Buy OLED Now or Wait? Does 10-bit Matter? - February Q&A

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Buy relevant products from Amazon, Newegg and others below:
LG 27GR95QE - geni.us/nINpaAB
Alienware AW3423DW - geni.us/ymsAf
Alienware AW3423DWF - geni.us/6Pecf
LG C2 OLED - geni.us/7zsSfzp
Asus PG42UQ - geni.us/4tyKzKT
Samsung Odyssey Neo G7 - geni.us/ztC1Q
Cooler Master Tempest GP27U - geni.us/zHJRw9
Asus ROG Swift PG27AQN - geni.us/mkJOM
MSI G274QPF-QD - geni.us/EyRk8Q
Gigabyte M27Q X - geni.us/0EOLg
Asus ROG Swift PG279QM - geni.us/WKBa2VL
MSI Optix MAG274QRX - geni.us/ignGh
How we test response times: • What Are Response Time...
Testing performed using Portrait CalMAN Ultimate: www.portrait.com/
00:00 - Welcome Back to Monitors Unboxed
01:24 - Buy OLED Now or Wait?
04:28 - Will Cooling Improve OLED Performance?
08:04 - Is 8-bit a Downgrade From 10-bit?
11:02 - Does FALD Have a Benefit for Desktop or SDR Usage?
15:10 - Why Aren't There More 16:10 Gaming Monitors?
18:06 - Why Do Monitors Have a Slower Refresh Cycle?
22:21 - Should DSC Be Better Advertised?
27:44 - Is OLED for Programming Bad?
32:08 - Have LCD Response Times Improved Dramatically?
37:04 - Outro
Buy OLED Now or Wait? Does 10-bit Matter? - February Q&A
Disclaimer: Any pricing information shown or mentioned in this video was accurate at the time of video production, and may have since changed
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. We may also earn a commission on some sales made through other store links
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[@sadlerbw9]

Ahh, I remember back in the olden days when I had a 20", 16:10 monitor with a Sony Trinitron CRT with the 'flat' screen. It weighed as much as your average spare tire, but I felt like a hero with that thing. There was something about 16:10 that just felt...right. Plus, it kept the cats warm, and made that satisfying 'Thung' noise when you used the degauss feature!

[@Airbag888]

I must say this is one of the most feature rich videos/Q&A I've seen in a while. Each answer is a gem Thank you!

[@randxalthor]

Thanks for doing these Q&As! Always learn something new. And thanks for answering my question : )

[@jackghnj]

Very happy Alienware DWF user here. 3 year warranty is what swayed me into getting it. I do let it run the refresh cycle almost immediately when it requests it (about every 4 hours) and am pretty good about turning it off when I am stepping away from my desk for more than a few minutes. Haven't had it for long enough to see burn in, but the image quality is well worth the risk. I haven't had a huge issue with text fringing either. Definitely noticeable if I am looking for it, but I don't notice it in day to day work, gaming, and consumption.

[@Clutch4IceCream]

My C8 Oled has over 15k hours mostly gaming, not an ounce of burn in, You’ll be good. Burn in is something that’s horribly over concerned with in most reviews.

[@jackghnj]

@@Clutch4IceCream Yeah I figured that is the case. The experience of using an oled day to day is more than worth the risk, regardless of how likely/unlikely burn in is.

[@bobslayer1285]

Yeah the thing is, while I would typically agree that it's best to wait a bit for more OLED monitors to come out, so far multiple other competitors to dell/Alienware have come out with OLED using the same panel and for whatever reason they're all significantly more expensive than the dwf while arguably being worse. Samsung's new 34 inch OLED I believe is 1300 euros, meanwhile I purchased my dwf for $1000 CAD. LG's 27 inch OLED is barely cheaper than the Alienware and you're getting a smaller, regular 16:9 panel. I expect Asus to follow a similar trend to Samsung and LG and brands like gigabyte, MSI, Acer may eventually release OLED monitors for cheaper but they will almost certainly come out after >1year and will be worse than the dwf. The dwf really kicked off OLED monitors in a great way especially considering that 3 year warranty, absolutely insane.

[@GeneralAeon]

@@Clutch4IceCream I think the burn in scare comes partly from now slightly older videos where someone had tested an OLED tv and left it just on USA new channels and from older phones where it was a genuine issue with pretty much static images on constantly which would be not too different with certain ui elements if you're on a particular application for long periods at a time

[@dirtydard4870]

​@bob slayer Just get C1/C2 for similar price

[@ryandewerff]

I’m dying for a 27” 4k 144hz OLED panel. First company bringing that to the market will change the game for us single player gamers who prefer monitors over TV’s

[@LettuceJuice]

Same

[@8butsideways295]

Same but i hope to buy it for under 600$

[@xkanpai]

@@8butsideways295 good one buddy

[@elirantuil5003]

I wish I had the HW to wait for such a display

[@8butsideways295]

@@xkanpai yeah just watch time makes things cheaper Oled is no longer the newest kid on the block QDoled is superior brightness with no burn in issue All the 1500-2000$ oled monitors are tvs As soon as 27inch 4k oled pannels 4 start getting made oled will drop in price this is how lg continues to sell oled Also my current monitor launched for 800$ i bought it for 500$ its from samsung 100$ more form going to ips to oled seems fair when oled is the new ips 😎

[@cluckendip]

I found your channel over the past month and have learned so much about monitors. Right now I bought the Gigabyte M27Q-Pro from Amazon (about $800 AUD including shipping...) but am hoping to get an OLED later in the future. Thanks for everything!

