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radiologyman

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 23, 2011
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I have been waiting for Apple to release a successor to MB12 but it does not look promising in the near future. Moreover, I am a big fan of OLED screens and had OLED tvs and Iphones for a while, with perfect blacks and great contrast. Turns out, HP has an ultrportable with 13.3 in OLED screen, Spectre 360. I have not seen other manufacturer using this size OLED panel, seems to be sourced from limited production run by Samsung. While this laptop has a fan and heavier than MB12, I am thinking about rolling the dice on it to see if an OLED laptop would be the upgrade I was waiting for. 4k OLED screen in a small package should be great for extensive reading and reviewing images that I do for work, I just hope that panel will be uniform.
 
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OLED has fundamental burn in issues. They’re easier to avoid on a smartphone since more screen elements are dynamic but I think Apple’s waiting this technology out on laptops in favor of microLED (and rightfully so). HP is taking a gamble on this one and sacrificing longevity of the display*.

* This is my opinion
 
Lenovo had a 14 inch OLED option in the X1 Yoga Gen 2. It was reviewed well by the media, but when people got it, it had an extremely high failure rate. Lenovo ended up replacing anybody's who failed in warranty with a non-OLED Gen 3.

Just something to be aware of with display options. PC makers have had a long history of putting out half-baked niche options.
 
I have been waiting for Apple to release a successor to MB12 but it does not look promising in the near future. Moreover, I am a big fan of OLED screens and had OLED tvs and Iphones for a while, with perfect blacks and great contrast. Turns out, HP has an ultrportable with 13.3 in OLED screen, Spectre 360. I have not seen other manufacturer using this size OLED panel, seems to be sourced from limited production run by Samsung. While this laptop has a fan and heavier than MB12, I am thinking about rolling the dice on it to see if an OLED laptop would be the upgrade I was waiting for. 4k OLED screen in a small package should be great for extensive reading and reviewing images that I do for work, I just hope that panel will be uniform.
Samsung have had 12" Tab Pro S 2016 and later the Book with 10" and 12" SAmoled displays in 2018

The newer 15" 4K panels found on premium devices are usually Samsung panels

The burn in remarks tend to be somewhat over stated even Dave2D did an extreme test with no issues

The biggest problem is more to do with the color accuracy when calibrated tends to be best at high brightness levels >400 nits.

Currently 60hz is the max refresh but response time is ridiculously fast. But OLED are pushed on the $3-4K creators platform so can't be all bad

If you can afford the option OLED is a joy to view but not so good for AAA games currently where 120hz or greater is preferred

I would not be overly concerned and we are all aware of the infamous de-laminating screen coatings Apple put out for years on so called premium products. We had 2 go wrong.

I would not hold my breath for a 12" MB refresh with OLED even though I would be tempted having owned 2 and my wifes 2015 is just on it's last legs.

Lets face it how long the old MBA had their screens I had bought 6 of them and finally said no more with that lagging screen resolution. So don't expect anything that soon.
 
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I agree that Apple clearly took path toward miniled and eventually microled. Given demanding Apple customers, I expect Apple to avoid OLED on Macbooks. While microled may be the ideal solution eventually, there are still technological hurdles before it's even becomes reality in something smaller then a large TV. I need to check Samsung offerings
 
I think we implemented OLED as the next big thing in screen technology much too early given it's tendency to burn static displayed elements into the screen. I've not personally owned an OLED anything because of that, unless the iPhone 11 is OLED, in which case, egads! No! Make it go away! But yeah, both 4K HDR TVs I own are not OLED because I don't wanna have to deal with burn-in since I mostly use them for gaming with the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro. Well, I also use a Nintendo Switch, but those aren't gonna start pumping out 4K HDR content anytime soon.
 
I agree that Apple clearly took path toward miniled and eventually microled.
I'm interested in seeing how/what Apple will do with miniLED and the MBP. I'm under the opinion that Apple hasn't improved some facets of the MBP's display to its detriment.

P3 coverage is great, but they've not made any improvements since 2012, while PC makers have so many options, 120/144/240Hz, touch screen, 4k, OLED, etc etc. I think they need to step up especially given the complaints lodged against the 16" MBP's display.
 
I'm interested in seeing how/what Apple will do with miniLED and the MBP. I'm under the opinion that Apple hasn't improved some facets of the MBP's display to its detriment.

P3 coverage is great, but they've not made any improvements since 2012, while PC makers have so many options, 120/144/240Hz, touch screen, 4k, OLED, etc etc. I think they need to step up especially given the complaints lodged against the 16" MBP's display.
Don't forget most touch and 2 in 1's also have superior scratch resistance and protection of some sort making them less fragile
 
Got today a 15.4 in Dell XPS with Samsung 4K OLED. Too bad I did not make the jump earlier, the difference is so striking and that it's hard going back to Macbook 12 screen. Blacks are mesmerizing and greyscale radiology images look as good or even better than on professional monitors I use for work. Colors pop and text is way sharper than LCD. I will also get that Spectre 13.3 in OLED for portability.

