Everything You Need to Know About OLED Laptop Displays

Sep.15 2022

OLED. You see this word all over tech news feeds and social media pages. Brands are releasing new devices packing this technology, across various product categories: OLED TVs, handheld gaming consoles, high-end smartphones and other mobile devices, computer monitors, gaming laptops, consumer laptops, and even some innovative applications are presented during events like CES.

With all this buzz, you must be wondering: "What is OLED? How does it work? Do I need it? Why should I buy a laptop with OLED?" In this 101 guide to OLED laptop displays, we will answer all these questions and more!

OLED is a display technology that has been rising in popularity in recent years. If the word looks like an acronym to you, you’re absolutely right! "OLED" stands for Organic Light-Emitting Diodes. The "Organic" part of the name refers to the carbon film that is a part of the structure of OLED displays.

OLED devices are usually made of 6 components: a substrate, an anode, organic layers, a conducting layer, an emissive layer, and a cathode.

The main characteristic of OLED technology is that each pixel is composed of three self-illuminated sub-pixels (red, green, and blue), and is separately lit. This technology allows you to view colors on your screens like never before!

If you look very closely at an OLED screen, you will see an array of small red, green, and blue dots (sub-pixels), which form pixels. Each of these has its own light source, and lights up independently of other pixels, engaging different proportions of the three colors to project your image.

When comparing an LCD or LED (both work by the same principle, but using a different type of light) screen to an OLED display, you will notice a couple of advantages of the last.

First of all, the colors on the OLED display are just popping out of the screen! With full range of colors displayed, you will enjoy true-to-life colors. OLED screens are capable of displaying over 60 times more colors than most LCD laptop displays (1.07 billion VS 16.7 million). Color gamut coverage is also much more impressive, with 100% DCI-P3 coverage (compared to 62.5% on most LCD laptop screens).

One color you will notice especially is black. This is due to a different technology being utilized here. LCD screens use backlight to "shine" onto other layers, which creates an unwanted "aura". This relates to some pixels that aren’t supposed to be lit up receiving some light as well. It often causes the black levels on LED & LCD screens to look "somewhat black" or dark-gray-ish.

In comparison, when black color is displayed on an OLED display, the pixels where the black appears are simply turned off until needed, providing you with true black color and amazing 1:1,000,000 contrast.

OLEDs also provide much better color performance at low brightness levels, as pixels do not depend on the backlight. When you decrease the brightness on an LCD screen, you are basically lowering the amount of light that will be reaching the pixels. In the meantime, OLED pixels will be producing their own light to display the colors ─ just not as bright, but still accurate.

While blacks are darker, the whites are brighter! OLEDs are capable of producing up to 600 nits of brightness, while most laptop LCD screens can produce up to 250 nits.

But it’s not only about how well things are displayed. It’s about the whole experience. OLED screens provide wide viewing angles, which allows you to show the screen content to multiple people at once. On other types of screens, viewing from angles that aren’t almost completely straight to the surface can result in an unclear image with lots of reflections.

Finally, thanks to the organic compounds used in the OLED displays, you will be exposed to up to 70% less harmful blue light than most laptop LCD screens. Blue light is often cited as one of the main causes of eye strain , which can lead to the degradation of your vision. Ever catch yourself rubbing your eyes after a long session in front of your laptop? Good chance that the blue light is the culprit!

While choosing a new laptop, a whole myriad of factors come into the decision-making process. Choosing the right display should definitely be one of them.

So who are laptops with OLED displays designed for?

Creatives & content creators

If you are creating visuals for work, you need to make sure that you see exactly what you are making.

The color accuracy of OLED screens is essential for designers, photographers, video editors, game designers, or content creators, among others. OLED displays in ASUS creator laptops do not only come with 100% DCI-P3 and 133% sRGB color gamut, but they are also Pantone-validated for their accurate colors. Not to mention the 1.07 billion colors-rich color depth!

Up to 120Hz refresh rate means you will see moving images exactly as they are intended to be seen by your most-demanding audience. Flicker-less, smooth motion on your screen allows the ultimate viewing experience.

And your long sessions won’t be as damaging to your eyes, with a 70% reduction in harmful blue light as compared to common laptop LCDs.

Professional users

OLED displays prove to be much more energy-efficient than their LCD counterparts. That helps improve your computer’s battery life. What does that mean?

If you forget your charger on a business trip, you can still get a whole working day worth of battery life as opposed to having to wait to get back home or to the office to charge your notebook.

In the battery-saving mode, when you dim your screen, you can still be sure to see well, as OLED screens produce clear images at any brightness.

Wider viewing angles allow you to show your computer screen to more people at once, without all of them standing directly in front of the screen. This is great for group discussions, collaboration, and showing your clients the results of your work during meetings.

Your eyes will also be protected. If you’re noticing your eyes getting fatigued after a long date with Excel or making PowerPoint presentations, two contributing factors are blue light and so-called flicker. Faster refresh rates and response time in OLED displays allow you to increase the fluidity of scrolling, decreasing eye-straining flicker.

The outstanding color accuracy will allow you to review the marketing materials and see exactly how they will look on the digital signage or after printing before you realize something is off while seeing your company’s billboard on the metro.

Movie lovers, gamers, and other casual users

The viewing experience on OLED displays is a pure pleasure. Whether you’re watching a movie on your laptop, playing some games after hours, or using the laptop to entertain yourself or communicate with your family via video conference, you will benefit from the smooth-moving, color-rich image on your screen.

Computers with OLED displays are perfect companions, whether while traveling, or enjoying your weekend "couch potato" sessions. OLEDs are lighter than LCDs thanks to the fact they usually use plastic instead of glass, contributing to your laptops being thinner and lighter than before, making them more portable and convenient. They also use less energy to deliver your image, which is massive when it comes to improving battery life.

Judging from other tech fields, like OLED television or handheld gaming consoles, you would think that OLED-equipped devices tend to be more expensive. Common sense would suggest that the same would hold for notebook computers. And it did, until recently.

Not anymore. ASUS has rolled out OLED screens all across the new consumer product lines: from affordable, stylish Vivobooks , through elegant and versatile Zenbooks, to the professional creator machines like Zenbook Pro Duo or ProArt Studiobook , OLED is the new normal for ASUS users.