Rain-X to keep your screen clean?

I know that is a wierd from left-field kinda idea but I was reading a thread about cleaning glossy screens and how easily they get dirty. Rain-X works great on any sort of windows (well maybe not MS) at not only beading water but also at preventing road grease and from adhering.

Anway, was just curious if anyone ever tried it? Not sure how it works for a matte finish but I have a busted inspiron 8500 I might try it on just for giggles...

But put it on with microfiber let it dry wipe off, apply a 2nd coat dry wipe....then see what happens over time.

 

I'd be careful, using window cleaner on a regular LCD is a no-no (anything with ammonia in can degrade the screen), I don't know what Rain-X is composed of chemically but I'd only apply it to something you don't care much about in case it does a number on it.

Of course, I'm as curious as the next guy to hear what happens if you do it though

 

hehehehe...me too...that was my thought to try it on something I really don't care about..or even better if someone else already tried it...

 

eek. that scares me. i love my screen to death. im not that brave. let us know how it goes though.

 

Yes, please tell us what happens. Personally I don't see much advantage in using it, unless it cleans the screen really well. Of course this is assuming your aren't taking your laptop out into the rain

 

I don't think it will help anything at all. The rain-x works is that it fills in the micro-pores of the glass, thus making it smooth. This allows water to rolll off the glass surface. Without rain-x, the water builds up and catches on the micro-pores.
LCD's don't use glass. I'm not sure if it's more or less porous than glass, but you wouldn't see much of any change. Besides, rain-x sucks putting on glass. You hve to buff it in. and that would likely cause bruising to your lcd anyway.

 

Just Don't Do It.

 

I definitely have my doubts and would never do it to a working LCD, but since you have a broken one handy...I must say I'm intrigued . Probably won't do anything on a matte screen though.

 

What sort of Rain-X? I use Rain-X (original) on my car; it specifically says on the back of the bottle:

 

well, poop!! that kills that idea...ok, maybe something else will work. That is why it's good to ax questions before trying anything new!! thanks!!

still might try it on an OLD screen though just to see...I have used it on plastic lens glasses before w/o any problems. It did keep them clear in the rain. But that in no way menas it will not harm an LCD display since they are the same but different then optical lenses.

 

ok....read the bottle and it is an alcohol based compound so that is the reason the bottle say to contact the manufacturer before trying on plastics.

So it is possible that the alcohol could dissolve or soften any chemical coatings applied to the surface of you display. The result could be a bad bad thing. Based on that and given the wide variety of screen treatments I doubt it's a good idea to try. Also I doubt any laptop mfg will ever say yes to even trying it out. Soooooo, probably not a great idea...probably...

 

I haven't used Rain-X in years, but I clearly remember what the bottle said and what happened when I got a little bit on the wind-shield wiper blade covers. It went from black to foggy grey and it never did come back to black.

DO NOT APPLY RAIN-X TO YOUR NOTEBOOK... CONVINCE YOUR FRIEND TO APPLY IT TO THEIRS!!!

 

i just picked up a bottle of rain x for my laptop.
ill report back later in the afternoon.

 

Cool, let us know how it goes. Be careful though, maybe try it out on a corner or something first.

 

Rain X is mainly alcohol based and i wouldnt use it on my laptop screen.

I purchased one of the very first XBrite laptops from Sony over 3yrs ago. No one else had a gloss screen and it was frightening even thinking of how to clean it without scratching it.
But since i wear glasses, one reg checkup to m optometrist solved everything for me.
You see my eye doctor had a higher end model Sony than mine with the XBrite screen and he told me to use optical solvents or tissues on these screens. Optical solvents contain no detergents, no alcohol and no ammonias and are perfect for high gloss laptop screens.
He says they are fine for $800 high end Nikon and Essellor lenses(non-glass) and wont damage any coatings so i did what he advised.
So i have a lil eye glass spray i use with a lint free cloth as well as lil packets of pre-moistened Zeiss Lens Cloths.

Been using this method for over 2 yrs and notta scratch on any of my Sony laptop screens and have also used them on my new Asus screens. Perfect!!

 

Results are in!!
after reading this post, i thought i try this rainx solution to my old glossy laptop display. after appying it on to my microfiber cloth, the results was that the screen came out super smooth. after about 4 sec of wiping and rubbing i immededitly notice there was a bit smugde that i could not get rid of. as i rubbed harder the smudge became worse. next i tried it on a new area on the glossy screen. this time i wipe and not rub and the results was a smooth glossy clean surface! the area was so smooth that i tried to put a drop of water and it seem to glide right down the screen.

conclusion: DO NOT USE HARMFUL CHEMICALS TO YOUR LAPTOP DISPLAY!

Best way to clean a Laptop glossy display screen is any bottled spring water with a high quality Microfiber cloth. not microfiber cloth they sell at a discount store.

 

OMG...what have I done!!!???!!!...someone DID IT...major stones to you Sti-R!!

And really thanks for the comparison between the two display types. I am still too chicken to try it on my new laptop but have been considering trying it on an old POS Dell just for the giggles.

Like mikemike suggested I have been using a lens cleaner for coated lenses and it seems to work OK. Still the attraction of that super smooth finish that Rain-X would give is calling...well, maybe I'll answer in a couple years...

 

Thanks for the info!

 

This is madness...why would you want to apply a water repellent to your notebook screen? Are you using it outside in the rain unless you got a Panasonic toughbook but even then Don't do it. Commercial cleaners often contain complex chemical concoctions such as Acetone, Ammonia, Ethyl acid, Ethyl Alcohol, Methyl chloride,Toluene(horrible stuff to put on your notebook)

Just use the old method of using a damp cloth to wipe the notebook down works wonders for me...

As most of the informed users here have pointed out notebook screens are too delicate to place these harsh chemical compounds on, trust me I learned the hard way with my first notebook, it might not show up right the second you do it but the damage is done. Anything that has alcohol as its base(which will also ruin paint) will eventually ruin your screen( and case as well mind you), matte or glossy it will do the same...

And while I am on this Windex is not recommended either...

 

I've only used Fog-X and it works well...but I can't understand why it does...

Let us know if your idea works.

 

Yes exactly ! I don't understand why anyone would want to use window/glass cleaning chemicals on notebook screens. What do you guys do to your LCD screens that a simple damp cloth cant clean ?

BTW this is how Windex works on LCD screens .

 

Too bad they don't make a product such as Noob-X.

"Protects your machine from noobs and noobish behavior"

 

ROFLOL

that is awesome