the screen photos using the same exposure and camera settings, with the camera and the flashlight the same distance from the screen. One set has the flashlight at an angle, one set has it aimed more directly at the screen, and one set has it held at arm's length behind me while I snap the picture.

Notice that the diffuse illumination on the 2208wfp is nearly invisible, while somehow the Covet has far more of that component.

Also notice that you can see my reflection clearly in the bottom two pics even though the lights are off in my room and the only light comes from the Covet and some curtains in front of me, which are about 50% as bright as the Covet.

I would say the black point of the Covet is way higher than the matte finish 2208wfp. (granted that is not a laptop screen.)

 

Pretty conclusive, I'd say. Thanks for that. I was only wondering whether the covering was normal clear glass, or whether it had some sort of attribute to change the image slightly, and whether the non E2E matte screens are these exact screens minus the glass covering.

I can't say that the reflection problem bothers me, but it does seem odd they'd choose such a design. Anyone know if the E2E macs do the same thing?

 

as far as I know there isn't an E2E matte screen.

The Mac's all have this E2E glass covering over them as well now.

Regards,
Simon

 

The worse contrast comes from the diffusion of the screen light due to the matte coating, not the ambient light! So you get diffusions even in a dark room!

 

Simon, I should have been clearer. I was wondering whether the screens used in both E2E and non E2E variants are EXACTLY the same. I.E. The same matte screens, with the E2E variant just being them covered in glass. Or whether the screens in the two versions are fundamentally different.

I suspect they'll be identical based on what others have said, but we'll have to wait and see I suppose.

 

True. My question is would it help to have a privacy screen that eliminates glare? Or would that make the images worse?

 

That would eliminate the glare, but the the contrasts etc will suffer from a privacy filter. The E2E screen is not bad at all, but I think when Dell uses a glass platem than why use a matte screen under the hood?