OLED vs QD vs IPS vs VA vs TN for Gaming and More!

In this video I’m aiming to answer the question: “What panel type should I buy?” I’m going to break down the main design differences briefly, then jump into the feature differences – things like the response times and refresh rates, alongside the viewing experience with things like viewing angles and brightness, plus lifespan, cost and availability. Let’s go!

OLED

OLED panels are slowly working their way into the desktop monitor space, and for good reason. The “Organic Light Emitting Diode” is a rather special bit of kit. Instead of having a single uniform backlight and actively blocking the light, OLED pixels actively, well, emit light. Each pixel is made of red, green, blue and often also white LEDs which are able to fully switch off giving an infinite contrast ratio within just a couple pixels size. There are different subpixel layouts, the most infamous being Samsung’s PenTile layout, although LG’s WBGR layout is a close second, but either way you can get readability issues with text as Windows assumes the standard RGB layout of the subpixels. Still, OLEDs are one of the most impressive experiences available right now.

MiniLED

Right now MiniLED is less of a panel type and more a backlight option. While there are some MiniLED “panel” displays, they are absolutely massive due to the technical limitation of being able to shrink the LEDs, so in consumer displays you will generally find MiniLEDs as the backlight to a conventional LCD style layer. In that case, the number of MiniLEDs is generally proportional to the quality of the HDR experience thanks to more “local dimming” zones. That’s where some of the LEDs will switch off to provide an infinite contrast ratio and get true black, rather than the dark grey that standard LCD panels generally offer.

Quantum Dot

Quantum dot is an even newer term, but technically speaking it itself isn’t a panel type – at least for now. Quantum dots are basically something you can add to an existing panel type to greatly improve its quality, especially in the colours department. These deserve their own video on how they work, but in short the size of the dots determines what colour of light they emit, with green and red dots being the most common to find in displays. The most exciting QD type display on the horizon is the QD-OLED from Samsung, promising much better brightness, colours and lifespan, although you can buy more traditional LCD displays with Quantum Dots, like LG’s NanoIPS lineup.

IPS

Speaking of IPS, in-plane-switching panels are rapidly becoming (if not already are) the standard panel type. Especially with all the development in the last decade or so, IPS panels now are generally the best all-rounder liquid-crystal based panel. Much like all the other LCD panels, IPS panels are still made up of a solid backlight that then shines through the IPS LCD layer which does its best to block the correct amount of light to produce the desired colours. Black is not a strong suit here, as the pixels can’t fully block all the light the backlight is trying to force through it.

VA

By comparison, vertical alignment or VA panels generally do a better job of blocking that light, often at the cost of smearing and slow response times – as we will cover later in the video. Some prefer the deeper blacks and don’t mind the ghosting, in comparison to the faster transitions but grey-blacks of an IPS panel.

TN

Lastly, twisted nematic or TN panels are one of the oldest technologies, and for the majority of people have fallen out of favour. Their last remaining market is the ultra-high refresh rate models, like Asus’ new 500Hz option coming later this year.

Features – Response Times

So, that’s a brief explainer on each, let me run you through the feature differences starting with response times. Starting with the fastest, OLED easily takes the cake here. It’s capable of switching its pixels on or off in under 1ms, making it functionally instant. They can have some rather strange behaviour though, but on the whole they are lightning fast. MiniLED on its own should be the same as OLED, although in the more conventional style is still near instant for full black to any shade with local dimming enabled, but is otherwise the same as whatever panel type it’s attached to – normally IPS. The same goes for Quantum Dot, where again mostly it gets used on IPS panels and so sits with them. TN is generally the next fastest then, followed generally by IPS then VA.

Refresh Rates

When it comes to refresh rates, at least in the available monitors right now TN and IPS actually tie, with 300 and 360Hz options available using both panel types. Asus’ ROG Swift 500Hz that’s on the way will swing the balance back to TN though. Even in the more mainstream range, IPS monitors can be found at upwards of 240Hz, compared to the 165Hz range for VA panels. OLEDs generally run at 120Hz at the moment, although some are running at more like 165Hz now too.

Colours

Colour reproduction is an entire, insanely detailed, science in and of itself, but to do my best to paraphrase an entire field of science… The main factors to consider here are black level and contrast, colour gamut coverage and the accuracy of those colours. OLED takes an easy lead in the black level and contrast department. Being able to switch off individual pixels means you get true black, and an infinite contrast ratio. You can also have that contrast just a single pixel apart, allowing for beautiful dark scenes with no haloing.

