The advantages of an OLED laptop are readily apparent as soon as you power it on. With individual pixels that are able to be turned completely off, an OLED display is able to produce perfect black levels for an infinite contrast ratio. Text appears with great clarity on an OLED display, with the incredible contrast ratio producing inky black letters against a bright white background (or vice versa). And the individual control of each pixel results in accurate and vivid colors. So, when you aren't sending emails and reading documents, you'll be able to experience rich colors when looking at photos or watching videos.
While you get better overall image quality with an OLED laptop than with an LCD panel, there are a few downsides. Based on years of testing laptops, I can state with authority that OLED laptops generally offer shorter battery life than LCD models. An OLED display is also more susceptible to burn-in, which is when part of an image, such as a persistent icon, remains visible as a ghostly background no matter what else appears onscreen.
Keep reading for a quick primer on how an OLED display differs from an LCD panel before getting to my tips on how to get longer battery life and prevent burn-in with an OLED laptop.
OLED versus LCD
The biggest difference between OLED and LCD displays is the backlight or lack thereof. LCDs use a backlight to produce light. In contrast, an OLED doesn't need a backlight because its pixels emit light themselves. With the ability to turn individual pixels completely off, OLEDs can produce perfect black levels. In an LCD, the backlight is never completely off, which creates more washed-out, gray-looking black levels.
Along with better black levels comes greater color performance. An OLED's individual control of each pixel offers more precise control than an LCD's color filters, resulting in richer, more vivid colors. Colors really pop on an OLED display. An OLED also offers better screen uniformity and wider viewing angles.
Another item in favor of OLED laptops: their designs are generally thinner. Without the need for a backlight, an OLED has fewer display layers and can be skinnier than an LCD. And with a thinner display, you get a thinner laptop.
LCDs are generally brighter than OLEDs, but OLEDs' deeper black levels and superior contrast mean they don't need to get as bright to produce a great-looking picture. Plus, when you dial up an LCD's brightness, you're likely to see some blooming in the brighter areas of the screen with the backlight bleeding through.
Powering the display is the single greatest demand on a laptop's battery, so the difference in display technology can have a large impact on a laptop's battery life. Even though they must power a backlight, LCD laptops generally run longer than OLED laptops, according to my years of laptop testing.
OLEDs don't need to power a backlight, but illuminating individual pixels is also taxing. Because an OLED can completely power off individual pixels as opposed to an always-on backlight, an OLED's battery life is more greatly affected by what's on the screen. The more pixels it can turn off for a darker image or background, the less power an OLED consumes. And the brighter the image or background on your laptop's screen, the faster it will drain the battery.
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