[@ko7305]

Warchild, refugee and legal immigrant here. kina virus released to fk up the elections...millions dead, billion+ with heart/organ issues...evil know no bounds, 100% intentionally released...just to get one man out of office, one man they could not buy/control. I have seen what communism will do to stay in or get in power. Anything! Chinese killed 30+ million of their own for power less than a century ago. It was a crazy conspiracy theory that FBI smoked Kennedy and now we know it is true. It was a conspiracy theory that kina virus was manmade but now we know it is true. MSM/Big Tech working overtime to censor/ban. This was intentionally released to fk up US election and for the Chinese to get protesters of Hong Kong streets because if Hong Kong goes so do commies in China. Win-win for commies and US dems....millions dead, billion+ with heart/organ issues. Godless people will always create hell.

[@DJflipBlade]

How are you liking that monitor ? I’m considering getting over my 144hz gigabyte

[@cluckendip]

@@DJflipBlade ill let you know once it ships next month lol. love living in AUS

[@mxyellow]

I myself purchased the M27Q after watching their review, such an amazing product.

[@nathanielmobley4362]

@@DJflipBlade Iv had the pro for about month now and I’m liking it. I will say out of the box the colors were kinda wonky but i calibrated it later on. From reading in forums about the monitor you want to do a backlight bleed test as soon as you get the monitor due to some QC issues with the panel. Mine was fine but Iv seen other people displays that have horrid back bleed and need to be RMA’d.

[@CheapBastard1988]

Thanks for answering my question!👍

[@krellin]

got LG C2 best purchase in last 10 years :) my eyes are forever grateful

[@Vilmir]

Programmer/project manager here using a 48C1 as main display for 8/10 hours of work per day. After 18 months, not a single problem with burn in, but I am very annoyed with the auto dimming feature and the lack of luminosity when most of the interface is white. I ended up purchasing a 27 4k for work, especially coding. But I still use the 48 for work because of the real estate with good text clarity. I use it when I have calls, I need to learn things, I groom the backlog or when I work on a big virtual whiteboard.

[@kolysion164]

cool, I had different story, 3 employees at home had burn in after 3 months......

[@razeno1d49]

I've been monitoring (no pun intended) the OLEDs for a while, whether it's the AW3423DW, G8 OLED or the 27GR95QE. That being said, ultimately the price was the deciding factor. All three of these are relatively expensive in Germany. 1100€ for the LG, 1500+ for the Samsung and 1400€ for the Alienware. Then I've seen the LG C2 go on sale for 749€, which was a no brainer for that price and the anount of panel I was getting, including 4k, alongside TV features. I think some of these panels need more aggressive pricing, because why would i pay nearly double for a G8 OLED, when I can get an entire 42" 4K OLED TV for half the price? But the more OLEDs we get, the merrier. Excited for what is yet to come. Thank you for all the Q&As and videos Tim, you're by far the best source for monitors in my opinion. Great coverage! 🖤

[@prostreetcamaro]

TV is fine for non competitive games. Ever wonder WHY pro's don't use anything bigger than 25" 1080p monitors? They don't want there eyes wandering all over the screen. They want to see the ENTIRE screen without moving their eyes at all. Plus the lower your fps the higher the latency AND TV's have higher latency so it is a NO NO combination for anybody that likes to be competitive in shooters.

[@poison7512]

​@@prostreetcamaro good thing no one cares about pros.

[@arcanum3882]

@@poison7512well that’s just not true. The above comment is correct, besides the fact that 27 inch monitors are what’s used by pros now

[@ferpeo]

hey! where did you find the C2 on sale? :P I'm also interested into it hehe. Regards,

[@poison7512]

@@arcanum3882 Yeah the statement is correct but 99% of gamers dont care about how the pros play.

[@ole7736]

These videos are super dense, greatly appreciated!

[@trippexdj5768]

Love you guys thank you for your videos :)

[@Cinetyk]

Great job on this channel. My personal experience with PC tech (and I guess a lot of people as well - correct me if I'm wrong) is that CPU/GPU reviews and overall knowledge get the vast majority of attention - monitors/displays not so much. I originally found Hardware Unboxed for the CPU and GPU analysis, but learning about monitor performance in the various dimensions was a huge wake up call, and it was pretty much based on your reviews and videos about monitors otherwise. These Q&A videos further delve into many aspects that are very interesting. Cheers and do keep up the good work :)

[@ThBlueSalamander]

And right now it's the part of PC setups that is most need of covering. Everything about the market and products and offers are so convoluted unfortunately smeareed in meaningless marketting bs and it's a shame as it's one of the most important aspects of any setup, since at the end of the day it's is the lens through which you see whatever amount of potential fidelity and quality of content you get from the hard work of the hardware. It's kind of like how tires for any vehicle is of extreme importance and has such sway over its performance since it's the end result which is being driven and dictates everything, being the final and only connection to the result and manipulation to physics and your senses as well as balance and requirement from the internal systems, it can control so much.

[@sgredsch]

16:10 is the better screen ratio imo, especially for work and gaming.

[@hinatashoyo2999]

Better to wait The burn in issues are still not fixed Not going to have my monitors 1 or 2 years lol Also micro led feel like a better option - no fan - no weird looking text in Windows - no burn in issues And has Almost thr same performance as OLED

[@absolutelysobeast]

burn in issues will never be fixed. It is an inherent problem with the technology itself. There have now been 12 generations of LG OLED TVs and if they could have fixed the problem, they already would have done that. Micro LED is still a few years away

[@hinatashoyo2999]

@@absolutelysobeast okey are u a wizard 🪄 who already knows what ahead in the future? U dont know shit They maybe going to make a OLED resisting burning But i not going to wait for that tho

[@str1xt]

See you here in two years, after I’ve had fun with my Asus 48” OLED, gaming heaven.

