— the glossy coating appeared in order to compensate for certain shortcomings of matte screens — in particular, low brightness, contrast and colour saturation. Displays with such coating do provide good colour reproduction and an image that is pleasing to the eye, but in bright light the gloss produces glare, which negates most of its advantages. Thus, special kind of such coating appeared — anti-reflective (see the relevant paragraph), which nowadays is used much more widely than the usual glossy surface. However, if you do not plan to often use the laptop in bright light, classic gloss may well be the best choice: it is somewhat cheaper than anti-glare, and in soft, dim lighting it can be even more effective.
