

Ask HN: Best non-apple laptop screen? - soulbadguy

Although the general quality of laptop screens have dramatically improved this last couple of years, while comparing to macbook&#x2F;pro (or even a solid desktop IPS ) screen  it still seems that most ultrabook (even expansive one, looking at you X1 carbon :) ) can&#x27;t quite match.
What the best non mac screen out there for programming?
I use laptop mostly for coding and reading online so for me quality is about deep contrast, high brightness and non saturated accurate colors.
PS : nothing below 1080p (thanks god this is starting to become the norm now)
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alansmitheebk
My System76 Galago Pro has a 1080p matte screen. When the weather is nice I
like to work outdoors. With a shiny Apple screen this is virtually impossible.

I believe the Galago Pro and most other System76 models are actually
customized re-branded Clevo laptops. Another company that offers customized
Clevos is Sager. You can buy Sager latops online from Xotic PC. My last laptop
was Sager and it also had a 1080p matte screen.

By the way, my laptop costs a fraction of what I would have paid for an Apple
laptop with the same specs. It's also extremely light.

My laptop doesn't overheat and spin its fans so fast it sounds like an
airplane taking off. I didn't have to buy any stupid adapters to use ethernet
and I'm not vulnerable to two major security issues that are all over the news
lately (I'm looking at you, MacBook Pro).

Good luck.

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gkop
Lenovo Thinkpads do often have very good matte screens. My previous T520 and
T530 machines' 15" 1080p screens were excellent, and my current T450S 14"
1080p IPS is even better (all machines generally excellent on all other counts
as well). T450S is shaped like a rectangular prism rather than a wedge, but is
still called an ultrabook at 3.5 lbs.. I frequently use retina MacBook screens
for brief spells, and I'd say mine is better :)

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soulbadguy
Interesting! I am actually using a T440s as daily driver and i though it has
the same screen as the T450s. Mine is the touch screen version though, so
maybe that makes a much bigger difference in screen quality than i tought

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gkop
Indeed, mine is _not_ touch.

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benley
The Chromebook Pixel 2 has a fantastic screen: 2560x1700 (about 239dpi),
excellent contrast and color, great brightness range, and it even does
multitouch if you care about that. Also the aspect ratio is 3:2 rather than
16:9 aspect ratio, which is proving to be quite nice.

Plus the battery life on this thing is so good it's hard to believe. Like 12
hours.

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buckbova
I have that x1 carbon. Figured why cheap out on something I use everyday.

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soulbadguy
Yeah that was the laptop i was getting initially, but the screen is just not
up to my standards

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luck87
Now Apple equips macbook only with shiny screens: you can't buy a macbook with
opaque screen, like some years ago. So I suggest to use a external monitor as
me.

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stephenr
If you recognise MacBooks have high quality screens, why not just buy one?

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davismwfl
Not everyone wants to pay the apple "tax" just to have a quality display.
Although I work on a Macbook, Apple gets a solid premium for what goes into
their laptops so the OP may just be trying to get a better value for his
money.

As for me, I'll stick with my Macbook for now because of the work I do and
that fact I really do appreciate the hardware and I don't mind paying the
premium.

As for others to check out, I saw a really nice display on a Samsung laptop
not too long ago, not sure the specs but man was it super crisp.

