It depends a lot on how modern your house is and how your windows are orientated. If you are travelling then you may not have a choice either. I prefer to sit facing the wall so I do not get distracted by other people in the room. Sitting facing the wall also results in having lights behind me. Neither do I like to sit in a darkened room (otherwise you see yourself reflected). IMHO requirements are different for computers than for TV's / home theatre where the screen sits at a distance and is (normally) vertically orientated. As I mentioned my eyes are no longer the best so it may be worse for me than for you. Thanks for the link anyway but that is only one view. And you should read the comments: many are not agreeing with that article.
Dell used to make great laptops up until about 2007. This was during the "base" of the bear flag in DELL. Then, they became really desperate with keeping stock prices afloat and implemented cost-cutting measures, which included buying really really really crap parts for their laptops... And that was when Dell's quality went downhill...
And lots of people believe any old BS bilge they hear/read... and adopt such as their own opinion.. personally researched or not. There is ZERO evidence that a glossy screen induces eye strain nor is there any reason that it should. In fact... as a matte screen is intentionally made "out of focus to reduce glare".. that a matte screen should be the one to cause eye strain, if any.
Doubt that Dell EVER made laptops... last stat I read was that 80% of the world's laptops were made by 5 companies in Taiwan and China. Dell's happen to have been made at that time by Wistron and were rebadged.
Had a latitude back in 1998 - it broke 9 times in a 10 month period, got an IBM afterwards and that lasted two years without any problems. They were already the brown matter at that stage. Neighbour had several Dells when I was already running Toshiba's and later IBM's. I could not understand how he could put up with them, they sounded more like a muted hairdryer to me.
I have an Inspiron from Dell, circa 2007. No problems in 5 years... nadda... Maybe it's the Core processor consuming less power = less heat = less problems. Anyways, the point was DELL (NASDAQ) took a nose dive beginning in late 2007 and along with it the quality of its laptops.
Like the article said, "it's all in your head"... of course, that's where your eyes are now aren't they.. Sometime when you're looking for something to do.. .take a magnifying glass and look closely at some text on both a matte screen and a glossy screen... same resolution and pixel size, of course. Tell me the matte screen one isn't a bit fuzzy.. and you eyes can suffer strain trying to focus out the fuzz. Of course on such a small platform, we hardly notice... but still. Have you noticed that nearly ALL of the laptops have glossy screens? Why do you think that is? Could it be a gigantic conspiracy by the makers to cause all of their customers eye strains and headaches? Or does the glossy screen REALLY cause eye strain and ALL of the laptop makers are clueless? And don't glossy screens cost more? If a maker wanted to compete on price, wouldn't he put a cheaper matte screen on his units to compete against all the "stupid" other competitors who don't know any better? If you're REALLY experiencing eye strain staring at a glossy screen, I'd wager the cause is something other than the glossy screen... viewing distance wrong for your eyes' ability to accommodate? Too small of text? Too much brightness adjustment, not enough contrast?
Never will buy another dell or HP ever again, I don't know which one is worse. Rather buy top of the line equipment with American (english speaking) Tech support. I fell you pain man!!!!!!. Advice to dell and HP: charge 20 bucks more and hire Americans to do your tech support. Outsourcing DOES NOT CREATE A LOYAL CUSTOMER BASE. YOU guys Forgot that the product must be great as well as the service. You products suck and your service sucks even more!!!!!! Mercedes Benz has great products but the service is even better. This is why once you become a Mercedes Benz owner you will never ever consider any other brand. There are small computer companies with great products and service you just have to find them. If you need help you can PM me. If cost is your only concern then buy a dell or an HP. Good Luck!!!! you get exactly what you pay for!!!!!!!!!
I picked up an inspiron from the Dell website with low expectations after reading some of the comments hereabouts, lol. After a month, everything has been smooth as silk, though I'd recommend not wasting too much time with Chat tech support apart from getting the 1-800 number if they don't have a ready answer. Today the 1-800 tech support guy answered a question about system protection settings and thought nothing of moving on to other questions. We got no problems here.