A good display will always increase the enjoyment of a laptop and improve productivity. Unfortunately it is often overlooked by consumers who focus more on processor power or video card capabilities. The limited demand for high-quality displays has allowed manufacturers to use the same display technologies for many years or even adopt cheaper but lower quality technologies.
Fortunately, recent demand for high-quality gaming laptops has sparked more interest in laptop displays and manufacturers are now fitting their models with newer technologies such as 4K UHD resolutions or 120Hz refresh rates. Still, progress is slow with most mid and lower tier laptops missing on standard FHD (Full HD) displays.
It is understandable why laptop displays receive less attention than other components. Display quality is often difficult to judge, especially when buying a laptop online where technical information is sketchy or incomplete. However, most websites will have some basic information that is enough to get a rough idea of the display’s quality.
Display size
Display size is directly connected to laptop size and measures the display’s diagonal length. The smaller the laptop, the smaller the display. Average display size for mainstream laptops is between 14 and 16 inches (35-40cm) with most using 15.6 inches displays. Laptops with smaller displays are usually lighter and easier to carry around. Laptops with larger displays are usually better for games and work productivity but are not as easy to carry.
Resolution
Display resolution is probably the most important factor in productivity and overall usability. It represents the number of dots/pixels that make up the display image. The more pixels the displays has, the more information it can deliver and the clearer the image. A good example of high-resolution displays is the “Retina” display on Apple iPhone or MacBook laptops, with most laptop producers nowadays offering similar or better quality displays. Of course, not everyone can afford a high-resolution display but if the budget permits, a Full HD display (1920×1080 pixels) is mandatory.
The small square shaped dots are the pixels
TN vs IPS vs OLED
These are different display technologies that impact display quality. IPS and OLED are considered superior technologies and are usually mentioned in the laptop’s display description. Laptops that do not have any of these terms mentioned are TN.
- Most laptops on the market use TN displays which suffer from wide colour variation across their surface, plus brightness and contrast inaccuracies depending on viewing angles. Because of these shortcomings, TN displays are not considered appropriate for photo editing.
- IPS displays have much better viewing angles, colour accuracy and maintain their brightness and contrast consistency across their surface. However, IPS displays have lower response times, which sometimes can lead to perceivable ghosting, although this has been improved on in the past few years.
- OLED displays are the latest technology and are similar to IPS displays in capabilities, but have much better colour accuracy and contrast. They are usually very expensive and only a few laptops use them.
- mLED displays are a new technology with similar capabilities to OLED, but without its drawbacks, such as image burn and increased failure rates. Currently there are no laptops with mLED displays.
- It is important to mention that recent high-end TN displays, which have high refresh rates like 120Hz or better, get pretty close to IPS quality in terms of viewing angles and colour reproduction. However, they still suffer from brightness and contrasts variations across their surface.
TN display (left) vs IPS display (right)
Touch support
Touch support in laptops is often more of a gimmick than a useful feature. But for those laptops that can turn into tablets, touch screens can be very useful when just browsing internet content or watching videos on long trips. It is important to mention that few laptops with touch support also have active stylus support. For graphics work or natural handwriting on a laptop’s display, it is necessary to have active stylus support.
Matte or Glossy
Matte or “anti-glare” displays are best for work productivity and almost all business laptops come with matte displays. They provide usability in almost any conditions like a brightly lit room or while working outside on a cloudy day.
Glossy displays, on the other hand, have more vivid colours and are more visually pleasing. Unfortunately, their glossy surface creates reflections that in certain conditions can seriously affect productivity.
A matte/anti-glare display (left) vs a glossy display (right)
Refresh rate
Display refresh rate is usually not mentioned in a laptop’s description because almost all laptops have the same 60Hz refresh rate, meaning they can change the displayed image 60 times every second. However, there are displays that have higher refresh rates, like 120Hz. These are preferred by gamers because they can provide smoother gameplay. For more casual activities, high refresh rates have the advantage of being less tiresome for the eyes and providing a more fluid image experience. However, because of their cost, these displays are available only on a very limited number of laptop models.
Color Gamut
Color gamut means how many colors the display is able to reproduce. There are various standards that measure a display’s color gamut, like sRGB, NTSC, AdobeRGB, etc. Each of these standards only represents a subset of the natural colors that the human eye can perceive. sRGB, for instance, covers less than half of all the perceivable natural color. Thus, if a display has 60% sRGB, it means it can reproduce only 60% of the sRGB standard colors and only a small part of all the natural colors.
For most office tasks, the sRGB quality of a display will not matter, but for picture/video editing or even watching movies, a high sRGB display makes a huge difference.
The large colored area represents the colors of visible light, the are lined by the black dotted line with sRGB on top, represents the colors in the sRGB color gamut.
matte vs glossy image source: Anandtech
TN vs IPS image source: Notebookreview Forums
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