[@hinatashoyo2999]

@@str1xt lmao do that don't cry later when u get burn in after 2 weeks 💀😂

[@str1xt]

@@hinatashoyo2999 Keep waiting and waiting and waiting. you will never buy anything. 2 weeks is a ridiculous forecast. It is what it is. When a new one comes out I will get that and off we go again. I will sell this one to you 🤣😅

[@saxtremer]

I really enjoyed the historical data you presented at the end. Would be cool to see a full video on that. I think people would also be interested whether the prices for good monitors went down (e.g. a monitor with the same response time got 30% cheaper)

[@MotoCat91]

On OLEDs for programming and similar - for those curious - My 55" B9 (That's 1 step up from the bottom, 2019 model) has 11,338 hours of screen on time so far with absolutely no burn, and the vast majority of my use case is static windows with lots of text and browsing forums etc So it's doable, but not with factory settings. I bought a $10 service remote that can access the hidden menus and disabled all the safety auto dimming stuff and also disable eco mode as it's super annoying. But then I configured it so that when gaming in HDR it can reach ~80% max OLED brightness (I think that's 520nits), just because that's the limit of burning my eyes in a dark room. When not gaming, my desktop/SDR brightness is significantly reduced.. to around 200nits ish at a guess. I also use a solid black desktop and hide the taskbar but that's more preference than to protect it, as the inky black screen makes it look like windows are legit floating in front of me. My office is reasonably well light controlled so that brightness is plenty for me even during the day and I expect I'll get several more years still before the panel starts to properly wear out

[@sparketech]

27GL850 July 2019. That monitor is why I started my channel. Was back ordered right away but I got mine days after release

[@matrixfull]

Thank you for answering question from video title first

[@elychamp]

Thank you for this Q&A :)

[@angerissues69626]

I'm so close to getting that 45 LG OLED. Good this video coming out. And waiting I will be doing

[@Archont4000]

Thank you!

[@foobar8478]

I'm a programmer and am seriously considering rolling the dice on that alienware just because of the 3 year warranty for burn in. Will definitely be calling dell up and getting all the fine print for that before pulling the trigger though. Your assumption on dark mode is correct. I've been using dark mode on pretty much everything that it's available for.

[@whatever4533]

did you end up buying the monitor?

[@foobar8478]

@@whatever4533 Yes I did. Sorry for the late reply. The monitor itself is amazing. Only issue I have is every now and then I get some flickering. I've seen this before on my older high refresh monitors and NVidia cards. Not sure if it's isolated to certain ones but setting a custom profile fixed it. So basically running at 144hz instead of 165hz. Haven't had the issue since. I'm sure you could probably get a replacement or something but it's not that big of a deal to me.

[@LukeBroadhurstfilm]

My problem with DSC is it creates visual artefacting when the spec is fished to far (eg 4k 240hz with 12bit HDR) and the only way to stop the visual artefacts is to either disable the advertised 10 but colour, or disable HDR, or lower the refresh rate

[@Eik44]

I have bought the Alien DWF part. Cant wait for it to come.

[@S4WYERonPC]

I'm on the LG 45 GR95QE - it's incredible!

[@PCPAyLOAD]

The only OLED's I know of that you can easily crack into the service menu are the LG C1 and C2 TV's. There you can adjust all kinds of hidden features, including base brightness levels. The tradeoff is if you have a warranty issue LG can see that you've been in there and will likely void it.

[@ZorzGaming]

We seeing eye to eye on most things! Love how you're letting the people know about the different features for HDMI 2.1 - In my reviews (as you'll see on the channel) I've found the nvdidia 4090s hdmi seem to have more features then the 30 series. Either way great stuff! Dig your channel!

[@GFClocked]

There have been many reports where alienware will send one after another after another of refurbished monitors with dead pixels and other issues as a replacement for warranty, and the whole process is really a big pain. So just because it has burn in warranty, doesn't mean you won't have any problems

[@snowdawn]

Excellent Q&A :)

[@davidcrosthwaite]

I bought the old version of the Samsung Odyssey G9 and I love it! I can't wait for a QD OLED model!

[@pashedu_if]

Thanks for clarification about OLED for programming!!!

[@JavontaThomas]

I just want a 32" 4K OLED monitor with a refresh rate of at least 144hz. Once I can get that, i'm set.

[@johnwallace5284]

thats what im waiting for. Wont happen until 2025/26 though

[@jaymacpherson8167]

Thank you Tim, I think this was my favorite series of questions to date. I use dark mode. It amazes me how many webpage builders don’t seem to test their content in dark mode. For instance, colors (most often a dark blue) used for web links in their text often are very difficult to read on a black or dark grey background. Of course, this could be solved if the application developer set a defined (definable?) background color for those automatic web link text color alterations.

[@giglioflex]

That's because you are forcing dark mode on websites that do not support it. Creating a dark mode theme is a lot more difficult then just setting a single color, often it involves creating an entirely alternate theme for the website. On top of that web developers have to ensure that said theme works on all devices and on all browsers. Browsers don't have a unified way of telling a website the end user has dark mode enabled as well. You can force dark mode via extension software but don't expect it to work perfectly on every website.

[@jaymacpherson8167]

@@giglioflex Wyatt, thank you for explaining. I understand your points.

