The Truth About Glossy vs. Matte Displays for Coding

What do you think about glossy vs matte at the START of the video and what do you think at the END?

what about the Benq coding monitors you reviewed? I really liked that review, but I guess you didn't keep it.

Samsung TV Matte

I love my matte display, also for using Gnome this paper-like look fits very well to the UI. But my last glossy display was an old Intel iMac.

great video!

depends, if I am in a room that extremely well lit including from windows, sky light I would go for the matte, no matter how much I moved the monitor I was well light that i could see my own reflections. If I am at home where I need to provide my own light source then the glossy makes the colors more appealing.

Agree completely. I try to work in natural light whenever possible, and matte for big monitors is much better than glossy.

I like glossy screens with high-quality anti reflective coating. Cheap mirror-level glossy screens are the worst, especially in dark UI mode. Half-mate are quite comfortable for work and seems to be inexpensive for manufacturing.

Mate; at my age my eyes need every advantage I can get

BenQ’s nano matte panel on the RD280U is the best (I’ve found) at absorbing reflections instead of just scattering them. It’s like staring into a black hole. I haven’t had a chance to try Apple’s nano-texture display on the MacBook, but I’m excited to try it. For now I don’t have a good reason to pay all that money for a new Mac when my M1 Max is working perfectly fine.

i would say i would choose matte, because my eyes hurt a bit using glossy

Nano texture is really good though. It is not considered matte, it's still glossy with a large reduction in reflections.

This is all obvious stuff. If you can sufficiently control your lighting, glossy is better — no rainbow moiré patterns or colored speckles, better contrast, and better text clarity. If a display is always on the move — including outdoors — (e.g., MBP) or lighting/window glare is difficult to control in its usual location, then go for matte despite its inherent weaknesses. I’ve done coding for years on both display types and glossy 5K has always been the best for me. 4K sucks on Mac for text clarity.

Prefer glossy, but more importantly I want at least 5k and 27” on my desktop monitor.

Wow. Now I’m conscious of the lights and glare. I think the Mac Studio gloss is fantastic. Ugh now I want one lol

I started using Mac for development. You are a truly hero, because Apple products are not created for development. I really start to respect people who use a Mac for development. Those people really like to fight with difficulties. You video perfectly confirm my concern, why to use Apple monitor? I can guess you can attract customers telling - I am very rich and can afford the monitor. But if you tell - I am using it for development, then I am speechless.

I don’t have any of those monitors 😢

Currently watching this video from a Macbook with nano texture display. You made the wrong choice on the standard display. Sorry.

I've had a lot of matte monitors (some of them quite good, like Eizo etc...). Now I have the Studio Display and, for me, it's much better than any of those matte monitor.

I use glossy apple studio display for coding and I love it. The sharp look of code lines, crystal clear contrast in the colors of different types of key words in my code, and the colours exactly the same as I see them in my bacbook's monitor is the real deal for web developing. I positioned my desk 90 degrees from my window and reflexion is not a problem. The other important thing is I buyed the monitor with VESA mount so adjust the angle or position is very easy. Totally recomended this display for the perfect apple ecosystem set up.

I prefer glossy sceeen if it is a mobile device like a phone or laptop. As a glossy screen doesn't look weird in the constant changing environment vs a matte. Also Samsung S24U did the job for me, clean but doesn't look off or bad and improve on resistant.

If it is a station device like a mini pc or desktop. Then matte is preferred for me, as environmental changes aren't likely to change too much and sometimes it is just cheaper. Also I probably won't have a light messing with the display with it anyways.

I do photography. I hate glossy displays. Photographs look better and are easier to edit with matte displays. Glossy displays have an "un-natural" contrast and color making it harder to judge tone and saturation. A well done video looks sooooo good on a well calibrated matte display. Glossy displays make everything look like AI generated Disney/Marvel universe hyper contrasty video game crap.

For code editing? Different thing. As long as I can read it's OK and I tend to prefer 2K resolution displays with "console" fonts designed for the purpose. Font choice is often overlooked but very important to readability.

I don't see 4K as an advantage on anything less than 35". More pixels make the letters seem less sharp much of the time. Lower resolution saves on battery as well.

why not just get a matte screen protector that way you have best of both worlds, thats why i got for my macbook pro m3, if you get tired of matte you can re move it.

Glossy looks so much better.

Glossy for gaming/media. Nanotexture for work.

Matte is better for coding

I actually like glossy. My M1 Max is perfect

Great job. I’ve now reconsidered nano-texture about 15 times over the course of this video.

Landed on “nano-texture is always there. I can add to or take away things (hoods, screen ‘protectors’, etc) from a base glossy screen. I’d rather have options.”

E ink for programming \m/

For me, my QD OLED montior's semi glossy coating is perfect.

Glossy for sure. The ASD is absurdly costly but is really the only glossy 5k out there, AFAIK. Don’t regret a single penny.

I bought my M4 strictly for the nano texture. Can’t tilt your screen to get rid of reflections at the coffee shop. Blacks are slightly lifted in light, not lifted at all in the dark. The nano texture is wild.

I just prefer glossy more, not because I love it but the matte display has that grainy, pixelated look on white content
I can still live with reflections all around me

I sent back the nano texture Macbook Pro since the reduced sharpness and fuzziness of black fonts on white background was irritating me. Also the colors stand out better on a glossy monitor. Now I'm on team glossy forever probably. The nano-texture doesn't get rid of reflections, it just spreads it over a bigger area of the screen.

Love your channel , content and everything literally you do ... But , Can you please IRON your shirt please ? Among the viewers , do not forget there are people who have OCD :)

Glossy, so I could see the boss coming and pretend I'm working

Matte ♥️

I prefer glossy, it looks like there's more contrast when glossy 🤷‍♂

The nano texture display on my m4 mbp has ruined most other displays me.

When I look to the depth of the colors on the Apple studio it's just wow. compare to other models. Dunno why but Apple displays always have something unique with the colors and type of the surface. Despite of course the annoying reflection.

Glossy looks better, every time, as simple as that 🤷‍♂️

Glossy, the text is sharper.

I only really use my glossy monitor in a dark enviroment, so I don't notice the reflections.
I absolutely love that monitor.

Glossy for less eyestrain

Glossy can burn in the firey pits of hell!

Yeah glossy looks really good but, at least to me, those reflections are too distracting to me, whereas with a matte display my brain just ignores any lightning that shines and I can concentrate better, but this is just a very personal thing, might be because I'm used to matte displays (my home and laptop displays are both matte)

The iMac 27” 5K - the best monitor I have ever used. I’m currently stuck with the LG ultra wide and the Acer ProDesigner 4K, but neither of them comes even close to the iMac.

I do a lot of work sitting in passenger of car during morning commute.

Does anyone know of laptop temp display cover to block reflections? I don’t want to put a sticky anti glare cover on my MBP if possible.