OLED burn-in test: 30-month update

dgllghr

I wonder what Apple will do about this for their upcoming (?) OLED MacBook Pros

daymanstep

Doesn't every display technology have issues with burn in? I have a VA monitor that has burn in as well, even though many have claimed that VA doesn't get burn in

himata4113

I feel like OLED burn-in is a solved problem. I picked up the greatest and latest from ASUS 1 year ago and compared to my oled from 5 years ago, there's zero visible burn-in and there's zero compensation cycles (that I can see, which is a huge upgrade compared to previous generations). Actually my old "monitor" is now a TV and all the burn-in from desktop use has disappeared. edit: I put up a very aggressive version of grey which used to expose full on black spots on the older OLED and I can only see a very faint line where there is a full white bar from one of the applications I use, actually I think that's just my vision since I can't see it anymore.

powersurge360

I had the dell ultrawide OLED monitor from their Alienware sub brand. It burned in enough within three years that I was able to get it warrantied. While it was away, I auditioned a miniled Samsung G7 with the intent to sell the repaired Dell if I liked the Samsung. Surprisingly, I found the uneven lighting and colors to be more disappointing out of the box than a three year old OLED panel with burn in. OLED is unfortunately consumable but it is the highest fidelity consumer panel tech you can get atm. The MiniLEDs in Apple’s MacBooks are reasonable substitutions, albeit subject to blurring. I haven’t seen any other non-OLED compare.

bob1029

It looks to me like it might not be worth worrying about this anymore. If you've ever owned a plasma TV you would be rolling your eyes at these comparisons.

pedromoss

I have never had a great experience with OLED on larger screens, whether monitors or laptops. In smartphones, OLED burn-in is much less of a practical concern because of pixel-shifting and other mitigation done by the OS. The use of phone is mostly switching between apps, watching videos, texting, and making calls, rather than displaying the same text for hours so that makes sense. I still prefer IPS LCD for monitors and laptops because text looks crisper, which matters if you spend hours reading or working. OLED makes more sense to me for watching movies and other video content. In my opinion, Apple did it correctly, MacBook uses a Mini-LED backlit LCD, so you get a quality display with HDR while also having sharp text, and you don't have to worry about burn-in issues. There is MicroLED[1], which promises to combine OLED-like blacks and response with better longevity by avoiding screen burn-in issues. At the moment, it seems no major manufacturers are providing it because of cost and other factors. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroLED

Retr0id

I've had an LG B9 OLED since late 2020, and I use it relatively infrequently (maybe like 2h per week on average, mostly movie or TV show content, rarely anything with fixed UI or logos). It does have some noticeable non-uniformity but but only when it's on a uniform dark-grey screen. When it's displaying actual content, it's not visible (unless your content happens to be a uniform dark-grey screen). The burn-in pattern is a sort of inverse vignette, where the edges of the screen are brighter than the centre. Presumably, the middle of the screen sees more action in general.

originalvichy

My simplest solution to this is buying a TV panel. If all your OS-level and panel-level mitigations fail, and any burn-in bothers you too much, just sell it on the used market. I specifically bought an LG C-series 42" OLED TV for my gaming/work monitor use, and if/when burn-in becomes unbearable, I'm certain it can be sold to someone for a reasonable price. They'll likely use it as a plain TV and sit too far away to even notice any burn-in. Might be more difficult to pull off if you buy gaming-oriented smaller panels, so I advise against that.

dcl

Just bought a new ASUS 32" OLED with the stripe RGB subpixel pattern... Looks like I'll have be more careful with burn in than I thought.

Exoristos

At my age or with my history of close screen work, how a screen effects eye fatigue is my only concern. With a bad or standard-issue screen I'll have eye and head pain immediately. For this, I haven't found anything better than high-quality IPS. Maybe others have had different experiences.

mldbk

I have an ASUS ROG Swift OLED PG27UCDM, a 27-inch 4K OLED. I’ve owned it for 13 months now and it’s been nothing but positive. To be clear about my use case: I don’t watch movies on it, I don’t game much (maybe 10 hours a month), and most of the time it’s just a browser or a few terminals on screen. For terminal work, this monitor is a blessing. In a fully dark room, only the text glows, nothing else, and it’s genuinely enjoyable to look at. I haven’t noticed any issues with text rendering either: at 27 inches, text is crisp from 50–70 cm away, and the pixel density is more than adequate. I suspect the 30+ inch OLEDs are where text clarity starts to become a problem.