Should you buy a laptop with an OLED display? It's 2023 and quite a few big manufacturers — including Dell, Samsung, Razer and Asus – all laptops that are configurable with OLED displays. That said, many of today's most popular laptops are still equipped with LCD displays, including every MacBook. So, what’s the deal?
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Dell XPS 13 Plus Read More -
HP Envy Laptop 16 (2023) Read More
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Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra Read More
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Asus Zenbook S 13 Flip OLED Read More
The OLED Advantage
You’ve probably used or at least seen a smartphone or a television with an OLED display. OLED, which stands for “Organic Light Emitting Diode,” is a newer display technology that boasts numerous advantages over more traditional LCD displays. The main reason why it’s taken this long to get to OLED displays in laptops? Simply, it’s been hard to perfect.
Beautiful Picture
Just like with OLED TVs, laptops with OLED panels are able to produce brighter and more lifelike colors, with superior black levels and contrast. The reason for this is the OLED display is able to turn on and off individual pixels, as opposed to groups (or zones) of pixels like in LCD displays, making the OLED display capable of producing a more accurate image. It also makes the OLED display more efficient because it’s not illuminating extra pixels, and in fact can save energy in “dark mode” because it requires no power to show the color black.
Less lag
There are other performance advantages to using an OLED display – most noticeably, better refresh rates. Traditional LCD displays require a separate LED panel for backlighting, which tends to cause lag and motion blur, but OLED displays don’t need a separate panel and therefore don’t have this lag problem. This also results in faster refresh rates and wider viewing angles.
Likely lighter
The lack of the extra backlighting panel means that OLED displays (and thus OLED laptops) can be thinner and lighter. That’s definitely and obviously a good thing.
Watch Out For
One maker
One important detail to know is that Samsung is the predominant manufacturer of OLED panels for laptops. That means whether you’re buying a Lenovo, Samsung, Microsoft, Dell or HP OLED laptop – they’re all going to have a similar Samsung display.
Burn-in
Burn-in has always been an OLED problem. Certain pixels on an OLED panel that are used more often than other pixels, probably because they are located in a more central part of the panel, will become less bright over time and create an uneven image. There are different types of burn-in – temporarily or permanent – but generally OLED displays don’t age as well as LCDs.
Price
The main knock against OLED TVs is the price. Since OLED technology is still relatively new, it’s more expensive to manufacture. And the same is true with OLED laptops.
Who Should Buy an OLED Laptop?
The superior picture quality and faster refresh rates mean that OLED laptops are generally great for gamers. It doesn’t hurt that most of the best OLED laptops to date are actually gaming laptops, too. Still, more and more OLED laptops are getting released which are more creative and productivity-focused, too. They typically make good laptops for video editors and photographers, thanks to the vibrant and accurate screen.
Does Apple Make an OLED Laptop?
No. At least, not yet.
In recent years, Apple upgraded its newest 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros in a lot of ways (more ports, more keys, more power), and even gave them bigger, better displays — but they weren't OLED display. There were lots of rumors suggesting that since the latest iPhone 14 models do have an OLED display, the new MacBook Pros would as well. But Apple opted for a mini-LED instead.
This mini-LED display is a type of LCD display (which Apple is used to using in its Macs), and it can achieve almost the same black levels as an OLED display. There are a couple key advantages to mini-LED displays, however. They can actually get brighter. They're cheaper to manufacture. And, maybe most importantly, there's no risk of burn-in like with OLED.
(Note: the latest rumor is that Apple could introduce a MacBook Pro with an OLED by the end of 2024...but we'll believe it when we see it.)
The Laptops
Dell XPS 13 Plus (OLED)
- Laptop: 2-in-1 convertible
- Screen: 13.4-inch OLED touchscreen (3,456 x 2,160)
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Processor: up to Intel Core i7 (13th-Gen)
- Release date: May 2023
Dell's XPS 13 has been one of our favorite Windows laptops for years. It's powerful, beautiful and, thanks to its touchscreen display and convertible design, it's also super versatile. If you're looking for the best possible XPS 13 model you can buy, the "Plus" model adds an OLED display, an all-metal design (which does add some weight), a longer-lasting battery and a more powerful processor.
HP Envy 16 (OLED)
- Laptop: Touchscreen laptop
- Screen: 16-inch OLED touchscreen (2,880 x 1,800)
- Processor: up to Intel Core i9 (13th-Gen)
- Release date: June 2023
You can think of HP's Envy 16 as a Windows alternative to Apple's latest 16-inch MacBook Pro. When configured to the max — which you'll need if you want its OLED touchscreen display — it rocks Intel's 13th generation i9, Nvidia graphics, 16 GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage. It's a powerhouse.
Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra
- Laptop: Clamshell laptop
- Screen: 16-inch OLED (2,880 x 1,880)
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Processor: up to Intel Core i9 (13th-Gen)
- Release date: February 2023
Samsung's line of Galaxy Book 3 laptops is new to 2023 — and every model has an OLED display. Compared to the "Pro" and "Pro 360," the "Ultra" packs is the biggest and most powerful (in terms of both CPU and GPU). It's also the most expensive.
Asus Zenbook S 13 Flip OLED
- Laptop: 2-in-1 convertible
- Screen: 13.3-inch OLED touchscreen (2,880 x 1,800)
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Processor: up to Intel Core i9 (12th-Gen)
- Release date: May 2022
Asus makes quite a few different laptops and convertibles with gorgeous OLED displays. The Zenbook S 13 Flip is a standout because of its super lightweight magnesium design (weighing just 2.43 pounds), gorgeous 13.3-inch touchscreen display and the fact that it comes with the necessary stylus — no need to pay extra.
