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OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology is a recent advance that has revolutionized portable computing—at first sight. OLED screens flaunt stunningly vivid colors, unbeatably deep blacks, and outstanding overall picture quality. In 2021, OLED tech arrived in laptops, mostly high-end ultraportables and gaming rigs, and now has spread to almost all categories and price ranges. PCMag has more than 40 years in the computer-review game, and our expert analysts bring decades of collective experience to testing these new laptops across every relevant metric, including display factors such as brightness and color depth, as well as battery life and overall performance. The Acer Swift 16 AI (2026) is our current choice as the best OLED laptop for most people, but read on for additional tested, vetted OLED-laptop picks across more specific use cases, plus general OLED-screen shopping advice and a handy spec comparison.
Our Top Tested Picks
Acer Swift 16 AI (2026)
Bottom Line
- 5.0 - Exemplary: Near perfection, ground-breaking
- 4.5 - Outstanding: Best in class, acts as a benchmark for measuring competitors
- 4.0 - Excellent: A performance, feature, or value leader in its class, with few shortfalls
- 3.5 - Good: Does what the product should do, and does so better than many competitors
- 3.0 - Average: Does what the product should do, and sits in the middle of the pack
- 2.5 - Fair: We have some reservations, buy with caution
- 2.0 - Subpar: We do not recommend, buy with extreme caution
- 1.5 - Poor: Do not buy this product
- 1.0 - Dismal: Don't even think about buying this product
Read Our Editorial Mission Statement and Testing Methodologies.
Packing standout everyday performance, long battery life, and a rich 16-inch OLED display, Acer's Swift 16 AI offers tremendous value for creators who don't need discrete graphics. Just make sure you can come to grips with its gigantic touchpad.
Pros
- Muscular "Panther Lake" processor performance
- Color-rich OLED touch display
- Long battery life
- Huge touchpad is also a drafting surface
- Active pen stylus included
Cons
- Giant touchpad can be hard to type around
- Stylus works only on touchpad, not on the screen
- Screen is glossy and glare-prone
HP OmniBook 5 14
Bottom Line
- 5.0 - Exemplary: Near perfection, ground-breaking
- 4.5 - Outstanding: Best in class, acts as a benchmark for measuring competitors
- 4.0 - Excellent: A performance, feature, or value leader in its class, with few shortfalls
- 3.5 - Good: Does what the product should do, and does so better than many competitors
- 3.0 - Average: Does what the product should do, and sits in the middle of the pack
- 2.5 - Fair: We have some reservations, buy with caution
- 2.0 - Subpar: We do not recommend, buy with extreme caution
- 1.5 - Poor: Do not buy this product
- 1.0 - Dismal: Don't even think about buying this product
Read Our Editorial Mission Statement and Testing Methodologies.
HP's 14-inch OmniBook 5 AI PC laptop is a thin, lightweight, and affordable battery-life champ, lasting more than 34 hours on a charge.
Pros
- Field-leading battery life
- Aggressively priced, and speedy enough for the cost
- Vivid OLED display
- Ultra-thin, light design
Cons
- Plastic keyboard deck could use stiffening
- Ho-hum graphics performance
Dell XPS 16 (2026)
Bottom Line
- 5.0 - Exemplary: Near perfection, ground-breaking
- 4.5 - Outstanding: Best in class, acts as a benchmark for measuring competitors
- 4.0 - Excellent: A performance, feature, or value leader in its class, with few shortfalls
- 3.5 - Good: Does what the product should do, and does so better than many competitors
- 3.0 - Average: Does what the product should do, and sits in the middle of the pack
- 2.5 - Fair: We have some reservations, buy with caution
- 2.0 - Subpar: We do not recommend, buy with extreme caution
- 1.5 - Poor: Do not buy this product
- 1.0 - Dismal: Don't even think about buying this product
Read Our Editorial Mission Statement and Testing Methodologies.
Dell's revivified XPS 16 is a pricey, premium laptop for well-heeled shoppers. Its sleek chassis, peppy performance, and attractive extras (notably, an OLED touch screen) justify the expense if you're shopping for a high-end desktop replacement.
