In July, LG and Gigabyte are releasing new OLED monitors.
LG is releasing 2 monitors for design professionals. The pricing lines up with other professional monitors. 27" LG 27EP950 for $2999 and 32" LG 32EP950 for $3999. These monitors are mainly focused on color reproduction. The cable standard limits refresh to 4k60hz. These are probably the most focused OLED monitors for color reproduction in a common size within this industry. They will also reproduce color beyond anything out right now. They are planning to release versions that have built in color calibrators, but design companies typically have their own color calibration hardware. Unfortunately, these are not designed for the consumer market even though these are the best sized monitors we have seen yet for OLED screens.
Gigabyte is releasing a 48" gaming OLED monitor for around $1300. Unlike the 48" LG TV, this will support 4k120 with the HDMI 2.1 cable standard. However, the size is a little large for a consumer monitor. My setup can probably handle a monitor on this scale, but I don't anticipate most people can use a monitor this size.
With the release of LG panels in more consumer friendly sizes, there should soon be the inclusion of consumer OLED monitors in the 27" and 32" as the panels are sourced from LG. Given that the released models are for design professionals, there will be panels that won't meet the stringent design specifications and sold for lower cost.
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I ended up finding a LG 27GN950 in stock and snagged that instead. It isn't OLED, but it was a few hundred cheaper and has almost everything else on my list.
I'm ready when the smaller OLEDs come out though.
Brenics ~ Just to point out I do believe Chris Roberts is going down as the man who cheated backers and took down crowdfunding for gaming.
For 2021 models:
A-series is a7 processor, 60Hz panel 48-77"
B-series steps up to 120Hz, 55-77"
C-series steps up to the better a9 processor, 48-77"
G-series steps up to EVO screen 55-77"
Z-series steps up to 8k 55-83"
Brenics ~ Just to point out I do believe Chris Roberts is going down as the man who cheated backers and took down crowdfunding for gaming.
Brenics ~ Just to point out I do believe Chris Roberts is going down as the man who cheated backers and took down crowdfunding for gaming.
I mean, if someone can game on a 48" monitor sitting on the same desk their keyboard is on, then I wish I had their hammerhead.
You sure it's not a TV? Because if not, these companies are really out of touch with what's actually feasible to use.
Not that the 4K+ craze hasn't been a terrible experience for years on desktop anyway..
Anyway; still waiting for a proper OLED monitor to come to market.. just as I waited for a 120Hz 16:10 display for years and years without avail. A new monitor just has to be ultrawide now, as after experiencing it there's no way I can go back. Unless it's a 16:10 monitor for 4:3 gaming, of course, which no modern display does properly (scaling) now.
I have a 31.5" monitor and can easily imagine having a wider one. Luckily, I don't have a neck problem, so it's not that difficult to turn my head. Not to mention that peripheral vision is a thing, you know. For immersion and with the current state of VR still far from a quality, wide FOV, lightweight and wireless experience, large monitors are a viable alternative.
I have no idea what "4k+ craze" you are talking about, people have simply moved on to the next step in screen resolution - just like they did when moving to HD screens some 15 years ago. It's definitely a huge step up over the 1080 / 1200 category. I've had my 4k monitor since 2014 and not once did I want to go back to 1080 for anything. I don't game on 120Hz, I'm perfectly fine with running 4k @ 60 FPS - resolution, colour reproduction and image quality are much more important to me.
Regarding OLEDs, while their image quality is generally superb, I don't think they will fix the burn-in issue with the current technology. It's a problem especially for gaming. With TVs you generally spend very little time in menus and the image usually changes constantly. When you're done watching a movie or a show or something, you just switch it off.
With PC monitors, you can have your system switched on and idle for longer periods. Leave your OLED screen on several hours per day, with your browser opened, Windows background, taskbar and icons static and you will see the problem very soon.
Not to mention that even when you're gaming, there are usually UI elements always on and always in fixed locations. Even if it's just a minimalist HUD, these things will leave a mark after hours-long gaming sessions. OLEDs in their current state just aren't for gaming, unless you're fine with getting a new monitor every 2-3 years.
Same thing Alienware did with their 55" OLED Monitor - it was a 55" LG panel, with specialized firmware / inputs.
Now, that isn't a computer - so I will concede that - maybe the Windows taskbar would cause issues, similar to the news channel chyrons - the PS UI is a bit more dynamic and doesn't have a lot of elements that stick around in the same place (and you don't sit on the UI for very long anyway on a console). But for gaming, things like UI elements and hours long gaming sessions haven't phased it. My son has definitely put a lot of Fortnite and Minecraft hours on it, not to mention what I've put in on various titles like HZD and P5.
I know at least on my computers, the monitors are set to shut off after 15 minutes of inactivity, with desktop backgrounds rotating hourly... I could, but don't have it turned on - the ability to hide the Taskbar and only pop up on demand, which would be additional protection if you were so inclined, and you can keep all icons off the desktop if you so chose to. That, and there is the fact that the LG OLED panel has a built-in screensaver (fireworks) that starts after just a couple of minutes of inactivity. So there are things to protect the "inadvertently left the computer on" issue that I hear a lot of people talk about. Is it foolproof? No, but it's a lot of mitigation.
So for at least the ... 4? years I've owned an OLED, many of those things you fear at least haven't been an issue, and that's on years old tech - today's panels have better built-in mitigation than my 2017 model.
And even if they were issues and my panel were shot, I'd buy another OLED in a heartbeat... it's that much better than any LCD / LED / etc I've ever owned or seen. I just wish I could get a smaller one that fit on my desk for my computer.
So I would push back on your statement that OLEDs aren't for gaming - they very much are already there. They ~might~ not quite be ready for general desktop use, I can't speak to that, but I can think of a lot of mitigations that make me comfortable enough to try if the right model were to come along.
As much as I champion OLED, because I do like it - I have to admit that burn in on OLED is different than on a CRT.
CRT was just static time. OLED is supposedly overall cumulative time.
How long it will take for OLED burn in to be an issue with a desktop is still unknown. I thought, maybe using a black background would work since it turns off the pixel, but something like the aspect ratio bars will cause burn in. My current 55" OLED is about 3 or 4 years old. I was thinking about using it as a desktop since there is a finite life span for OLED screens regardless of burn-in concerns.
Its like an Oled TV without any of the smart TV functionality and has DisplayPort and USB ports.
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