Truelife screen glare solution?

Has anyone found an after-market product to cut down the
reflections/glare on a Truelife screen? Years ago I got something to
fit a CRT monitor but haven't been able to find anything for the
Inspiron E1505/6400. I wonder why Dell is even pushing these awful
screens...can't seem to get a deal without having to accept the
Truelife "upgrade". Yuck.

georgie

Quite the contrary, Dell offers both the E1405 and E1505 with a choice
of otherwise identical screens both with and without "Truelife",
although I do agree that they are pushing the Truelife screens (3 of the
4 screen options offered on the E1505 have "Truelife"), also virtually
all of the machines one sees at retail (Toshiba, Gateway, HP, Compaq)
have similar shiny screens).


georgie wrote:
Has anyone found an after-market product to cut down the
reflections/glare on a Truelife screen? Years ago I got something to
fit a CRT monitor but haven't been able to find anything for the
Inspiron E1505/6400. I wonder why Dell is even pushing these awful
screens...can't seem to get a deal without having to accept the
Truelife "upgrade". Yuck.

georgie

They may offer "without truelife" on their base units, but try finding
a deal that lets you downgrade the screen. I haven't seen that option
in any of the recent deals I've looked at - they all start with the
wxga truelife and up. Seems if you want to avoid truelife, you have to
go with their base unit and build from scratch - very expensive to do
that.

Still looking for an after-market solution for the glare problem - any
ideas?

georgie


Barry Watzman wrote:
Quite the contrary, Dell offers both the E1405 and E1505 with a choice
of otherwise identical screens both with and without "Truelife",
although I do agree that they are pushing the Truelife screens (3 of the
4 screen options offered on the E1505 have "Truelife"), also virtually
all of the machines one sees at retail (Toshiba, Gateway, HP, Compaq)
have similar shiny screens).


georgie wrote:
Has anyone found an after-market product to cut down the
reflections/glare on a Truelife screen? Years ago I got something to
fit a CRT monitor but haven't been able to find anything for the
Inspiron E1505/6400. I wonder why Dell is even pushing these awful
screens...can't seem to get a deal without having to accept the
Truelife "upgrade". Yuck.

georgie

"georgie" wrote in message ups.com...
They may offer "without truelife" on their base units, but try finding
a deal that lets you downgrade the screen. I haven't seen that option
in any of the recent deals I've looked at - they all start with the
wxga truelife and up. Seems if you want to avoid truelife, you have to
go with their base unit and build from scratch - very expensive to do
that.

You may have to look for a straight-up X% off $Y coupon. I think
there is a 20% of $999 available right now, perhaps some others.

FWIW, I've got a matte finish 1280x800 E1505 here that I'm playing
around with and my subjective opinion is that the finish is actually quite
fine and unobtrusive. It is certainly much better than that on my 2001FP.
I mention this for I recall some people reporting a very coarse finish on
some notebooks.

If you click on "customize" for any configuration, you can change many
things (almost everything) from among all of the options offered for
that particular computer. While Dell offers a number of "preconfigured"
variants of the E1505 (that are already built and can ship immediately),
when ordering, as far as I know, you ALWAYS have the option to click on
the "customize" button and order a built-to-order unit (the button is on
the right side of the screen). You don't pay any more, but it will
delay shipment somewhat as the unit does have to be built. However,
Dell ships most units -- even customized -- within 2 weeks.

WXGA is available with and without Truelife. On the E1505, Dell has 4
screen options under "customize". The first two are WXGA with and
without Truelife (and the price is the same). Then there are two higher
resolution options (only one of which is described if you click "help me
choose" to get more details) that are both offered only with Truelife.

"if you want to avoid truelife, you have to go with their base unit
and build from scratch - very expensive to do that"

It's no more expensive at all, in fact in my view it's the only way to
go, unless you are in an emergency and need shipment within 24 hours.

After market solution .... take a piece of mylar or similar clear
plastic, spray it with a satin finish CLEAR spray paint, let it dry,
then put it over the screen with a piece of masking tape. In fact, you
could use almost any very thin "frosted finish" translucent material.
Interestingly, even waxed paper would probably work, but it would get
wax smears on the screen.


georgie wrote:
They may offer "without truelife" on their base units, but try finding
a deal that lets you downgrade the screen. I haven't seen that option
in any of the recent deals I've looked at - they all start with the
wxga truelife and up. Seems if you want to avoid truelife, you have to
go with their base unit and build from scratch - very expensive to do
that.

