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Mini-LED: What it Means for Apple and MacBooks and iPads
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Price is one barrier, but OLED can be susceptible to "burn in" when displaying a static image at high light levels over a longer period of time. Since many macOS screen elements are rather stationary (Dock icons, menu bars and icons, etc.) there can be a risk that these elements will experience first short-term and then long-term retention ("burn in").
There are ways to help alleviate this - my LG OLED TV for example shifts all the pixels around slightly to prevent "channel bugs" (the icons in the lower corner that identify a channel) from burning in. But if microLED can be commercially ready within the next five years or so, it would arguably be better to wait since microLED does not have image retention or "burn in" issues as I understand it.
The XDR isn't really using the Mini-LED tech being discussed here. The XDR uses 576 LEDs. The Mini-LED tech mentioned in the article will be using ten's of thousands of LED's. You can see examples in some of the newer 2019-2020 TV's on offer.
miniLED and microLED are fundamentally different.
miniLED is a better LCD backlighting technology with more dimming zones.
microLED is self-illuminated pixels.
miniLED improves greatly on LED backlights, but it is still illuminating groups of pixels, so there will be halos in some situations. It gets nearer to OLED, but still does not match it in multiple ways.
microLED has no halos as individual pixels are illuminated. It should eventually outperform OLED in terms of longevity (including far less chance of burn in) and brightness.
Been wishing for micro-LEDs for a while.
I did not expect a Mini-LED stop gap.
I did not expect a Mini-LED stop gap.
no point in buying anything now till mini led is out, wifi 6, and better cameras in macbook and not that 720p stuff
also 14.1" macbook i think will be most sold laptop
also 14.1" macbook i think will be most sold laptop
I thought this has been largely solved for OLED. Why else is Apple using OLED in their most expensive iPhones if they suffer from it? Users won’t (nor should they) accept it.
Brightness also doesn’t seem to be an issue (though maybe power efficiency is) considering the iPhone Pro can hit 1200 nits peak brightness with its OLED panel.
Apple no doubt thinks they can make more profit with cheaper mini-LED panels if they’re “almost as good” than offering the best but at a higher price.
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Why would you assume the mini-led display reviewed in you post is equivalent to a not-yet-built Apple mini-led display? Don't you think it's a distinct possibility that Apple's *future* mini-led display may well improve on the tech/design of the existing display in your quoted review?
Have a look at an OLED TV if you haven't. Its a day and night difference from your standard Macbook or iMac display
The review for the Q825 says "Motion handling is great and fast-moving content displays with just minimal blur" and notes that it has a 120hz panel. Hopefully this fares well for 120hz Macs and iDevices. OLED has some motion blur when scrolling on iPhones, now.
I'm not discounting Apple's effort here with mini-led displays, but I have to say I can hardly imagine a display that looks and feels (to my eyes) better than my 2017 iMac. It is truly stunning, in my eyes, and I work on it many hours everyday (systems and software, not graphics and video, though). But, the mini-led will use less juice, too, so that's a very good thing.
Thanks, guys. I'm sorry for the confusion. I've gone ahead and updated the guide, please let me know if it's clearer now. We are most definitely not display experts here, so I much appreciate the help on clarifying the right way to word the differences.
Well, typically you don't have phones on all day long.
I hope the huge bezels on the Apple laptops will finally get smaller.
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"Mini LED" is just a rebranded old LCD TV technology. Let's not pretend it's something revolutionary. Like any full array local dimming screens such as the uber overpriced XDR screen, expect nasty blooming around bright objects on a dark background. Even highend TVs that does local dimming better than Apple can't defeat the blooming side effect.
I'm surprised the industry aren't pushing dual layer LCD panels instead of this weak bandaid to prolong the life of ancient LCD.
I'm surprised the industry aren't pushing dual layer LCD panels instead of this weak bandaid to prolong the life of ancient LCD.
You're comparing a low-cost mini LED display versus a mature OLED display. This won't be the case for Apple in 2021.
I always find it amusing that articles (such as this) always tout the mantra that OLED screens are superior to LCD screens and never mention the Godzilla in the room aka PWM.
OLED isn't better for everyone. For some it's a disaster
OLED isn't better for everyone. For some it's a disaster
Only four stars for a display that has perfect blacks lol. The whole table screams "Paid By Samsung."
OLED continues to suffer from burn-in. This has never been resolved.
Not sure why there is this myth that OLED is expensive. It's relatively cheap now, given BOE entered the market with full force to supply Apple and disrupt Samsung. Xiaomi phones <$200 have a 6.1" OLED panel.
OLED cannot sustain peak brightness for an appreciable period.
Mini LED panels are more expensive than OLED because they combine the advantages of OLED and LCD.
How so? And do you think the difference will be as noticeable from a computer screen seen close up as from a TV watched from across a darkened room?
IHS has been in the industry for over 60 years with a matching track record.
Knowledgeable people don't go "Wow, OLED is 0.00 nits perfect black, that's all anyone should care about!" The real world isn't filled with black holes with zero light.
The Apple ProDisplay XDR can do 0.04 nits AND you can see images in deep shadows. That's what having good contrast ratio is about.
If OLED were a good technology, Apple would have just slapped an OLED panel on their ProDisplay. They didn't do all that engineering on mini LED just for fun.
I held off getting the 1st gen MBP 16" because I'm hoping for a good spec bump on this next one.
Hoping for mini-LED, WiFi6, 1080p FaceTime, I'm all in with the BTO 4TB 32GB options.
MagSafe would be helluva bonus, but that's not going to happen.
Hoping for mini-LED, WiFi6, 1080p FaceTime, I'm all in with the BTO 4TB 32GB options.
MagSafe would be helluva bonus, but that's not going to happen.
You people think the camera is bad now? Cause it’ll get quite a bit worse with such a tiny bezel.
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As far as TV is concerned. OLED from 5 years ago is better than current mini-LED.
If you watch TV in a light controlled environment, nothing beats self-emissive pixels. Perfect black really is that good.
I wouldn’t necessarily say the same thing about an iPad because my usage pattern on an iPad is different, but for a TV, I want perfect blacks. It makes a huge difference for sci-fi flicks in space scenes for example.
BTW, while the XDR is a very good display, it is considered sub-par when compared to professional reference broadcast production monitors.
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