OLED displays offer incredible image quality, and now these stunning screens are about to get much more commonplace
Asus Studiobook range(Image credit: Asus)
Asus has announced it's rolling out OLED displays across its entire range of ProArt Studiobook, Zenbook, Vivobook and ExpertBook laptops. This news may not seem particularly noteworthy if you're a fan of high-end televisions, as OLED (organic light emitting diode) displays have been the go-to choice for a premium TV for some time now, but it's only recently that we've begun to see the best monitors for photographers and the best laptops for video editing utilizing this premium screen tech.
So what's the big deal with OLED laptop screens as opposed to traditional LCD (liquid crystal display) panels? The latter is an older, much more common display technology that requires some form of light (usually LED) behind the film of liquid crystal pixels in order to illuminate their colors so they're visible. OLED panels do away with this backlighting, as each pixel generates its own illumination.
The advantage with this system is each pixel can go much darker than a pixel in a conventional LCD display, and can even be switched off completely when black sections of an image demand it - something which an LCD display simply can't do. This significantly improves contrast, explaining why Asus is also boasting the new laptop line-up includes industry-first VESA DisplayHDR 600 True Black-certified OLED panels. OLED displays also maintain their color consistency at all brightness levels, making them ideal for use in any lighting environments, while brightness uniformity is also far more consistent than that of a LED-backlit LCD display.
Asus' announcement also brings with it the launch of the world's first 16" 4K OLED laptop display. This is available on the ProArt Studiobook Pro 16 OLED (W5600 / W7600) and ProArt Studiobook 16 OLED (H5600 / H7600) and features HDR 550-nit brightness and a 3840x2400 resolution, equating to a 16:10 aspect ratio. These displays also boast an impressive 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, PANTONE and Calman certifications, along with factory-calibrated Delta-E < 2 color accuracy and VESA DisplayHDR 500 True Black accreditation for a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio - impressive stuff, and surely worthy of a place on our list of the best photo-editing laptops for photographers.
On-the-go users seeking the best ultrabook thin and light laptop are catered for by the 14-inch Zenbook 14X OLED (UX5400/5401, UM5401) or the 14-inch convertible Zenbook 14 Flip OLED (UP5401, UN5401), which are available with either a 4K OLED HDR display or a 2.8K OLED 90 Hz display. All variants offer 100% DCI-P3 color gamut and DisplayHDR 500 True Black compliance. Additionally, Zenbook Flip 14 OLED's touchscreen supports up to a 4096-pressure-level stylus.
Ben is the Imaging Labs manager, responsible for all the testing on Digital Camera World and across the entire photography portfolio at Future. Whether he's in the lab testing the sharpness of new lenses, the resolution of the latest image sensors, the zoom range of monster bridge cameras or even the latest camera phones, Ben is our go-to guy for technical insight. He's also the team's man-at-arms when it comes to camera bags, filters, memory cards, and all manner of camera accessories – his lab is a bit like the Batcave of photography! With years of experience trialling and testing kit, he's a human encyclopedia of benchmarks when it comes to recommending the best buys.
