LG brings tandem OLED panels to laptops, claiming three times the brightness and double the lifespan of current self-emissive screens

HardwareGaming LaptopsLG brings tandem OLED panels to laptops, claiming three times the brightness and double the lifespan of current self-emissive screensWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: LG Display)

A promotional photo of a person holding a laptop sporting a tandem OLED display panel by LG

The tech has the simple name of tandem OLED and if you think that you’ve heard of this before, then you’ll be right—Apple has implemented the system in itsrecently updated iPad Pro range. Whether those tablets are using LG’s panels isn’t clear as Apple is known to use Samsung for display screens, as well as LG, but I should imagine it won’t be long before Samsung offers its own tandem screens.

Tandem OLED panels have actually been around fora number of years, and has been used in automotive displays for a while because of its greater endurance, but onlylast month were such displays announcedfor VR headsets, watches, and TVs. What’s special about today’s launch is that these are specifically designed for laptops, with the first model being a 13-inch 2880 x 1800 touchscreen, with a 100% DCI-P3 gamut and True Black 500 HDR VESA certification.

Tandem OLED is much brighter than traditional OLED screens because it uses two layers of self-emissive organic LEDs. But if two layers are required, how on Earth can it be thinner and lighter, you might ask? LG isn’t saying anything right now but I suspect it’s down to the connecting layer that’s sandwiched between the two light-emitting layers, which transmits charge from one OLED panel to the next.

LG has probably found a way to make this very efficient (hence the big increase in brightness and drop in power consumption), reducing the need to use particularly powerful OLED layers (which, in turn, probably allows them to be thinner and lighter).

Tandem OLED screens can be made with more than two self-emissive layers, for even more brightness, but then you’re running into serious cost problems. The latest OLED gaming monitors are all very expensive, and I can’t imagine LG’s new tandem screen for laptops will buck that trend, so it’ll be a good while before dual-layer OLED monitors are as cheap as a quality IPS display.

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Arguably it’s those desktop monitors that could really do with the tandem OLED help, more so than in our notebooks. Laptop OLED panels are already pretty damned special, but on the desktop we’re still left wanting for full-screen brightness, and that’s why the promise of this tandem technology is so tantalising. Given that we’re starting at just 13-inch though, it’s likely to be a while before the tech filters down to large desktop monitors.

But even so, we’ve come a long way since 2008, when you could buy thefirst OLED TVon the market—an 11-inch 960 x 540 display—for $2,500. Today, that would buy you a32-inch 4K gaming OLED monitorand still have over $1,000 left over.

Best gaming monitor: Pixel-perfect panels.Best high refresh rate monitor: Screaming quick.Best 4K monitor for gaming: High-res only.Best 4K TV for gaming: Big-screen 4K PC gaming.

Best gaming monitorBest high refresh rate monitorBest 4K monitor for gamingBest 4K TV for gaming

Best gaming monitor: Pixel-perfect panels.Best high refresh rate monitor: Screaming quick.Best 4K monitor for gaming: High-res only.Best 4K TV for gaming: Big-screen 4K PC gaming.

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