Why do laptop screens have such horrible viewing angles and picture quality?

PC TN LCD's have bad enough viewing angles as it is but the laptop screens are just atrocious.

We see mobile displays getting better and better.

We see TV's getting better and better.

Doesnt sound a fair comparison? Okay if the ipad can have such a gorgeous screen then why cant a decent laptop? Even the new galaxy tabs have a beautiful display with samsung's PLS technology.

Why the **** are laptops stuck with the same screen quality for years? Most of the new laptops say "LED" screen but they actually have pretty atrocious blacks. :|

I mean laptops are facing increasingly stiff competition from the tablets and the horrible screens are absolutely not helping matters. Dell makes some of the best PC monitors if not the best and yet even their higher end laptops have pretty average screens. It just doesnt make any sense. :?

If you get a laptop, you aren't looking for display quality. Simple enough. Even if they did have good IPS panels (Which some do,) they'd probably suck too much power and cause more issues that laptops already have.

Cheaper to manufacture to make prices more competitive, better power efficiency, and privacy from random people looking at your screen. I just made all those up but I'm sure there is some truth for each one.

Depends on the model. I've been using Thinkpads tablets as my primarly laptops for years and they always have amazing viewing angles (well.as tablets they kind of have too, it's not like Lenovo had any choice here :) . With most laptops the manufactuers try to find any way they can to cut the costs down if they can. THat's also why iPad has such a great screen, as a tablet there was no other choice than to go for great viewing angles.

THat said, it's not some golden standard, iPad turns from tabelt to heavy mirror outdoors, it's bassicaly unusable in any place with lots of natural light. X220T has optional superbright screen, which coupled with matte screen beats iPad's display easily.

There are plenty of laptops with good screens. You will just have to pay a premium for it, like $550 for a 17" IPS display on an HP notebook =)

It's not mainstream because they aren't many suppliers of IPS laptop displays and people are fine with Full HD 1080p LED. Tablets are supposed to be used in all sorts of odd angles and positions so a good viewing angle is necessary. That's why the tablet manufacturers can justify investing in it. Laptop manufacturers don't have a reason to invest. Viewing angle is not a big deal, since most people use their laptop on a desk and don't swing it around constantly like a tablet. It has already been shown that consumers prefer the screen with the most saturated, bright colors on a glass screen. They will not appreciate an improvement in picture quality. It may make the picture look worse in their eyes, which is all that matters. They won't like their batteries draining faster because of using IPS vs TN. And they certainly won't want to fork an extra couple hundred dollars for such a "downgrade".

There are two reasons laptops screens have "horrible" viewing angles and low picture quality:

• Poor viewing angles are intentional (or sometimes just encouraged) for privacy purposes. The number one consumer of laptops is businesses, and privacy is a huge concern.
• The most expensive part of a laptop (and after the battery, heaviest) is typically the monitor, so it's a natural place to cut costs. Laptop screens are not supposed to be super high-quality: They need to weigh very little, consume as little power as possible, be low-cost, and take up no space.

High-end laptops and desktop replacements have nice screens, but the demand simply isn't there in the mass market due to other priorities.

Boz

If privacy was such a problem then why would business phones have such great viewing angles? Arent there privacy filters that you can put on a laptop screen just like you can on a mobile?

And the ipad has a great battery time despite IPS display. And you may say it is not fair to compare laptop with ipad as iOS is much less resource hungry than windows but even iphone 4 has industry leading battery time compared to mobiles using more energy efficient displays.

I admittedly havent seen laptops that cost a fortune but I have seen plenty in the sub $1000 range.

Can't wait for OLED screens on laptops :O :shock:

I have dell studio xps 16 and the viewing angles (and the overallscreen) is amazing butthe laptopcost me £1100. While I haven't tested many laptops I think it's safe to say you won't find good viewing angles on laptops below £600.

THat said, it's not some golden standard, iPad turns from tabelt to heavy mirror outdoors, it's bassicaly unusable in any place with lots of natural light. X220T has optional superbright screen, which coupled with matte screen beats iPad's display easily.

AdrianWerner

Try holding a laptop with a matte screen like an ipad and you will see what I am saying. :)

Can't wait for OLED screens on laptops :O :shock:

Mozelleple112

[QUOTE="AdrianWerner"]

THat said, it's not some golden standard, iPad turns from tabelt to heavy mirror outdoors, it's bassicaly unusable in any place with lots of natural light. X220T has optional superbright screen, which coupled with matte screen beats iPad's display easily.

Gambler_3

Try holding a laptop with a matte screen like an ipad and you will see what I am saying. :)

I think it has to do with margins. The profit margin on laptops (with the exception of Apple) is getting slimmer and slimmer due to fierce competition. If laptop manufacturers are only making $100 profit per laptop, I don't know, if I were them, I'd do everything to trim costs. And one of the biggest costs in making a laptop is the LCD panel - so it's easy to save cost by putting in a cheap panel.

[QUOTE="Gambler_3"]

[QUOTE="AdrianWerner"]

THat said, it's not some golden standard, iPad turns from tabelt to heavy mirror outdoors, it's bassicaly unusable in any place with lots of natural light. X220T has optional superbright screen, which coupled with matte screen beats iPad's display easily.

NamelessPlayer

Try holding a laptop with a matte screen like an ipad and you will see what I am saying. :)

And you will still need glass on top to prevent the screen from getting scratched.