Korean company LG.Philips (News - Alert) LCD, the world’s second-largest manufacturer of liquid crystal displays, has come up with an LCD screen that has a dirt-resistant and easy-to-clean panel. With this LCD, users can say goodbye to the irritating smudges, dust and fingerprints that cloud their laptop and notebook screens.

 

Generally notebook screens attract dust and oil and retain them due to a special coating used to reduce glare, the company said. A second coating to make screens dirt-resistant provides a solution to this problem but it is costly and time-consuming.

 

Now, a single coating can do both jobs, LG.Philips said. The same coating even facilitates the removal of ink.

 

“Our new panel employs a principle similar to that used on non-stick frying pans,” Ahn Byung-chul, who leads development of advanced technology at the company, said in a statement. “Dirt and oil can easily be wiped away.”

 

Notebooks with this new technology will be produced in the first half of 2008. LG.Philips will use this technology first on the 15.4-inch wide-screen panels for notebook computers and later for notebook panels of all sizes.

 

John Soh, an analyst at Goodmorning Shinhan Securities Co. in Seoul, predicted the technology will be popular with students as they often use writing instruments such as pens in conjunction with laptops.

 

The Seoul-based company competes with South Korean rival Samsung (News - Alert) Electronics for global dominance in liquid crystal displays, which are used in flat screen televisions, computer monitors and mobile phones. While ranking second in the overall LCD market, LG.Philips is first in screens for laptops.