High dpi monitors with anti-reflection or subtle anti-glare?

[Mark R]

I'm in the Market for a number of high res monitors 2560x1440 27". As these are for work use, some form of AR/AG is a must (i.e. No uncoated polished glass)

Does anyone know if such LCDs are available with an anti-reflective coating? I'd prefer a glossy AR coating to avoid visual resolution loss that can be seen with cheap AG coatings.

Just to clarify, as a lot of people use these terms incorrectly:
AR means a micron-layer coating of an optical material applied to a highly polished surface. This causes destructive interference of reflected light, preventing light from being reflected. This is what is used on camera lenses and spectacles, and it gives a green or purple tinge to the remaining dim reflections. My pro CRT monitors were all coated on this way.

AG means application of a textured surface, so that reflected light doesn't form clear reflections, the reflections are blurred out, so you can't see distracting edges. The reflection isn't reduced, just blurred to make it less obvious.

I've come up with a crude test to assess the strength of AG coating. I hold my iPhone on lock-screen and bring it up to the monitor until I can read the clock. On a regular cheap LCD, the clock is never readable - the phone must be so close, that you can't see into the gap.
On a high-end LCD, the distance is about 1 cm. On a brand-new super-res screen (2048x1536 20"), the distance is about 5 cm, and on a very old similar res specialist LCD, it's abou 15cm (but this screen suffers from serious reflection problems).

So, I'm basically looking for a screen that either had subtle AG (2-5 cm on my iPhone scale) or a true AR coating.

Anyone know of any?

 

[kevinsbane]

I'm in the Market for a number of high res monitors 2560x1440 27". As these are for work use, some form of AR/AG is a must (i.e. No uncoated polished glass)

Does anyone know if such LCDs are available with an anti-reflective coating? I'd prefer a glossy AR coating to avoid visual resolution loss that can be seen with cheap AG coatings.

Just to clarify, as a lot of people use these terms incorrectly:
AR means a micron-layer coating of an optical material applied to a highly polished surface. This causes destructive interference of reflected light, preventing light from being reflected. This is what is used on camera lenses and spectacles, and it gives a green or purple tinge to the remaining dim reflections. My pro CRT monitors were all coated on this way.

AG means application of a textured surface, so that reflected light doesn't form clear reflections, the reflections are blurred out, so you can't see distracting edges. The reflection isn't reduced, just blurred to make it less obvious.

I've come up with a crude test to assess the strength of AG coating. I hold my iPhone on lock-screen and bring it up to the monitor until I can read the clock. On a regular cheap LCD, the clock is never readable - the phone must be so close, that you can't see into the gap.
On a high-end LCD, the distance is about 1 cm. On a brand-new super-res screen (2048x1536 20"), the distance is about 5 cm, and on a very old similar res specialist LCD, it's abou 15cm (but this screen suffers from serious reflection problems).

So, I'm basically looking for a screen that either had subtle AG (2-5 cm on my iPhone scale) or a true AR coating.

Anyone know of any?

Samsung S27A850 is probably your best bet. It has a subtle AG, by most accounts, and is a 27" 2560x1440 PLS monitor.

 

[Throckmorton]

Your only option is Apple because other manufacturers are stupid. For some reason they think a desktop is where you want horrible AG, while a laptop is where you want glossy. That's one reason I use a TV as my monitor.

 

[Mark R]

Your only option is Apple because other manufacturers are stupid. For some reason they think a desktop is where you want horrible AG, while a laptop is where you want glossy. That's one reason I use a TV as my monitor.

The problem with the apple screens is that they have no coating at all. That makes them unusable. There are too many reflections and too much glare.

I need these screens for work, and I've tried using the apple screens - they're useless in a work environment.

Adding an anti-glare film would be a possibility. But, there are a number of other reasons why the apple screens are unsuitable for my requirements.

I can understand how for home use, or gaming, a glossy monitor is good - but for serious work, especially precision imaging work, non-optically coated gloss is a joke.

You're right about gloss on laptops. Because you can't control the environment that a laptop is used in, you have to have a coating, otherwise it becomes unusable.

 

[exdeath]

Your only option is Apple because other manufacturers are stupid. For some reason they think a desktop is where you want horrible AG, while a laptop is where you want glossy. That's one reason I use a TV as my monitor.

Shiny and sparkly sells stuff!

 

[Throckmorton]

Apple really has no antireflective coating? Not even the glossy kind like you find on laptops?