[@lain4231]

Bought three AW3423DW and the AW3423DWF. The DWF is my favorite monitor by far

[@aarala]

'Coming to Australia in March'. Cool, sometime between 3hrs and 30 days.

[@twohorizons3436]

I hope that's the LG OLED, because as far as I know the Sammy and the Alienware are already here.

[@PetrSzturc]

Thanks!

[@Nelthalin]

Its not a Monitor but the Sony A90J TV uses Temp sensors to push the screen brightness higher together with the heatsink. But i dont think you will see major differences if you cool it well and the max brightness will probably still be software limited only ABL might kick in later. Im really looking forward to the 34" second gen QD OLED pannels that might be coming this year. The Samsung S95C TV's from this year will be using second gen QD OLED. I hope the MSI monitor will also use a second gen panel.

[@xXxPepeCxXx]

I bought the alienware 34" a couple of weeks ago, programing with vim on dark theme. Lets see how burns are in the future. For now at least im very happy with the monitor, the text is clear and the blacks are awesome coming from a va panel

[@GraveUypo]

cool thing about oled is that when you film it it looks as good as it does in person, if you watch it in an oled screen. that was something that always bothered me with lcds, which have off-screen footage just south of garbage.

[@Petch85]

31:00 I think you can reduce burn-in by reducing the brightness of your OLED. Thus if you are sitting in a bright office you will need higher brightness but if you are in a dark corner you could reduce brightness when programming.

[@tablettablete186]

Me using OLED light at 0 in a pitch black room: "True 😎"

[@photonboy999]

You REALLY do not want an OLED screen of any type in a room that's very bright at all.

[@bumperxx1]

U can reduce your burn 🔥 in by having a 2nd monitor for web site youtube discord ect.... keeping only video content on the oled you are fine. I believe Wendell and Linus used a c8 lg oled 48inch with older burn in technology and they used it as main screen with 4 box windows 🪟 open 24 7. They got burn 🔥 in bit that because they didn't have 2nd monitor

[@bumperxx1]

@Jeffrey Photonboy false I got my old right next to the window 🪟 behind me to the left and only problem i have is reflections. I can see just fine but reflections are more of and issues

[@vigilant_1934]

@@bumperxx1 So you need to buy another monitor just to use the first monitor? Not everyone has room for a dual monitor setup (I sure don't since the widest desk that can fit in my office space in my apartment has to be less than 50 inches).

[@CataclysmZA]

I am constantly amazed by how much stuff Tim remembers for monitors.

[@justanotherlikeyou]

I have the Alienware AW3423DW and it's the best upgrade I've made in years. Such an amazing display

[@ravenwda007]

Indeed it is. Mine fried itself however. Tried to rapidly draw a large amount of power due to manufacturer defect that took some time. DELL sent a replacement in better condition and much newer firmware. So win win 😅

[@iainh]

15:11 - Re: 16:10 - my current monitor is 1440p, however my previous monitor was an Asus Proart 1920*1200 monitor and it was glorious. Unfortunately, the backlight went out and was deemed non-economic to fix it so I had to let it go. I really wish 16:10 was more popular as that little extra vertical height really makes a difference.

[@Jomi91]

Talking about 1610 aspect at 1610 timestamp.

[@FiveFiveZeroTwo]

1440p > 1200p so you do have the extra vertical height don't you? If you want even more, there's 2160p..

[@mauritos100]

I am still on dell 2412m 1920x1200,was checking dell 2560x1600 but they are expensive,thinking to buy huawei mateview 3840x2560,its much less expensive 500 euro, in the end will maybe by 2560x1440 for no more than 350 euro,or wait for oled monitors price to drop.

[@FiveFiveZeroTwo]

@@mauritos100 1600p and 2560p are vastly different resos.. what exactly are you looking for? Why not just 31" 3840 x 2160?

[@mauritos100]

1600p=2k, 2560p=4k, 31" 3840 x 2160 4k,4k monitors are to expensive,and i am still on gtx 1060 6gb,maybe will buy rtx 3080 10/12 gb used,than i will maybe buy 2560x1440 gaming monitor,or will stay on my monitor even if i buy rtx 3080,as said above will not spend more than 350 euro for 1440p,was thinking for ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQZ?? 331 euro in my country.

[@Rosaslav]

Text clarity is my main concern with OLEDs. I already returned monitor with VA panel in the past because of that color fringing around text. Even though I primarily game on my pc I still read a ton of text and it was very unpleasant experience for me with this issue.

[@dewjustin]

The text is really blurry on these new OLEDS, at least the Alienware UW’s. I tried one and retuned it the next day. People will argue and defend them to the death saying there’s no text clarity issue or difference but if you’re sensitive to that kind of thing, skip these monitors altogether.

[@Duracellmumus]

The window elements has a same defocused aperence as the text has. Killing my eyes

[@DDD-xx4mg]

Enjoying the Alienware QD Oled for now, will upgrade when they make a 5120x2160 or slightly larger for more vertical height @ 160ppi OLED

[@coolvinay]

Watching this on the C2 42. My Thanks to all the people who tempted me into buying one. Am I worried about burn-in? Absolutely, but hopefully it does not happen soon and I am being careful.

[@benjaminoechsli1941]

Might be fun to come back to this comment in a couple years and see how things stand!

[@TenaciousTomato]

I’m not worried at all about burn in. My first gen CX has been perfect over almost 3 years. I think it’s way overblown if you don’t leave it on a static screen 8 hours a day.

[@MillennialPatriot]

Almost always wait for more competition to arrive.