Even if OLED longevity is somewhat limited, it still worth it for me. Would there be an early break in period when burn in is more likely on static images? Is there a black theme on Windows 10?
 
Got today a 15.4 in Dell XPS with Samsung 4K OLED. Too bad I did not make the jump earlier, the difference is so striking and that it's hard going back to Macbook 12 screen. Blacks are mesmerizing and greyscale radiology images look as good or even better than on professional monitors I use for work. Colors pop and text is way sharper than LCD. I will also get that Spectre 13.3 in OLED for portability.

Even if OLED longevity is somewhat limited, it still worth it for me. Would there be an early break in period when burn in is more likely on static images? Is there a black theme on Windows 10?
Enjoy, yep the extra $400+ option for OLED is a bit of an indulgence, but sure is nice

No burn in period, no light bleed on OLED

I have my taskbar at the top on auto hide, where I think most static icons tend to be so the taskbar wipes the area where say google tabs would be, but thats just a preference I had before OLED

Not sure if masOS would have more burn in probability with static icons as its bar/ribbon placement seems more static or less custom options maybe ?

Yes W10 has a dark mode just go via personalize/colours so do popular desktop versions of mobile apps like line, whatsapp etc
 
I have been waiting for Apple to release a successor to MB12 but it does not look promising in the near future. Moreover, I am a big fan of OLED screens and had OLED tvs and Iphones for a while, with perfect blacks and great contrast. Turns out, HP has an ultrportable with 13.3 in OLED screen, Spectre 360. I have not seen other manufacturer using this size OLED panel, seems to be sourced from limited production run by Samsung. While this laptop has a fan and heavier than MB12, I am thinking about rolling the dice on it to see if an OLED laptop would be the upgrade I was waiting for. 4k OLED screen in a small package should be great for extensive reading and reviewing images that I do for work, I just hope that panel will be uniform.

That’s a really sweet machine with color profiles built into the software to get more color accurate color profiles like sRGB. It’s a gorgeous panel and is now being used on the recently announced 13.3” Galaxy Chromebook. Once you go AMOLED, it’s impossible to go back!
 
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That’s a really sweet machine with color profiles built into the software to get more color accurate color profiles like sRGB. It’s a gorgeous panel and is now being used on the recently announced 13.3” Galaxy Chromebook. Once you go AMOLED, it’s impossible to go back!
I did see that Chromebook announcement but I need Windows.

Got 13.3 inch OLED Spectre 360 today. Panel has some vertical banding I seen before on OLED TVs but still so much better than Macbooks I have that I will not be able to go back... It's almost like when I first got a retina Iphone for the first time.

Will check out sRGB profile, thanks!
 
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I did see that Chromebook announcement but I need Windows.

Got 13.3 inch OLED Spectre 360 today. Panel has some vertical banding I seen before on OLED TVs but still so much better than Macbooks I have that I will not be able to go back...

Will check out sRGB profile, thanks!

That’s awesome! I’m jealous. Yeah, it does unfortunately but it’s an amazing panel.

Sweet! Under settings it should give you a profile I believe labeled web sRGB. Default is standard and too over saturated for me but impressive looking.
 
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Would there be an early break in period when burn in is more likely on static images? Is there a black theme on Windows 10?

I was recommended by a friend of mine who is super into AV to try and avoid static images on my OLED TV for the first hundred hours or so but that, it wouldn't matter too much. The individual sub pixels degrade a bit faster when new before they 'settle' allegedly. I'd at least hope that an OLED panel for laptops would be made with the fact that static images will be constant from new though.
 
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I did see that Chromebook announcement but I need Windows.

Got 13.3 inch OLED Spectre 360 today. Panel has some vertical banding I seen before on OLED TVs but still so much better than Macbooks I have that I will not be able to go back... It's almost like when I first got a retina Iphone for the first time.

Will check out sRGB profile, thanks!
That Spectre 360 looks like a nice machine. I'm thinking about a new laptop as my current Surface Book 2 is a bit on the heavy side, and ever since I got an 11" iPad Pro, I don't do much with the tablet/convertible functionality of the Surface Book 2. On top of that, essentially none of the apps I use on a regular basis are dGPU optimized, even my hospital's PACS app, so the extra weight & space for the dGPU is kind of wasted. Windows is a bit smoother when the dGPU is active as the default GPU, but the battery hit isn't worth it.

Was leaning towards the new version of the Dell XPS 13, but that OLED Spectre looks very nice, and at least retains pen input/inking should I want it.
 
OLED XPS I got has a bland design and too heavy to frequently carry around, so will be returned.

However, this Spectre has a striking design and looks like a winner for my needs. It's almost as light as MB12 but with larger screen. Infinite contrast, amazing pixel density combined with capable Iris plus graphics should be good enough for PACS images on the go. Very bright panel with perfect readability in daylight. It really shines, however, in dark environment. Overall, I feel screen is easier on my eyes for extensive use and well worth the price. Next I need to find an OLED monitor for work, several affordable gaming OLED monitors were announced at CES ;)
 
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