The ThinkPad X1 Yoga 2nd Gen had an QHD touch OLED. It had reliability issues and was quietly discontinued for the 3rd gen. It's apparently no longer replaceable, you get a whole new 3rd gen if it breaks in warranty.
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Samsung Rumored to Supply OLED Displays for 16-Inch MacBook Pro and Future iPad Pros
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The ThinkPad X1 Yoga 2nd Gen had an QHD touch OLED. It had reliability issues and was quietly discontinued for the 3rd gen. It's apparently no longer replaceable, you get a whole new 3rd gen if it breaks in warranty.
Yeah, this is something I've been thinking is going to happen too -- I really hope they keep at least one MacBook model with a physical keyboard, if this idea comes to light. As a programmer, I can't see that being enjoyable to program on a software keyboard.
So far, everything with µLED displays shown so far is little more than a proof of concept, prototypes. It's still a while until there will be commercially viable screens.
µLEDs are even more expensive than OLEDs, which have dropped in price quite a bit in the last years.
Yes, I know. Thats why it will start with AWatch first. But OLED in iPad is a bad idea.
Marzipan shouldn't affect the switch. macOS, iOS (which is essentially macOS), and the app development platforms have always been architecture agnostic at their core. But yeah, I'd expect Apple to announce the transition either this WWDC or next and then start shipping Macs with ARM 6-10 months thereafter, likely starting with the 16" MacBook Pro and the modular Mac Pro (because the only possible good reason as to the delay on this machine is because they want it on the other side of the ARM transition), and moving toward the 13" MacBooks, with the 12" MacBook, the iMac and Mac mini taking the end of it... In any case, the transition will be a good time for them to slim down the number of Mac models as it is somewhat insane compared to Jobs' four-square product lines of before. Even with the Intel switch, there were six products with no more than two variations each (and one of those products was technically a server and not a consumer or even prosumer computer).
I think the Haptics (similar to the home buttons of the iPhone 7, 7 Plus, 8, and 8 Plus) will make it both better to type on than you fear, but also better and more comfortable than the current keyboards. But yeah, I'd imagine that they'll probably keep a lone 13" or 15" Mac model for that kind of legacy functionality around for a bit. My guess would be either the 15" or the 13" without TouchBar (unless it really does stick with Kaby Lake CPUs for the next few years...).
What you're referring to is "sample and hold" and isn't just related to OLED, but rather most displays.
Unfortunately, the smearing/blurring produced by sample-and-hold is very evident when displays are run at a refresh rate of 60Hz, whether that's OLED or LCD. Practically all phones use 60Hz displays, even iPhones, despite featuring OLED.
To get around this drawback, display manufacturers can increase the native refresh rate of their displays. You don't hear many complaints about black smearing with LG OLED TV owners, because LG's OLED TVs have always run natively at a 120Hz refresh rate. To make an important point: Hz (refresh rate) is not the same as FPS (frame rate), and Apple's 120Hz touch sample rate for the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR is not the same as 120Hz refresh rate. iPhones still run at 60Hz refresh rate.
iPad Pros, however, do actually run at 120Hz refresh rate natively.
Some relevant reads:
https://wccftech.com/iphone-xs-120hz-touch-sample-rate-explained/
https://www.blurbusters.com/faq/oled-motion-blur/
I too welcome a OLED iPad Pro lineup but I’ll be skipping this for the seeable future since dropping $1,699.00 on the 11” 1TB cellular.
I thought OLED was pretty much a no-go for desktop UIs where things don't change frequently. I can be working with my menu bar, dock, current window, and a few side windows with Messages, etc open for hours at a time. That would burn the hell in unless they've made a breakthrough?
Nice. I’d love an OLED MacBook Pro. I’d also love one that has the 2015 MBP keyboard and built-in SD and HDMI ports. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
OLED technology is dying, hence why Samsung went with QLED with most of their line up now.
Not sure why company starting to use OLED onto more product when the technology itself is proven to be flaws.
Aside from burn-in, the OLED matrix is pretty ugly, and the PWM hurts quite a bit of people's eye over long duration.
Not sure why company starting to use OLED onto more product when the technology itself is proven to be flaws.
Aside from burn-in, the OLED matrix is pretty ugly, and the PWM hurts quite a bit of people's eye over long duration.
Burn in results from running your screen at very high brightness settings for a long period of time. Personally, I never set my monitor or TV above 30-40 brightness, which also happens to be around 120cdm/2 for proper calibration.
In order to experience burn in, you first need to experience temporary image retention. I can't speak to Samsung's OLED advancements, but at least with LG, their 2019 TV models experience 0% image retention even after 10 minutes of static image on screen. That's the first time OLED hasn't measured IR within a 10 minute window, so that's assuring.