[@breeminator]

Re DSC I'm one of the people who fell into the trap the person asking the question is talking about. DSC is an absolute nightmare because you can't use custom resolutions with it, I would never have bought the monitor I did if I'd known I wouldn't be able to use custom resolutions with it. I agree with the person who asked the question, this is something that should be highlighted in reviews of monitors where they can only achieve their highest specified resolution and refresh rate if DSC is used. However, I assume this is actually just a software limitation in drivers, so it would no longer be an issue if Nvidia made their drivers support these features when DSC is used. I don't know if AMD GPU users have the same problems.

[@Poxtor]

Well got myself an LG C2 42inch on sale, not regretting it, it is the most epic buy i have done in a long time, HDR in games with OLED is awsome and the blacks on a TV is way better than on the mat coated on monitors. I have bought light blocking curtains from ikea. so no sun light is gonna spoil stuff for me, but as for now the natual light is not bothering at all.

[@bumperxx1]

I jumped on a cx lg 48ich oled gsyinc 120hertz hdmi 2.1 all in 2020 with a new 3080ti I NEVER LOOKED BACK AND ZERO BURN 🔥 IN because I use 2 other monitors for web content and discord ect ect. The oled TV only gets video content and games well over 8hr a day or every other day. These people having reservations are missing out

[@Poxtor]

@@bumperxx1 Could not agree more :) one more thing that is nice, is that when the display is a tv you can use it as such, i know it sounds stupid, but it is realy nice, and when i one day replace it it is going to be placed in my sons room, so he can enjoy it :) for his kids movies and stuff like

[@bumperxx1]

@Poxo that's what I said.... if this doesn't work out I will just put the TV in bedroom and let it rot or 1 of my kids rooms. But.... thanks to me I did my research. I found out the cx was a new chip and had new features like pixel shift and dimming to what I mite add I do hate when iam in a game it dims down and iam not afk but looking at stuff in the game but u move and inches and it kicks back up to full POWER of color and brightness. N e ways I am just glade because I was going to buy that stupid stupid stupid asus 34inch 200herts 1440p led isp with crappie 550 light zones that still get halo halo effects around the mouse when your on a black or dark environment in games like cyberpunk or control even tomb raider... dark games so glade I have the oled. Not to mention the true 0.000000003 input output lag true MS 0.01 over all leds micro leds ect ect. I know it's only been since 2020 but best decision I ever made. Also that asus monitor was 1200bucks the TV was 1300bucks but I got it few months into 2020 so I took a early adoption fee to what iam just fine about I have gotten so much time on this thing and it doubleds as a TV from view the kitchen to computer desk.

[@kolysion164]

sadly 120hz is too much low, I use xg32uq and at 160hz I feel good, at 120hz it's too much low

[@Poxtor]

@@kolysion164 i have an msi 4k 144hz monitor allso. For me it Make no difference 144 or 120 Hz. And I could not think that the jump from 144 to 160 hz would make Any difference to me either. If i played cs go or stuff like that i would go with an 240 or 360 Hz, but I play games like darktide, ser of thieves and rpg's/mmos so the lg c2 is more than enough for me, and aften i have tried gaming on oled i have an Hard time Even going back to a lcd panels. Maybe a mini led panel though

[@LunchThyme]

I'm starting to wonder if we have micro-LED on the horizon to look forward to as well. OLED but brighter and without the burn in!

[@pomps8085]

yeah after waiting for OLED, im thinking this might be the best option

[@Nelthalin]

And sadly a astronomical price 😢 but i do agree tech wise its the future.

[@Tconl]

It'll be a lil while before its usable for TV's. Then it's also going to be insanely expensive. Then it'll be a while before it'll be cheaper and by that point it will be used for smaller panels and then after that for monitors. I'll be looking for mini-led for my next monitor and by the next monitor micro might be an option.

[@absolutelysobeast]

Micro LEDs have been "on the horizon" for years now. Buy something and be happy with the performance it gives you now and until you replace it. PC tech is changing so fast you will always be not the newest and best unless you upgrade every 9 months. Mini LEDs like the viewsonic 4K 144hz HDR1400 monitor are like 2500 dollars US right now, Micro LED is several years off probably

[@mikep9418]

I have a Samsung QN90A which uses mini-led and the HDR experience is excellent. Micro-LED would blow oled's out of the water!

[@jeremiaspensotti1786]

Really wished we get a 38 inch ultra wide oled in the near future. That size is way too nice for productivity and gaming

[@XTSonic]

And there is the 49" super ultra wide for you already

[@Lead_Foot]

I'm waiting for the few 2nd gen qd OLEDs coming this year. You can relax the ABL on LG TVs through the service menu, though this voids your warranty.

[@Cowclops]

The screen closeup at 29:12 shows that cleartype isn't disabled. The only reason its fringing is because its not disabled and the LG RGBW subpixel arrangement is actually RWBG so neither RGB nor BGR will work correctly. Turn cleartype completely off (requires registry edit) and it will look great.

[@davidian2401]

For the concerned programmer. I'm myself a developer and have been rocking an LG C2 42' for 6 months now. Just bring the brightness down and you'll be fine (like 10%, believe me, it's more than enough). No burn in whatsoever and I don't treat the screen in any special way. The only measure I do is a random background. Fixed taskbars and everything.

[@myroslav6873]

My C1 burned in after 8 months of 12+ hours of use (8-9 hours of coding + my wife playing the same game afterwards), after 1 year it became unusable, so I replaced under warranty that explicitly covers burn in.

[@davidian2401]

@@myroslav6873 what brightness level were you using?? I think it's important to take it down a notch to be on the safe side if you are using static content (coding, same games, etc). But that's it.

