Learning About OLED Technology
Learning About *OLED Technology
*Organic light emitting diode
By D. S. Mitchell
If you are thinking about upgrading your current laptop, you may want to think about buying a PC with an OLED screen. Pronouce it OH-LED. OLED is a carbon-based semiconductor film layer that emits light when electricity is applied. The result is an amazingly beautiful image. I’m sure you’ve seen the superskinny TV’s and smartphones and PC’s. Well now, the technology is available in laptops.
Graphic designers, digital artists, photographers, video editors, game designers and animators love the clean, stunning images that OLED technology provides. The technology allows fast-moving images because of 120-Hertz refresh rates, something especially loved by gamers and movie lovers.
With OLED each pixel is its own light source, there is no backlighting required, unlike other screen technologies, such as LCD (liquid-crystal display). Because of this the screens produce incredible contrast levels. Those contrasts produce deep, dark blacks, colors on an OLED appear to jump off the screen. Furthermore OLED has the ability to display more colors with greater color accuracy. One manufacturer, ASUS, claims its OLED screens can display more than 60 times more colors than its LCD counterpart.
Another OLED advantage includes a greater consistency of brightness across the screen. An OLED screen produces up to 600 nits (a unit of brightness) whereas an LCD screens typically produces only 250 nits. This technology provides wider viewing angles which is easier on your eyes. OLED’s produce up to 70% less harmful blue light than most LCD screens, because OLED’s use only the light needed without the white backlight.
There are a variety of factors that go into your decision to purchase a new laptop. Besides the processor, the engine that drives your PC’s performance, graphic capabilities a big deal for gamers, storage capacity, and the kind of drive (hard drive or solid-state, and how much system memory (aka RAM) you need, now add screen technology to the wish list.
Prices for an OLED laptop have come down in price recently. OLED’s are however, on the average $100 to $200 more than an LCD, with all other specs being equal. Some OLED devices have ultra-high-definition 4K displays and/or touch screens which also add to the laptops base cost. Those using the OLED display say they’ll never go back. So before you buy another LCD check out the OLED technology before you buy. I love it.