Dell TrueLife™ — What is it?

Dell TrueLife™ LCD screens, which are supplied by Dell, Inc. for laptop computers, are a recently-introduced advancement in notebook LCD screen technology. This technology has won much praise with its high-gloss, sharp contrast finish, which is well-suited for watching videos, gaming, and other video imagery uses. We are confident that once you have seen this technology with your own eyes, you will not believe the difference it makes.

ScreenTek also offers high-gloss, anti-reflective laptop screens under our own PixelBright™ name. Our PixelBright™ products and services can accommodate the following needs:

• If you have damaged your Dell TrueLife™ laptop LCD screen and would like to replace the screen with a similar high-gloss PixelBright™ laptop LCD screen,
• If you have damaged your traditional Dell laptop screen and would like to replace it with an upgraded high-gloss screen with anti-reflective technology, or
• If you have a perfectly working traditional laptop screen and would like to have your screen upgraded with a high-gloss anti-reflective polarizer. Our LCD screen upgrades require you to send us your laptop so that we can upgrade your LCD screen in a Class 100 (US Fed Std 209E) / ISO Class 5 clean room environment.

Contact us for more information.

What is Dell TrueLife™?

Dell TrueLife™ Background

The TrueLife™ brand is Dell's marketing name for its new anti-reflective LCD screen technology (anti-reflective technology). TrueLife™ is a trademark owned by Dell, Inc.

This technology was initially introduced to the Japanese market in Fujitsu notebook computers in the beginning of 2003 and later brought to the mainstream via Sony's marketing of its own XBRITE™ brand. This technology was an instant success because of its super crisp images and its vibrant colors. This new anti-reflective technology has sharper contrast (the difference between the deepest black and lightest white pixels), produces clearer and more colorful images, absorbs most external ambient light and has wider viewing angles than traditional notebook screens.

Anti-reflective LCD screen technology is not a proprietary technology of Dell. Moreover, LCD displays installed in Dell Inspiron, Latitude and Precision models are not manufactured by Dell. Dell, like other laptop makers, purchase LCD screens from LCD screen manufacturers. It is these LCD screen manufacturers that manufacture anti-reflective LCD technology. Dell merely procures and installs both traditional matte LCD screens and high-gloss anti-reflective LCD screens in their Dell line of laptop models. Those Dell laptop models using anti-reflective technology are marketed by Dell under the TrueLife™ trademark.

Furthermore, the anti-reflective technology marketed as Dell TrueLife™ is identical to the anti-reflective technology being marketed as Sony XBRITE™, Toshiba TruBright™ and HP Compaq BrightView, etc.

The Technical Stuff
(Click here for a more detailed explanation including diagrams)

All laptop screens have a polarizer which is a thin sheet of film laminated to the outside layer of glass of the laptop screen used to filter light waves produced by the LCD screen to create an image. The difference between a traditional matte notebook screen and an anti-reflective notebook screen is the type of polarizer film.

The polarizer of a traditional notebook screen has a rough matte finish. This rough matte finish is not visible to the naked eye. The matte finish causes outer ambient light to disperse or reflect off of the traditional polarizer at different angles which reduces the intensity of the glare reflected directly back to the observer's eye. This ambient light reflection is reduced in intensity due to the diffusion of light, however, the drawback is the reflection shows up as a large hazy object which obstructs the images on the screen. Other side effects include distorted images, a lower contrast ratio, inferior viewing angles, less vibrant colors and eye fatigue.

The polarizer of an anti-reflective Dell TrueLife™ screen has a smooth high-gloss finish. The high-gloss polarizer has a layer of film made of a unique chemical compound which reduces the reflection of external ambient light by absorbing much of the external light instead of dispersing it at different angles. Since the external light is mostly absorbed instead of being reflected at different angles, the polarizer does not need a rough matte finish and therefore a smooth finish can provide crisp, brilliant-colored images with the most direct internally derived light from the LCD.

In general, the observer sees light from two light sources: 1) light produced by the LCD itself and 2) external ambient light which is reflected off the surface of the LCD. The objective of an anti-reflective polarizer is to improve the image quality generated by the LCD while minimizing the reflection of external ambient light.

Benefits of Dell TrueLife™

• Crisper images
• Brilliant colors
• Sharp contrast
• Wider viewing angles
• Reduced eye fatigue

Drawbacks of Dell TrueLife™

• Can produce more reflected light in certain settings

Which PixelBright™ screens are like this?

Laptop screens can be high-gloss by default - see this list of our high-gloss laptop screens which are like TrueLife high-gloss screens (listed by laptop and by screen part number) along with CrystalBrite high-gloss screens. Also, we can add the finish to any screen.

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