What kind of environment is that? Maybe if you're a black person wearing black clothes, no glasses (maybe contacts are ok?) in a room with closed curtains, no lights and nothing reflective, sure. I used to daily drive an apple thunderbolt display (the last non-retina one, 2560x1440). That thing was atrocious. I could often see the reflections of my glasses, or a white glare if I was wearing a white shirt. At nigh, in a dark office (lights off, just whatever came in from the street). I'm typing this on a matte "ips black" dell ultrasharp something-or-other at 10% brightness, wearing glasses, a white t-shirt, with an overhead light, and see no reflection or glare on my screen. There's no way in hell I'd go back to a shiny screen. I understand "anti-glare" technology has improved. The most recent apple screen I've tested is an m1 mbp. It seems somewhat better than my 2013 mbp, but still a worse experience than my 2015 (or thereabouts) 24"@4k dell, which is pretty old technology. My 2025 lenovo has a screen that's much more confortable to use inside. Paradoxically, I'd say the one environment where I prefer my macs to my matte screens is in bright sunlight. Sure, there are more reflections than you can shake a stick at, but there's always an angle where you can see the part of the screen you want. You have to move around, which is obviously annoying, but you can see . The matte screens just turn to mush. Luckily for me, I hate being out in the sun, so I never encounter this situ…
Doesn’t like it
I had an XPS laptop purchased around 2020. It was a very well spec-ed machine on paper and worked reasonably well. It just did not hold up.
1. Bulging battery - replaced
2. USB-C charging blew up the charge controller - laptop completely unable to charge - replaced motherboard
3. USB-C charging blew up the charge controller again (~6 months later) #3 was out of warranty and I had just changed companies so it went into the trash. It lasted 3 years tops. I also have a dell ultrasharp 4K monitor that had to be replaced under warrant within ~1 year of purchase and I am just waiting for it to go again now that it is out of warranty. Dell seems to have had reasonable service(in-warranty) but their stuff is always breaking down. I have had several macbooks. Each lasted ~10 years+.
Likes it
Fedora 43 with KDE - have been using 140% scaling with my Dell Ultrasharp 32" 4k monitor - no issues whatsoever. I've noticed that the Dells do a pretty good job with Linux - I have used monitors of various sizes ranging from 27" to 43" and never had any issues on Linux.
Recommends it
Top is maybe my old Dell 27" 4K Ultrasharp. Still nice and bright but lacks USB-C/Thunderbolt. Plenty of pixels for me and a good height range. I tried lots of USB-C docks/dongles and finally gave in and got a decent lower-end Thunderbolt dock from Anker. No more juggling multiple cables to get 4K60. Single cable solution to dock my MacBook Pro and run pretty much anything. It isn't currently in my office, but a cheap recumbent stationary bike has been a good help to knock out some cardio when I have a break. Well top is really the M1 Pro MacBook Pro. Fast, silent and 95% of the time I don't even think about battery life. A big improvement over my 2019 i9 MBP. Related, also maybe my 12.9" iPad Pro with the Magic Keyboard cover. It's a 2018 with a dying battery but it makes a great book reader, video viewer, spare monitor, etc. With the keyboard case it's decent for writing or remote terminal work. It's become my "couch laptop" and what I throw in the car in case I get stuck waiting for something or someone. I've got a cheap standing desk but meh - mostly sit at it but being able to change height even for sitting is nice. Cheap-ish Tempur-Pedic office chair works pretty well for me. Creative Pebble Pro speakers were a big improvement over my previous ones with analog input and a subwoofer I kept kicking. Anker C200 webcam and Audio-Technica ATR2100x-USB microphone were cheap upgrades for calls. A clamp-on cupholder that keeps my drink stable and away from possible spills onto
Likes it
Report back: After a bit of trial and error, I quickly realised that for this workflow to work, full screened applications is the best way. This is because my focus is less interrupted when my laptop's DPI complements my external display's DPI. And since I don't like having to strain my eye sight too much when working on my laptop, I'm still running my 10 year old ThinkPad X230 with a 1366x768 IPS display, which is pretty comfortable for those long 10+ coding marathons. For that reason, my chosen external display had to feel similar when working on my desktop keyboard on mouse. So I picked a 4k 32" Dell Ultrasharp, that I run at 1920x1080. I sit really far back. Relaxed coding lounge sort of thing. I've been using this design for a couple days now, and it has done wonders for my creativity and productivity. I must thank you again. If you're wondering about the low resolution preference, it's because it allows me to use my keyboard's built-in mouse more effectively ([0] ThinkPad Wireless TrackPoint Keyboard II), and thus I never have to lift my hands off the keys. This alone has increased my productivity significantly. Keyboard shortcuts are fast becoming my friend. Debian for the win. Oh I decided to take the lounge coding concept a little further, so I've also plugged in a KMV switch, allowing me to switch displays between the external monitor and the 120" projector with a press of a remote button. So depending on where I feel like sitting, my wireless keyboard follows me. C
Likes it
I use 3 x Dell P2715Q (27" 4k @ 60Hz). It's a pretty sweet setup for me. https://www.dell.com/en-ca/shop/dell-27-ultra-hd-4k-monitor-...