[mrboat]

I see many comparisons between technologies but I never find a comparison on how good or bad OLED is for surging the internet, using 3D applications, video and image editing… I am genuinely curious but I couldn’t find too many comments about it.

Could someone throw some light?
Should someone who works with code and 3D apps consider OLED?

[PCM2]

Hi mrboat,

The main issue with using OLED monitors for productivity is the risk of burn-in when displaying static content for a long period of time. They could certainly work well for such uses if; you’re prepared to take that risk (or use any warranty the monitor comes with should you suffer), are happy to use (at least some of) the various mitigation measures that are included with most recent OLED screens or can spread your work out to allow the monitor to at least run its refresh cycle every ~4 – 6 hours . I’ve used QD-OLED screens for mixed use including productivity myself for around 3 years now (over 2 with the AW3423DW and now onto the AW3225QF which I’ve been using as my main monitor for nearly a year). I have enough breaks in my day so they can run their pixel cleaning cycles and I make sure Windows turns the screen off shortly after the PC is no longer in use. I haven’t experienced burn-in. Tim from Monitors Unboxed is running his own more rigorous test of a QD-OLED with a heavier productivity workload.

There are some key characteristics of these screens which are worth paying attention to when it comes to using them for productivity, covered at various points in our reviews of such models:

– Text clarity is impacted by fringing issues. These issues are mitigated significantly by a higher pixel density, I find the ‘4K’ UHD QD-OLEDs particularly strong in this area. I’m currently using the MSI MAG 272URX which really hammers this home.

– These high pixel densities and the use of glossy screen surfaces on most of the QD-OLEDs provide exceptional overall clarity to text and suitably high resolution image content.

– Their exceptional contrast can give a nice inky, distinct and well-defined look to text (and image material) which some people enjoy. This advantage is less apparent in brighter rooms due to screen surface characteristics, particularly the ‘lightening up’ on QD-OLEDs described in the reviews. Any diffused glare due to a matte screen surface on non-glossy models will also impact things, as they would on a matte LCD.

– The exceptional colour consistency of OLED monitors and the wide gamuts supported on QD-OLEDs in particular (WOLED also excellent for DCI-P3, at least) make them attractive for image editing. A given shade is represented with all its richness and vibrancy regardless of where on the screen it’s displayed.

– Some flat dark grey shades may exhibit DSE (Dirty Screen Effect) whereby banding, patchiness and other striations may be visible. LCDs aren’t immune to this, but I only typically observe it with VA panels. It can be a significant factor on WOLED, much less so on QD-OLEDs where you may observe some minor striations for very specific shades at worse. Either way, this particular aspect is stronger on IPS LCDs – but any uniformity issues with the panel or backlight will cause variation for other reasons there.

– As with most monitors calibration will get the most out of them. I often find the gamma curves can be a little ‘kinky’ on OLEDs and the gamma changes slightly with brightness a lot of the time. Not always to a worrying degree, but maybe a lack of backlight gives them less consistency in this area. I would advise profiling them once you’ve dialled everything in if absolute colour accuracy is important. This would be generally recommended to ensure appropriate use of the gamut as well, either way.

– The ‘pixel perfect’ response time and good refresh rate support minimises perceived blur, which can be pleasant even for productivity tasks for any animations, scrolling through text or moving windows around.

– Most people will find their balanced spectrum (QD-OLED) or adjusted less energetic blue light peak (WOLED) and usually excellent brightness adjustment range at the low end to be attractive for viewing comfort. This is a complex topic, though. OLED monitors are not truly flicker-free as pointed out in that article as they have slight cyclical brightness dips matching their refresh rate. These dips are much smaller fluctuations than PWM dimming would provide, so only a minority of users will find them uncomfortable. But some still do so I need to acknowledge this.

[mrboat]

I see, thank you!
I am afraid of burn ins to be honest, but at the same time it feels kinda bad to spend so much money on high end IPS panels nowadays, I feel the technology behind them has been quite stagnant yet prices never truly went down. Maybe it´s a wrong take, just a perception from someone who is not following monitor technology close.

[Author]

Posts