FWIW -- speaking of OLED generally here -- I've watched hours on end of static logos and news tickers on TV, and I haven't had an ounce of burn in. That said, LG TVs do come with a slew of mitigating factors to prevent both IR and burn in, and I don't have my TV set to a blinding brightness.
Lol no it's not. "QLED" is not a radically new technology the way OLED is. It's just an LCD with an enhanced color filter to give a wider gamut.
It depends on the manufacturer; it's not inherent to the technology. LG's OLED TVs don't use PWM, for example.
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OLED was never the holy grail for all use cases. It certainly is an amazing display panel technology but with few very significant drawbacks:It's funny - a few years back OLED was the holy grail and second coming all rolled into one.....now it's a POS obsolete technology!
- Permanent burn in risk
- Not as bright as LCD, although bright enough in many cases
- Some people are sensitive to PWM effect
No amount of pixel shifting is going to prevent burn in if the static element is large and is left on for hours on end. Take MacRumors icon at the top of this page. Shifting few pixels will still leave much of the logo's element intact.
Probably right. Before this week, I would have said WWDC in two weeks, but that looks really unlikely.
Who knows? Maybe the display is for an ARM Mac?
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I don’t think anyone’s saying that...It's funny - a few years back OLED was the holy grail and second coming all rolled into one.....now it's a POS obsolete technology!
Oh I'm with you. I have the 2016, used to have a 2013 retina, 2011 unibody. Soldering the parts in was a good move for Apple, but horrible for us. I enjoy the leaps forward, but the what you buy is what you get laptop idea has been terrible.
It's funny.... when Samsung started coming out with OLED screens on Galaxy devices, everyone was saying "Why doesn't Apple use this? Samsung is years ahead!". Now that OLED is commonplace, people are being more realistic about it. "Organic" anything sounds better, but in this case, it does have its flaws.
Apple works very closely with partners. If they are considering OLED for Macs, they are undoubtably working to solve any known flaws.
OLED or not, is a 16" model really what people want? How about a 14" model? The 13.3" is too small but the 15" is too heavy for extended carrying compared to the 13" model. I have a 14" Huawei Matebook X Pro with a 3:2 aspect ratio (which that alone has made a huge difference in terms of viewing space). At 2.9lbs it's just right. Carrying it and my iPad together, weighs less than one MBP 15.
When I think about buying another MBP as as I have needs for both Windows and Mac, I struggle with choosing a size. 4 pounds for the 15" along with always carrying my 12.9 iPad Pro 3rd gen, is more than I want to lug around in my bag.
Something else I truly hope Apple is about to get rid of are the thick bezels. Once you've had thin bezels, everything else looks very dated.
When I think about buying another MBP as as I have needs for both Windows and Mac, I struggle with choosing a size. 4 pounds for the 15" along with always carrying my 12.9 iPad Pro 3rd gen, is more than I want to lug around in my bag.
Something else I truly hope Apple is about to get rid of are the thick bezels. Once you've had thin bezels, everything else looks very dated.
Darth Tulhu
macrumors 68020
easily fixed in software with dynamic night/day cycles, screensaver, dynamic wallpapers, and some new software tweaks
No one?
"And how do they plan to mitigate the OLED burn in? Not having the screen totally static in terms of full screen windows?
We really don't want another 4 years of repairing screens now that hopefully we will get rid of the keyboard issue.... I'd rather wait for Micro LED at this point."
"I wouldn’t dream of using an OLED panel on a Mac at this point in time. Too many static UI elements that could cause burn in."
"I love my OLED TV but I'd never want to buy a Mac with an OLED screen. Ugh. Apple keeps pushing me away."
"I really hope not. OLED is flawed tech and on top of that its expensive. I hope we will use LED until microLED is ready."
"I wouldn’t want OLED on a static screen. Sounds like a nightmare."
It's funny - a few years back OLED was the holy grail and second coming all rolled into one.....now it's a POS obsolete technology!
Yes? According to whom? Some random armchair analysts on an internet forum?
Fact is that the OLED market has roughly doubled in the last three years and is still expected to grow for the years to come. Fact is that many TV manufacturers and computer companies, including Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Razer, are releasing new OLED based devices on the market and have many more in the pipeline. And fact is that the major OLED manufacturers, including Samsung and LG, are still investing massively in research to improve the technology.
OLED will fail in 3.5 - 4 years.. Just missing the 3 year warranty period. Apple will then off the $699 Display repair program. This company is all about their money and doesn't care about the customer.