OLED Gaming Monitors Are Awesome, but I’m Still Not Getting One

When it comes to display technology, OLED is often hailed as the king of content consumption. It’s easy to see why, as the vibrant colors and contrast ratio alone makes OLED quite appealing. Yet, despite the temptation, I’m still not ready to make the switch, and it’s not just because of the price.

The Advantages of an OLED Monitor Are Massive

When you compare the specs of OLED against common LCD monitor panel types like TN, IPS, and VA, OLED comes out as the winner or runner-up in nearly every category. OLED’s color reproduction is as good as IPS. Since OLEDs can switch individual pixels completely off to make them black, and the individual pixels can reach a peak brightness of about 1,000 nits on most OLEDs, the contrast ratio is miles ahead of VA. Thanks to the brightness, contrast, and colors, HDR content looks fantastic on OLED, way better than on any other type of display.

Since OLED doesn’t need backlighting, you don’t get backlight bleed. Viewing angles are great too. They’re arguably better than on IPS, which means the monitor looks good even if you’re viewing it off angle.

When it comes to gamer-centric specifications, OLED leads the pack. TN panels are the fastest, as they can reach a response time of around 1–3ms (and no, an IPS advertised as 1ms can’t actually do 1ms), but that’s nothing compared to an OLED’s 0.1ms gray-to-gray response time. This near-instantaneous response time means OLED has minimal motion blur, perfect for competitive gaming.

High refresh rate gaming is also an easy task for OLED, as most OLED monitors on the market today come standard with 240Hz or more, which is probably more than you need. I couldn’t even find an OLED gaming monitor for sale that is slower than 240Hz, likely because it doesn’t make sense from a manufacturing standpoint.

While no panel technology is perfect, OLED certainly comes close. There’s a reason why OLED is the best choice of display if you’re buying a TV. If you want to see what kind of difference OLED can make compared to IPS, look no further than the Steam Deck OLED.

Steam Deck OLED

Elevate your gaming experience with the Steam Deck OLED. Immerse yourself in stunning visuals on the vibrant OLED display, while enjoying powerful performance and portability.

OLED Burn-in Is Still a Dealbreaker for Me

OLED has many advantages, but unfortunately, it’s not perfect. Let’s go over one of the main drawbacks first, which is price. OLED gaming monitors are expensive—the cheapest model I could find is the Cooler Master Tempest GZ2711 (27″, 1440p, 240Hz). It retails at around $400, whereas most other “cheap” gaming OLED monitors are in the $500 to $600 range. To put this into perspective, I could get a larger 32″ 1440p 240Hz VA monitor at half the price, the AOC Q32G11ZNE.

However, price isn’t the main reason I didn’t buy an OLED—I don’t mind spending more if it means I’d get a significantly better display. No, the main reason that put me off OLED is burn-in. Burn-in is a type of permanent image retention caused when pixels show the same elements over a prolonged period of time.

A desktop PC has to display numerous static interface elements in normal use, such as the taskbar, the web browser interface, and even HUD elements in games. Since my gaming PC setup also doubles as my work PC, my monitor has to spend many hours displaying the same elements. I don’t want to risk destroying a beautiful $500 OLED panel by using it for 8 hours a day just for work, and I have no interest in buying multiple expensive monitors and figuring out where to put them all on my tiny desk.

It’s worth noting that there are several ways to prevent burn-in, such as hiding the taskbar, occasionally moving the web browser window, and setting the screen to turn off after a few minutes of inactivity. Also, OLED burn-in is nowhere near as bad as it used to be. Better OLED panel quality, and burn-in prevention features like pixel shifting, automatic logo luminance adjustment, and compensation cycles all help to minimize burn-in. Lowering the brightness can also significantly reduce the degradation rate.

However, having to do workarounds like hiding the taskbar or moving the browser window around are all significant sacrifices that would affect my productivity and general desktop usability. My monitor should serve me, not the other way around.

You’re probably wondering how much of an issue burn-in really is and whether I’m exaggerating. Here’s a real-world example: Monitors Unboxed conducted a one-year OLED burn-in test and found that burn-in starts to become noticeable after one to two years, depending on usage.

Since I’d use it for work, I’d be seeing the worst-case scenario for burn-in, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I was closer to the one-year mark. This doesn’t mean that the monitor still won’t look good once it has burn-in, but it’s enough to annoy me. If I notice it on my phone, I’m sure that it will bother me with my monitor even more.

Plus, monitors are one of the few peripherals people tend to use longer on average. I typically change monitors every five to seven years, so having only one to two years of optimal OLED quality followed by several years of suboptimal performance just wouldn’t work for me, especially considering the price. Instead of investing in a $500 OLED monitor, I could go through two $250 monitors in that time, benefiting from improving technology along the way. Plus, I could sell the first one to recoup some of the cost or repurpose it as a secondary display.

Mini-LED Is a Viable Alternative

If you want to get the most out of OLED benefits without the burn-in issue, consider mini-LED instead. Mini-LED is a new backlight technology that uses smaller LEDs in place of the traditionally larger ones. Mini-LED is integrated into an LCD (IPS/VA) to provide more precise local dimming (with lots of dimming zones), increased brightness, more vibrant colors, better contrast, and reduced blooming (which looks especially good with VA). This technology enables monitors to reproduce HDR content more effectively, perfect for single-player games.

Granted, mini-LED doesn’t look as good as OLED, and you still have to deal with the drawbacks of IPS or VA, but it comes at a significantly lower price. Burn-in isn’t an issue, so it’ll last you longer, and those LEDs can get mighty bright so HDR should still pop.

At a price of around $250, the AOC Q27G3XMN is an easy recommendation; it’s the best budget (and probably only) mini-LED monitor you can get. If you want to spend OLED money on a mini-LED monitor and just don’t want burn-in issues, get the Acer Nitro XV275K P3biipruzx instead.

If You Only Game on Your PC, OLED Might Be for You

While Mini LED is an excellent compromise for those of us who need their PCs for work and personal use, if that’s not you, don’t cross off OLED just yet. Remember, OLED is still the best in class for content consumption like gaming and movie-watching, so if that’s what you mostly use your PC for, maybe an OLED monitor like the Alienware AW3423DW is for you after all.

Alienware 34 Curved QD-OLED Monitor

Alienware enhances its line of monitors with this curved 1440p IPS ultrawide monitor, which delivers peak performance and enhanced versatility, with a 175Hz refresh rate.

Aside from HUD elements in some games, your display will rarely be exposed to static content for extended periods, which means you’ll probably avoid the burn-in issues that some users experience—especially if you frequently switch between different games.

If you can handle the high price of OLED, you’ll get excellent visuals with arguably the best monitor performance for competitive gaming to boot. If you’re considering both a gaming monitor and a TV, you could save some cash by opting for a gaming OLED TV instead. Plus, gaming on a huge OLED TV is a truly immersive and breathtaking experience.