[@myroslav6873]

@@davidian2401 There are a few brightness settings, SDR, HDR, pixel brightness. I reduced them all, so none were at max.

[@natenate33]

i love that you guys are so much faster than rtings and honestly a video just does so much more. not kidding when i say this, i bought the DWF oled the day you guys released the review. and i definitely dont regret the purchase, not only is it one of the best/most accurate out of box panels out there but its also the best gaming panel as of right now in my opinion (tied with the 240hz lg 27in panels). one more thing ive tried my panel in 8, 10 and 12 (10+dithering) and if i see a gradient, i normally see it in all of them. i think 8 + dithering is enough for almost everything cause if a gradient is visible in that i have a feeling its gonna be visible in 10 too. just limited by the content

[@reak9883]

Hey, doesnt burn in cocern you with static UI elements?

[@natenate33]

@@reak9883 not exactly. I hide my task bar and desktop files but that's about it. It'll probably start to noticeably burn in at the 2 year mark but I'll just send it to Alienware and get a new one cause it's got a 3 year burn in warranty

[@staiain]

I've found DSC to be opposite, menaing my 3 meter hdmi cable worked fine with 4k144hz 10 bit (dsc because out of hdmi spec), but if I tried to select 4k120,4k60 etc. i got no signal on my tv because of 40gbit FRL was too much for that cable to handle, so clearly DSC can in some cases use far less bandwidth.

[@colbyconner3206]

Yeah, it’s meant to reduce bandwidth used. I think why people give it a bad rap is two fold. One, there are a lot of little bugs and artifacts with it. Two, because the monitor that uses it is likely very fast to begin with, even with DSC it still needs high bandwidth and quality cables so people blame the wrong thing when it doesn’t work.

[@Donilan]

The biggest question for me is why monitors just now started to go oled ? Smartphones have had oled screens since 2016? TVs have had it a long time, watches, tablets, laptops and so on... I mean even my 4 year old toothbrush and my air fryer have oled displays

[@sergiogonzalez6986]

Lg c1 owner . 55 inch. Casual gamer some weekends 13 hours total give or take. No burn in. I don’t plan on buying another tv type (led, mini led,edge lit etc) also waiting on a good oled monitor deal. Picture quality is immaculate

[@Battler624]

The problem with OLED monitors for me is the lack of versatility & Panel issues (pixel arrangement). For example, I want the monitors to support certain HDR standards (Dolby Vision + HDR10+) and higher brightness (HDR trueblack 600+)

[@geiers6013]

Cooled Oled Tvs like the G2 also have higher full screen brightness. Not so much for monitors.

[@is-sam]

Thank you, as a programer I found my answer here, I had bought the LG OLED monitor and cancelled my order to get the IPS one.

[@KeepAnOpenMind]

How is it going?

[@is-sam]

@@KeepAnOpenMind with the IPS monitor ? Great so far

[@CasepbX]

Bought me an LG CX 48" in July 2021 and it's been awesome with zero burn in issues. But I do want something smaller like a 42", but I also don't really want a TV anymore. So I'm waiting for a 42" OLED monitor to come out that's 4K and 120hz.

[@Takashita_Sukakoki]

you do know that exists right?

[@WinnieBlue]

I adopted OLED as early as I commented on this video. Zero regrets.

[@RadialSeeker113]

Too early to say with burn in. I don't want my $1000 monitor burnt in after 3.5 years. Once 3.5 yrs have passed only then will you be able to regret it.

[@aeropb]

@@RadialSeeker113 if mine gets fucked up ill just buy another

[@absolutelysobeast]

@@RadialSeeker113 The OLEDs are going to burn in a whole lot faster than 3.5 years, im sorry to break it to you. The manufacterer (LG) only offers a 2 year warranty and that DOES NOT cover burn in at all. That should tell you all you need to know right there. All that being said, an OLED may still be my next monitor. If you havent seen one in person you wouldnt understand. Its almost impossible to go back to any other screen type

[@GewelReal]

@@absolutelysobeast gotta take care of your OLED then

[@Jeff.55649]

​​@@RadialSeeker113 to early LMAO 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@MrDante134]

I have the Samsung Oled g8 (I've had it for a week now) and it is absolutely the best monitor I have used. My main issue is I just watched an LTT video on OLED monitors and he said OLED monitors over time lose it's native brightness faster than LCD screens. So for how much OLEDs cost I'm not sure if I want to commit to something I'd have to leapfrog from one $1500 monitor to another.

[@mario_luis_dev]

I’m a software engineer WFH, and I also game a lot. I can say, from my own experience, that the text clarity on the AW3423DW is more than good enough. The text may not be as crisp as the retina display on my MacBook Pro, but it does look good enough. At no point I’ve been looking at the monitor and thinking of switching to my laptop for better text clarity

[@alexanderpressler5364]

but would you prefer a 5k oled studio display or do you say the dell oled is enough for me ?

[@AdamFJH]

I'm a developer too with an AW3423DW and I don't have any issues with the text clarity as well. My only issue with this monitor is the micro stutter in really dark scenes in games which makes gsync unusable for me with this monitor.

[@Slizzo82]

Hopefully MS updates clear text to be aware of the pixel orientation for current OLEDs.

[@mario_luis_dev]

@@AdamFJH not sure which micro stutters you're referring to. Absolutely not an issue on my end. Perhaps your unit is defective? haven't seen that myself nor heard anyone mention it before you

[@AdamFJH]

@@mario_luis_dev Games with really dark scenes with g-sync on causes vrr flicker. I'v seen other people with this issue online and some get their aw3423dw replace with models with updated firmware but i've never found out if that fixes the issue.

