Is OLED worth it for laptop?

OLED laptops are making a comeback in 2019. Manufacturers are actually selling them. Were seeing OLED in everything from the Dell XPS 15 and HP Spectre x360 15 to gaming laptops like the Razer Blade and Alienware m15.

But, are people interested in these expensive 4K displays? Are they good solutions for gaming or content creators? I took one of the first OLED laptops of 2019 for a spin to see whether or not my eyes melted with pure, white-hot joy.

First observations

All the 15-inch OLED displays available in 2019 come from the same source. Samsung. So, whether you choose the Alienware m15 or the ThinkPad X1 Extreme, youre buying the same basic panel.

The screen is glossy, bouncing reflections like crazy. I measured it at an insane 570 nits, making it the brightest laptop screen weve ever tested. Its brighter than a MacBook Pro brighter even than the Surface Studio 2. But Alienware ships its laptop with a black wallpaper defaulted, and even at max brightness, I saw my reflection looking back at me.

When talking about OLED, black level isnt really an appropriate turn of phrase. Because the individual pixels can turn off entirely, it gives the impression that you arent looking at a screen at all. The icons popped right off the black wallpaper like they were floating in the dark. The ability to produce a deep black is the biggest single factor in image quality. Its what makes colors dazzle and come to life. Thats as true of browsing the web as it is in playing a game.

The color palette of Fortnite bursts with new energy on an OLED screen. The grass looks more lively and the clouds hover in the sky with an apocalyptic vibe. Fortnite has never been so beautiful. Better still, OLEDs boon doesnt depend on the resolution or graphics settings you choose. The latest OLED screens are all 4K so far, but they still look great when you play games at 1080p.

Alienwares take on OLED is tuned to exaggerate. Color accuracy is thrown out the window at the expense of making the visuals more attractive at a glance. This is not a screen youll want to use for editing photos or video. Fortunately, the OLED on other laptops, like HP Spectre x360, offer better results.

No ones doubting that gaming in OLED looks better. But, does it play better? After all, the real advantage in gaming has to be a performance benefit, and for OLED, thats where limitations appear.

Is there a difference in gaming?

OLED panels might reduce response times. Thats good. If the response of a key press or joystick click is seamless, gameplay will feel smoother and more responsive.

Input lag is a common problem for console gaming. There are all sorts of elements that factor into the equation of overall input lag, but OLED technology removes the delay required in any backlighting system entirely. Pixels flick on or off instantaneously.

So, was that lower input lag noticeable on this Alienwares OLED screen? For some comparison, I cracked open another new laptop the Razer Blade 15 with its 240Hz refresh rate. Both companies offer 4K OLED and 1080p 240Hz versions, so this is less about the laptops and more about the displays.

The difference isnt as obvious as Id hoped. Input lag on a device like a laptop is already low. Youll notice slightly less streaking and blur in motion on OLED, but only if youre paying close attention. Meanwhile, the difference a higher refresh rate makes is immediately beneficial, especially in a fast-paced game like Fornite. That was even more true when I knocked the graphics settings back to medium and pushed framerates up to 120 FPS.

Now that is smooth gameplay.

As of now, OLED is only offered in 4K and so far, that locks the screen at 60Hz, regardless of what resolution youre playing in. When it comes to gaming, well have to wait until OLED comes to lower resolutions with high refresh rates before we can recommend it to everyone. If its a display for fast-paced, action games youre looking for, youll still want to stick with a standard 1080p LED gaming laptop with at least a 144Hz refresh rate.

Its time will come

While OLED might not be a great solution yet for most gamers, there are other reasons to be interested in these devices.

Everything you view on an OLED laptop looks vivid whether thats surfing the web, watching a Netflix series, or just browsing through YouTube videos. Put the LED XPS 15 next to the OLED, and I know which one Id pick every time, even if Im just staring at colorful wallpaper. Dell is even selling them at the same price, the only difference being touchscreen capability. That doesnt mean theyre cheap, but then again, 4K laptops have never been affordable.

The other target demographic for OLED is content creators, and theyll benefit most from the upgrade. For them, image quality isnt just a matter of enjoyment. It affects the quality of their work. For example, the HP Spectre x360 comes with 10-bit color support, so full-featured HDR is at your fingertips.

Being able to edit photos and videos with that level of detail is important, since many smartphones and televisions already use OLED panels. Laptops are where a lot of the content for those platforms are created, so its about time they caught up.