Still looking for an after-market solution for the glare problem - any
ideas?

georgie


Barry Watzman wrote:
Quite the contrary, Dell offers both the E1405 and E1505 with a choice
of otherwise identical screens both with and without "Truelife",
although I do agree that they are pushing the Truelife screens (3 of the
4 screen options offered on the E1505 have "Truelife"), also virtually
all of the machines one sees at retail (Toshiba, Gateway, HP, Compaq)
have similar shiny screens).


georgie wrote:
Has anyone found an after-market product to cut down the
reflections/glare on a Truelife screen? Years ago I got something to
fit a CRT monitor but haven't been able to find anything for the
Inspiron E1505/6400. I wonder why Dell is even pushing these awful
screens...can't seem to get a deal without having to accept the
Truelife "upgrade". Yuck.

georgie

I think that there is a 25% off $1,299 coupon right now, as well as a
20% off $999. There was a 30% off $1,299 coupon [plus a $100 price
reduction] for most of September and October, and this is actually
fairly common but is not being offered right now. What I'm hoping for
.... it will probably get me to buy ... is a $750 off $1,500 [or more]
coupon. That's the best coupon that they have ever offered, it was
offered twice last year between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Otherwise,
I'm looking for a deal on a well equipped Toshiba A105.



User N wrote:

"georgie" wrote in message
ups.com...
They may offer "without truelife" on their base units, but try finding
a deal that lets you downgrade the screen. I haven't seen that option
in any of the recent deals I've looked at - they all start with the
wxga truelife and up. Seems if you want to avoid truelife, you have to
go with their base unit and build from scratch - very expensive to do
that.

You may have to look for a straight-up X% off $Y coupon. I think
there is a 20% of $999 available right now, perhaps some others.

FWIW, I've got a matte finish 1280x800 E1505 here that I'm playing
around with and my subjective opinion is that the finish is actually quite
fine and unobtrusive. It is certainly much better than that on my 2001FP.
I mention this for I recall some people reporting a very coarse finish on
some notebooks.

I'm pretty much sold on the E1505... you guys mention coupons for X%
off $Y...where can I find these things? I might as well wait until
one of those come available before purchasing. Also, do laptop prices
typically drop the closer one gets to Christmas? I really should order
mine by Dec 3 the latest....

The best place to look for deals on Dell is at www.techbargains.com

If you are serious about purchasing, check that site about twice a day.
The best deals appear and disappear quickly and are quantity limited.

The best COMMON coupon that shows up kind of frequently is 30% off any
laptop of $1,299 or more. So you are going to pay $901, but you are
going to get a top of the line laptop for that, fully loaded (fast CPU,
lots of memory, big hard drive, DVD burner).

The best deal I have ever seen has been $750 off a laptop of $1,500 or
more. So take your loaded $1,299 laptop (above), add an extended
warranty and watch the price go DOWN. I have only seen this coupon
offered at Christmas time.

There are NO really exceptional deals right now. In fact, there were
better deals last month. But the Christmas holiday buying season is
coming. The best deals tend to occur between Thanksgiving Day and about
December 15th. December 3rd might be too early, but there's a
reasonable chance that you might see a fantastic deal next week or so.

The only things that I don't like about the E1505 are it's total lack of
legacy ports, especially no PC Card slot, but also the lack of a
parallel printer port (and even a serial port, but very few laptops
still have serial ports).

Watch the retail stores also, the Toshiba A105 series is very, very
similar to the E1505 (better in some ways, it DOES have a PC Card slot).
You might find a "deal" on an A105, but watch what you are getting
because at this point there are something like 7 dozen different
"configurations" of A105's, all the way from Celerons to Core 2 Duo, and
from crap low end to ultra high end.



1505 buyer wrote:
I'm pretty much sold on the E1505... you guys mention coupons for X%
off $Y...where can I find these things? I might as well wait until
one of those come available before purchasing. Also, do laptop prices
typically drop the closer one gets to Christmas? I really should order
mine by Dec 3 the latest....

Hey thanks! This is excellent information—totally appreciated. I’ll
check out the link, and consider the Toshiba. I didn’t know that the
1505 doesn’t have a parallel port or the PC card, just assumed it
would. I could probably get around it, but still. That’s annoying.
What I’m very wary about is the TrueLife screen—I refuse to buy it.
Everyone seems to hate it. I’m a writer/editor and spend my life
staring at my computer, so I cannot have fuzzy icons and the like.
Really, all I need is something that is fast for multitasking, home
office networking, and surfin’ the web. Seems like the 1505 is good
for that? My old Compaq Armada 110 (w/celeron) feels like it’s about
to die any day now.

Also, I read somewhere that the Inspiron 6400 is basically the same
thing as the 1505? Seems to have a better pricetag too.... yet, all
the positive hype that I’ve found seems to be around the 1505. Thanks
again for your advice!

they are identical machines. get the packaging and features you like on
sale.

1505 buyer wrote:
Also, I read somewhere that the Inspiron 6400 is basically the same
thing as the 1505? Seems to have a better pricetag too.... yet, all
the positive hype that I?ve found seems to be around the 1505. Thanks
again for your advice!