[@JonnnyFour]

I’m personally going to wait. I have 2 OLED TV’s that have 10 bit panels and HDR with Dolby Vision. The monitors with less features cost more per inch. It just seems like they aren’t releasing all the best features they have in the TVs, just so they can do it down the road and charge even more.

[@simonrockstream]

hows the burn-in?

[@JonnnyFour]

@@simonrockstream On my TV's? I don't have any. The c8 is the oldest from late 2018 and the c1 is from early 2022. Edit with more information. I game on the c1 most of the time and the c8 is in the home theater and used for movies.

[@valkyuri1379]

i think for the use cases oled excels at its definitely worth buying for a gaming monitor. if you do mixed usage there is NOTHING wrong with having a second monitor that is more suitable to that task....i guess some people have limited desk space ect.. but to me a bigger more useful desk that can support a few monitors on an arm, is a lot easier to replace and cheaper than trying to pick the single best monitor for all uses... id assume most people doing really seriously professional stuffs to want 2 or 3 monitors anyway

[@greggmacdonald9644]

I would love a 16:10 monitor again. There is a workaround though: Get a large 4K (like 42" or 40" display) and run it in 1600p mode (no scaling). Not ideal of course, you'll be "wasting" much of the display except for those times you choose to watch 4k content, but at least it's an option.

[@brucethen]

I bought the LG27GN950, it had DSC on by default, wheni first purchased the monitor, I was running a Vega64, it would only allow me to run the monitor at 90Hz ( not the advertised 120Hz without DSC). Turning off DSC on the monitor allowed me to run the full 120Hz

[@alogonomus6486]

I would like to raise a question for next month's Q&A. You are always checking a monitor's performance down to 60 Hz. Since for the last few years VRR got implemented into almost every gaming monitor, I doubt any new monitor would normally operate at 60 Hz. In case the input signal dips below half of the maximum refresh rate for the monitor, VRR simply duplicates the signal, and refreshes the screen twice for every generated fps. So a 120 Hz monitor switches to doubling the signal below 61 fps, a 144 Hz monitor below 73 fps, and a 180 Hz monitor below 91 fps. I doubt there was any new gaming monitor or tv in the last few years with less than 120 Hz refresh rate. Wouldn't be more reasonable to only test every monitor down to "almost" half of its refresh rate, as that is the lowest refresh rate a gamer will likely ever encounter on the actual display?

[@FiveN9ne]

I want bigger screens. 4k or above at 40+. Ultrawide 34" is too short, why are there no 40+ ultrawides. There's like 5 panels on the entire market. 40" 3840x1600 sounds great. Or the 5k2k misnamed screens. We need more of those.

[@GraveUypo]

about users being able to increase brightness. i bought a service remote for my c1 and i unlocked HDR brightness in SDR mode for my screen. i also think that ABL might be temperature-dependant, not just hard-coded. but don't quote me on that. I usually have a fan blowing cool air at me from behind, and that also hits my screen, cooling it significantly. But i wouldn't be able to say if it affects brightness (specially because i use my screen at very low brightness most of the time)

[@nfugitt89]

Wait imo. The LG UG is ALMOST there but not quite. I don’t know if any of the issues are related to the panel, so we could see some of the same issues with the Asus version.

[@markdavenportjr5129]

I'd rather wait until they lower the price a bit. $1k for either a 42 or 48 inch is just a bit much. ;(

[@nikolamataruga1341]

What about glossy glass monitors? Like on some tv's, are there any options?

[@Felttipfuzzywuzzyflyguy]

I'm coming up on a monitor upgrade and have been kicking around the idea of OLED.

[@charlesballiet7074]

be nice to find something with a standard subpixel layout and high refresh

[@theinnerdreamer7043]

Would be interesting to see a video covering monitors for mac’s, recently found out most monitors require down-sampling which taxes the gpu and slows down performance.

[@I.AMWallzy]

But you dont game on a mac

[@venbeer]

I would like to see some high end 16:10 gaming monitors for sure. I preferred my old 1680x1050 monitor and was forced to switch to 16:9 due to lack of options on the market

[@fastica]

I did that like 15 years ago and now I prefer 16:9

[@gucky4717]

Wait. The MicroLens coating? of the new LGs OLEDs bring a lot more brightness without higher risk of burn in. Burn in and cooling are directly connected to one other as is brightness. The cooler the OLEDs run, the higher or brighter you can run them. Burn in occurs quicker when they are very bright or very hot for a long time. Programming with an OLED is bad in a way, since Office, Excel and such are usually pure white in color. White is the brightest color and uses the most power and gets hot quicker, all that shortens the time for burn in.

[@prostreetcamaro]

Loving my Samsung OLED G8 so far. Returned the LG 27" 240hz oled. Fine in games but very DIM otherwise. No excuse not to test the Samsung OLED G8 now in the states. They are readily available. Picked mine up at microcenter. If you were local you could borrow mine to test and review.

[@inizio2911]

Im really tempted to buy the 27 inch lg one with wqhd and 240hz. But getting it 2x is super expensive atm. But I can’t stand having 2 different models. Or should I go with a 34 inch oled

[@boedilllard5952]

I'm definitely planning on OLED - when they make a QD OLED 32:9 57" with DP 2.1 in 240hz - hopefully available 2024.

