Which Screen Type Should Your Next Laptop Have?

The discussion about whether OLED or IPS LCD is better for screens lasted years in the phone market—OLED apparently won. The next battlefield is laptop displays, so let’s see the pros and cons of each contender.

OLEDs Look Gorgeous, IPS Looks Good

You may not be a fan of OLED’s punchy colors, but you can’t deny how amazing true black is. The infinite contrast simply blows away even the best IPS displays.

Because they don’t have self-illumination, IPS panels are subject to something called “IPS glow“. That’s when some of the backlight reflects inside the panel to the front of the display, causing brightness peaks in different spots. OLED screens don’t suffer from that, retaining a more uniform brightness along the whole panel.

On the other hand, as mentioned above, OLED panels tend to exaggerate things when it comes to color saturation. IPS displays are more balanced in that regard. At the same time, IPS screens have better color accuracy and viewing angles than Twisted Nematic (TN) screens, a cheap type of LCD which is common on entry-level laptops and budget monitors.

OLEDs Are Still Expensive

There’s a good reason most manufacturers refrained from announcing larger OLED screens, like OLED TVs (but also monitors and laptops), until a couple of years ago—they’re extremely expensive to make. Like, a lot more than even flagship phone screens. Not to mention, phones are smaller, lighter, and get replaced more frequently, but I digress.

Because of that, comparing laptops with OLED screens to models with IPS displays within the same price bracket, likely means the latter will have better overall specifications overall than the former. You might find yourself having to weigh whether to get an OLED panel in lieu of more storage, or higher performance, for example.

IPS Screens Are Brighter

While OLED panels with Micro Lens Array (MLA), which have brightness levels comparable to LCDs, are becoming more common, they’re still limited to a few TVs and monitors, with a minimum size of 27-inch. LG promises OLED screens with brightness as high as 3,000 nits will arrive in 2024, but the smallest of them has a 55-inch diagonal measurement.

Therefore, if you opt for a laptop with an OLED display, you’ll have to deal with a dimmer screen. That may not be a deal-breaker if you intend to use the computer indoors and away from windows—the openings in walls, not the operating system. On the other hand, if long hours under direct sunlight are your ideal way of browsing the web or working, an IPS panel is probably a better option.

There Aren’t That Many OLED Laptops Around

OLED laptops are still relatively niche, although that might not be true for long. At CES 2024, there were announcements from various brands, like Lenovo and Razer, for laptops with OLED displays. Also, many companies that allow you to customize your build before checkout offer OLED screen options for laptops, even if the base model has an LCD panel.

You will, however, find yourself with some limitations. If you want a large display, say 17″, the only option as of January 2024 is ASUS’s Zenbook 17 Fold OLED. As someone who has reviewed this model, I can assure you its screen is just amazing. But the laptop also costs $3,500, uses a severely underpowered processor, and you’ll only be able to enjoy the whole (3:4) 17-inch screen if you place its (uncomfortable) keyboard flat on your desk.

Another example: if you want a Mac with an OLED display, you’ll need to grab a Mac Mini, Mac Studio, or Mac Pro, and buy an OLED monitor separately. There are no laptop options, since no MacBooks feature such panels.

Burn-In May Be an Issue for OLED Panels

The dreaded burn-in, a “ghost” image of static elements that remain onscreen for too long, can’t be avoided on OLED displays. You can make it less harsh or slow down its development, but, eventually, you’ll have to deal with it.

Some companies, like LG and Dell, offer warranties against burn-in in their displays. They’re not saying it won’t happen, they’re saying it won’t happen noticeably in less than a certain time.

If you just don’t want to deal with the risk at all, it’s better to stay with IPS panels for now. Perhaps, the next time you’re on the market for a new laptop, the tech has evolved enough and burn-ins have become avoidable.

Calibration Is Different

Calibrating a monitor isn’t rocket science, and there’s even a specific gadget to do that. Matching the colors on various monitors—especially if they’re not the same model—is considerably trickier. Doing that while mixing LCD and OLED panels is the stuff of nightmares.

If you work with color-sensitive content, like photography, video, or graphic design, it’s better to establish a single screen—or a set of screens that will always stay grouped—as your working monitor. Otherwise, you’ll need to adapt your sight every time you switch displays.

That doesn’t mean one or the other panel type is more accurate. Both OLED and IPS displays can be completely off or extremely accurate, that depends on how well you calibrate them.

OLED (Potentially) Uses More Battery

Riverdi, a manufacturer of smart displays, states that LCD panels—including IPS ones—are more energy-efficient than OLED ones. Nelson Miller, a company that makes industry-grade circuitry (including screens), claims things are somewhat of a draw in this area.

If you tend to view brighter images most of the time, an LCD screen will be a better option. OLED panels consume up to three times more power while displaying a fully white image, at the same brightness level.

If most of what appears on your screen is of darker hues, though, an OLED display will probably help save power. That’s because, since this type of screen uses self-lighting pixels, the dimmer an image is, the less energy it requires. If anything, that’s just the excuse you need to force your browser to display all pages in dark mode.

In the end, choosing between OLED or IPS for your next laptop’s display is a matter of personal taste, but not just that. Deciding on one type of panel over the other goes beyond which one looks better to you.

You may prefer punchier colors, but, if you’re on a budget, OLED laptops, which are more expensive, will be harder to justify. If you’d rather have a brighter display, but can’t resist true blacks and infinite contrast, you’ll have to decide which one matters most for your daily usage.

You can try and make some compromises to decide on either screen type, or you can try and find a middle ground, too. Mini LED is an example: it’s a type of LCD with thousands of tiny LEDs as backlights, enabling granular dimming. Not quite as impressive as OLED, but with perhaps fewer shortcomings as IPS panels.