By contrast – pun intended – any other panel tech is compromised here. MiniLED gets the closest, although even with Apple’s 10,000 MiniLED backlight in their latest MacBook Pro machines doesn’t come close to the 8.3 million pixel 4K OLEDs. While you generally don’t see much in the way of haloing around bright objects on dark backgrounds, it is still there to some degree. As for the traditional LCD panels, VA generally fairs best here with around 4000:1 contrast ratio being common. By comparison, TN and IPS panels will generally find themselves around 1000:1, meaning the darker shades are lighter than they otherwise should be, with black still being a dark shade of grey.

As for the colour gamut coverage, as a general rule IPS panels, especially those with Quantum Dots, generally offer the best range and accuracy here. OLEDs can offer a wide range, although aren’t always perfectly accurate. VA normally doesn’t do too badly with coverage, although again can sometimes struggle with accuracy, and TN.. well that’s at the back of the pack here, generally offering the least coverage, and the worst accuracy.

Viewing experience – Viewing Angles

Viewing angles are generally best on IPS panels, with little to no colour shifting from any direction. OLED panels generally are pretty good for that too, although some can have some off-axis colour shift. VA is normally reasonable here, although not quite matching an IPS panel’s performance, and TN is again last here with the worst viewing angles. More recent panels have done a good job to improve this, although often only side-to-side, not from above or below.

Brightness

Brightness is an interesting one, as generally speaking all the panel options are pretty much the same here since the brightness just comes from the backlight, but since OLED panels don’t have backlights, they are the standout here. In general, LCD based monitors can offer pretty much any brightness level they want, with the majority that I test averaging somewhere between 300 and 500 nits, but some of the top end models can reach 1000 nits if needed (mostly for HDR). OLEDs, by contrast, can hit high brightness levels – as much as 800 nits in a small window – but the brighter they run, the more power they draw and the hotter they get, diminishing their lifespan. That’s why models like the AORUS FO48U – and twinned LG C1 – will only sit at around 130 nits of constant maximum brightness across the full screen. That’s lightyears less than a comparable say VA panel, which could happily sit at 300, 400 or 500 nits.

Lifespan

Which brings us nicely onto lifespan. With OLEDs in particular, an issue they face is called “burn-in”, where static content – things like in-game UI elements, or even desktop icons and the Windows taskbar, can be ‘etched’ into the display and ever-present afterwards. While there are a number of features designed to lessen the impact of burn-in, it’s a valid concern any prospective buyers may have. One of those features is actively “wearing” all the pixels down evenly to remove that burned-in image – with the side effect being reduced lifespan as, well, you are actively wearing away your pixel’s lifespan. With careful use, it’s more than possible to keep an OLED display running happily for years, but you should know that they are high maintenance and simply don’t have the same sort of expected lifespan as a more conventional LCD display.

Price

Finally, we should talk about price. In general, TN panels are the cheapest to produce, although seeing as they are mostly phased out of the market, all bar ultra-budget and ultra-high refresh rate options, it’s not all that likely you are in the market for one these days. Plus, since 360 Hz IPS displays are already in the market in products like Asus’ PG259QN, I’d personally much rather get an IPS panel instead there. IPS panels are now remarkably cheap, even generally on price-parity with VA options, while offering a generally much better experience – albeit with worse black levels and contrast ratios. As for MiniLED monitors, those are still quite niche and only found in higher end options so pricing is on the higher side. Quantum dots can actually be found for pretty much the same price as any other IPS display, including from LG with their NanoIPS line, and even more budget brands like the X= monitor I reviewed recently. QD-OLED monitors are just coming to market, so expect to be paying a premium on those for a while, although the more traditional OLEDs are coming down in price too, with the LG C1 TV being available for around £1000, or a 60Hz version being more like £600!

So, which is for you? While I can’t say for sure, let me give you a few thoughts. If you are after a well rounded gaming monitor, a nice IPS panel is probably up your alley – unless the black levels are a problem for you, in which case VA is probably best. If you want ultra-high refresh rates, either IPS or TN is your best bet, and the budding content creator will probably want a Quantum Dot IPS, or even QD-OLED if your budget can stretch that far. For a TV replacement, an OLED might work well, and as more advanced tech comes out, OLEDs in one form or another may spill into every market.