[@TheMinecraftReloaded]

0:02 Thanks for keeping that take, lol

[@satanspy]

waiting for 32 inch 4k 240hz oled. But just as i waited for a really good 32 inch in LCD there still isnt the perfect panel yet why do companies keep avoiding this size? LG chose to go with a 45 inch ultrawide at 3440x1440? make it make sense.

[@Dudi4PoLFr]

I would love to get an OLED but with my workflow it would be dead from burn-in in few months, so I hope that we will be getting some great mini/micro LED displays this year.

[@SlyNine]

I doubt it. A lot of the "burn in" people talk about is image retention. Which goes away with pixel refresh.

[@RAaaa777]

​@@SlyNine the "pixel refresher" is just burning the rest of the pixels so you won't see the difference. OLED degrades no matter what you do, either is low brightness or high, HDR... OLED has a short lifespan compared to any other led display

[@myroslav6873]

@@SlyNine My burned in after 8 months, after 1 year it became unusable with burned-in elements all over it.

[@bloodwhale]

@@RAaaa777 Yeah that is correct to a certain degree, Although you are exaggerating how short the lifespan is. People usally upgrade their monitors once every 5 years or so, OLED pannels will last that long unless you really test the pannel and try to burn it in. I have had an OLED TV which my father uses to watch news and has static logos on it for years, still not a sign of burn in issues.

[@absolutelysobeast]

@@SlyNine you may be misinformed. using a monitor like this with static images on screen for 6 or 8 even 10 hours a day will absolutely see burn in in less than 1 year. and Image retention is not the same as burn in (which you seem to know). Image retention is not what people are referring to as burn in. Im an OLED user and have been for the last 2 years. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pIDGfZSplrd2sLs FIFA started showing signs of uniformity issues after only 800 hours. So if he is using this monitor 8 hours a day, thats 3 months my dude. CNN started showing signs around 2500 hours. at 8 hours a day, thats only 330 days or 11 months. CNN at only 200 nits brightness started issues around 3500 hours. So even a TV close to the current LG monitors brightness will still only in theory last 1 and a half years at 8 hours usage per day.

[@Horned26]

Using c2 oled 42”..waiting for 32” oled 4k -144hz or more ! 240 welcome

[@th3fall0f3den]

I think I'll be getting a mini-led monitor over OLED/QD-OLED due to burn-in and brightness. I'm already used to IPS screens, so having use cases where I turn FALD on/off seems more ideal to me than babying an OLED display.

[@Island_Bag]

Fair point, I’d only buy FLAD if it’s 1000+ zones

[@paulw3231]

I would have to agree that a 16:10 aspect ratio is great! Back in the day I owned a Dell monitor with that aspect ratio. It doesn’t seem like much but it was very nice and noticeable.

[@Zombiesmoker]

21:9 is the way to go

[@The1commenterguy]

Gonna be waiting for mainstream brand 27-28" 4k Oled or glossy mini led

[@pierrepracht]

4k OELD with bigger font, black theme and greater viewing distance : very nice for coding. Aliasing isn't a problem with higher resolution. Sitting back is the solution.

[@DarudeSandworm]

Very interested in QD-OLED but waiting at least until a next gen. I stil have concerns about burn in and the fairly low non hdr brightness.

[@ravenwda007]

It’s bright enough in sdr. 27% brightness is not as bright as 27% on an LCD

[@th3orist]

When it comes to OLED Monitors, for me it's pretty simple. I need my Gaming monitor to be 4k but 1) i don't like sizes of more than 32" on my desk and 2) i need more than 144hz on them because i already have a 32" IPS 160hz 4k gaming monitor. So ideally my next monitor upgrade would be 32" OLED 4k@165 or 240Hz. But it seems to me that we are still in the infant shoes of oled gaming monitors hence why they are still 'only' 1440p.

[@Szergej33]

I use an Alienware DWF for programming and gaming. Also I run the pixel refresher all night, and I keep the brightness around 40% and use dark mode wherever possible. I use small text (12px) and no ui scaling on Windows (100%), and I cannot see the artifacts at all. With WOLED I was seeing the blur, but colour fringing is not too noticeable for my eyes. Your mileage may vary. When I'm gaming I turn on the HDR and the brightness, but for coding I don't need it to be extremely bright, which might also help with burnin. It has the 3 year warranty, which I consider to be good enough.

[@Ziplock9000]

Does turning on 10-bit mode on in a graphics card use more VRAM and or more GPU power?

[@homawong]

What do you think about the KTC G42P5? It has KVM on top of PG42UQ. That's the last piece missing for me.

[@jolness1]

Re: oled on text, I tried the Alienware QD oled and text fringing was rough on windows and macOS (have to be able to do iOS apps). I tried it for a couple weeks and it bothered me enough that I returned it personally.

[@colinjapp6468]

Great Video, Subscribed, off to play some fps on my trusty legion y27gq-25 🍺

[@ILAN.Y]

From my experience 10bit for gaming is not necessary as there is basically no difference but actually for content consumption it can make a really big difference with compressed content like Netflix. I remember watching a dark scene and all the details in the dark looked like pixeled crap, but when I switched to 10bit it looked much better and it was very easy to tell the difference.

[@pascalfilion3518]

Honestly 10 bit games needs to be implemented by the game creator. There are very phew games that support 10 bit so even if you have a true 10 bit monitor , the game would still play in 8 bit.

[@RCmaniac667]

Sounds like bitrate issue

[@ILAN.Y]

@@RCmaniac667 Maybe, but the fact stands that changing from 8bit to 10bit got me from can't tell what I'm seeing in dark scenes due to visible banding and pixelation together, to seeing much more clearly. That's on Netflix and in a dark room.