Enlarge (credit: Scharon Harding)

Burn-in is always possible with OLED displays, but for computer monitors, which tend to display static content (like icons and taskbars), the risk is even more concerning than with other OLED devices, like TVs.

Generally, OLED monitors are way better at fighting burn-in than before, thanks to improved OLED materials, compensation algorithms, brightness efficiencies, manually operable features, and heat management techniques.

At the same time, there's still much to learn about OLED monitor burn-in . Since OLED monitor selection only started significantly improving over the last couple of years, long-term usage is minimal. Further, new types of OLED monitor technologies, like QD-OLED , are still evolving.

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)

Until recently, OLED computer monitor selection was limited . Today, there's more than a handful available. LG Display and Samsung Display have made picking an OLED monitor exciting by designing competing models—white OLED (WOLED) and quantum dot OLED ( QD-OLED ), respectively—and monitor vendors are steadily addressing OLED scarcity and price barriers.

But what about longstanding fears of OLED burn-in?

People tend to display static images on computer monitors more frequently than on TVs—things like icons, taskbars, and browser address bars—making burn-in risk a concern.

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In a world of shiny clamshells and showy convertibles, laptop releases can feel repetitive. Some of the most successful, well-known designs don't always see massive overhauls from one year to the next. Stick in the latest CPUs or GPUs, maybe claim a slightly cooler build, and call it a day (or year). After all, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?

The problem with that is, well, it gets boring. And for technology enthusiasts interested in developments that could change how we work, play, repair, and upgrade, it's imperative that PC makers be willing to take risks.

The laptops below all tried something more adventurous than a components upgrade in 2022. We'll break down the groundbreaking designs, ideas, and capabilities these systems seek to deliver—and whether or not the risks they took paid off.

Enlarge / Alienware's latest QD-OLED monitor, the AW3423DWF. (credit: Alienware)

Alienware announced today a new QD-OLED monitor SKU that looks awfully similar to the Alienware AW3423DW released for $1,300 this spring. The AW3423DWF has many of the same specs but skips Nvidia G-Sync certification and hardware in favor of AMD's and VESA's open standards for fighting screen tears, while costing $200 less than its predecessor.

Like the AW3423DW, the AW3423DWF uses QD-OLED technology from Samsung. This is a form of OLED that uses a blue self-emitting layer as its light source, which goes through a layer of quantum dots. The primary goal is better color coverage, including more consistent colors across brightness levels, combined with the deep blacks and incredible contrast for which OLED displays are known.

The 34.18-inch AW3423DWF and AW3423DW's specs sheets match closely, including 3440×1440 resolution, an 1800R curve, 99.3 percent DCI-P3 and 149 percent sRGB color coverage, up to a 165 Hz refresh rate via DisplayPort and 100 Hz via HDMI 2.0, and 0.1ms gray-to-gray (GtG) response time .

Enlarge / Alienware x17 R2 laptop.

PC display speeds are about to go up. Alienware's updated m17 R5 and x17 R2 , a pair of 17.3-inch gaming laptops, will each include the option for 480 Hz displays—about 33 percent faster than the previous top speed of 360 Hz .

As of publication time, the laptops' 480 Hz options aren't available for purchase, but a spokesperson for Alienware told Ars that they should be available online soon.

The 480 Hz displays have a resolution of 1920×1080 and a gray-to-gray response time of 3 ms. In its announcement, Alienware promised "animation smoothness for easier target tracking, ghosting reduction which minimizes distracting effects, and lower system latency, making it easier for you to spot other players earlier."