Today’s Question: I need an anti-glare screen protector for my laptop. Most of them also come with anti-blue light. I’m worried about the filtering out of the blue light affecting color accuracy of my photos, especially during editing. Do you have any recommendations?
Tim’s Quick Answer: In general, I do not recommend using anti-glare products on screens because they can negatively impact image quality and fidelity. If you need an anti-glare solution, I recommend a display designed to reduce glare, or the use of a high-quality product such as the iVisor line from Moshi.
More Detail: If possible, I recommend avoiding glare on your display in the first place rather than using an anti-glare film or other solution. For example, closing blinds or curtains, turning off lights, or moving to a different location would be preferred. I recognize, however, that in some cases you can’t really avoid glare altogether.
The key issue to keep in mind with anti-glare solutions is that they will have some degree of negative impact on the quality and fidelity of the display. That can cause problems when it comes to optimally editing photos, for example.
While reducing blue light from a display can help reduce eye strain, it also shifts the color of the display slightly toward yellow, which affects color fidelity. Anti-glare solutions can also reduce contrast and sharpness of the display.
If you simply must get an anti-glare solution, I recommend opting for a high-quality product without blue light filtering. The best approach is to get a display that is designed to reduce glare, such as the nano-texture glass available for many Apple displays including their laptops. Another great option is to opt for a laptop with Gorilla Glass from Corning.
Another option is to get an anti-glare film that attaches to your existing display. If you’re using an Apple product, I recommend the iVisor line from Moshi, which you can learn about here:
Beyond that there are a variety of adhesive films that attach to monitor displays, from companies like 3M and Kensington. However, in my experience most of these products reduce display quality and fidelity enough that I would personally rather not use them unless absolutely necessary.