Pros
- Attractive 3.2K OLED touch-screen option
- Pin-sharp 4K webcam
- Sleek, premium-feeling metal build
- Redesigned to address issues with previous generations
Cons
- No discrete GPU for additional graphics power
- Connectivity limited to USB Type-C ports only
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 Aura Edition
Bottom Line
- 5.0 - Exemplary: Near perfection, ground-breaking
- 4.5 - Outstanding: Best in class, acts as a benchmark for measuring competitors
- 4.0 - Excellent: A performance, feature, or value leader in its class, with few shortfalls
- 3.5 - Good: Does what the product should do, and does so better than many competitors
- 3.0 - Average: Does what the product should do, and sits in the middle of the pack
- 2.5 - Fair: We have some reservations, buy with caution
- 2.0 - Subpar: We do not recommend, buy with extreme caution
- 1.5 - Poor: Do not buy this product
- 1.0 - Dismal: Don't even think about buying this product
Read Our Editorial Mission Statement and Testing Methodologies.
Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 Aura Edition evolves the class-leading business laptop with an accessible, repairable internal redesign and even longer battery life.
Pros
- Best-in-class portable build
- Clever “Space Frame” design pushes user repairability forward
- Beautiful 2.8K OLED display option
- Longer battery life
- Potent connectivity and feature support
Cons
- Panther Lake brings minimal boost
- Small SSDs for their prices
Asus Zenbook Duo (2026)
Bottom Line
- 5.0 - Exemplary: Near perfection, ground-breaking
- 4.5 - Outstanding: Best in class, acts as a benchmark for measuring competitors
- 4.0 - Excellent: A performance, feature, or value leader in its class, with few shortfalls
- 3.5 - Good: Does what the product should do, and does so better than many competitors
- 3.0 - Average: Does what the product should do, and sits in the middle of the pack
- 2.5 - Fair: We have some reservations, buy with caution
- 2.0 - Subpar: We do not recommend, buy with extreme caution
- 1.5 - Poor: Do not buy this product
- 1.0 - Dismal: Don't even think about buying this product
Read Our Editorial Mission Statement and Testing Methodologies.
Asus' 2026 Zenbook Duo somehow meets its lofty ambitions: This is a brilliantly executed two-screen convertible laptop with little compromise, gorgeous OLED displays, fast performance, and ultra-long battery life to enhance your productivity.
Pros
- Elegant convertible dual-screen design
- Stellar twin 3K OLED touch displays
- Intel "Panther Lake" chip delivers capable integrated graphics
- Prodigious uptime with two-battery layout
- Removable wireless keyboard works seamlessly
Cons
- Expensive, though justifiably so
- Integrated graphics still can’t match powerful discrete options
Razer Blade 16 (2025)
Bottom Line
- 5.0 - Exemplary: Near perfection, ground-breaking
- 4.5 - Outstanding: Best in class, acts as a benchmark for measuring competitors
- 4.0 - Excellent: A performance, feature, or value leader in its class, with few shortfalls
- 3.5 - Good: Does what the product should do, and does so better than many competitors
- 3.0 - Average: Does what the product should do, and sits in the middle of the pack
- 2.5 - Fair: We have some reservations, buy with caution
- 2.0 - Subpar: We do not recommend, buy with extreme caution
- 1.5 - Poor: Do not buy this product
- 1.0 - Dismal: Don't even think about buying this product
Read Our Editorial Mission Statement and Testing Methodologies.
With the 2025 Blade 16, Razer proves once again that it can deliver powerhouse performance and stunning design in one sleek, high-priced package. It delivers an elite gaming experience for a matching price.
Pros
- GeForce RTX 5090 delivers speedy frame rates
- 240Hz QHD+ OLED display
- Long battery life
- Svelte, premium metal build
- Best-in-class touchpad
Cons
- Super expensive
- Highly reflective panel
Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra
Bottom Line
- 5.0 - Exemplary: Near perfection, ground-breaking
- 4.5 - Outstanding: Best in class, acts as a benchmark for measuring competitors
- 4.0 - Excellent: A performance, feature, or value leader in its class, with few shortfalls
- 3.5 - Good: Does what the product should do, and does so better than many competitors
- 3.0 - Average: Does what the product should do, and sits in the middle of the pack
- 2.5 - Fair: We have some reservations, buy with caution
- 2.0 - Subpar: We do not recommend, buy with extreme caution
- 1.5 - Poor: Do not buy this product
- 1.0 - Dismal: Don't even think about buying this product
Read Our Editorial Mission Statement and Testing Methodologies.
A polished, lean 16-incher with big MacBook Pro vibes, Samsung's spendy Galaxy Book6 Ultra nails design and display while delivering potent—if not class-leading—content-creation muscle.
Pros
- Speedy processing and graphics
- Brilliant AMOLED touch display
- Long battery life for a big-screen power laptop
- Broad connectivity options
- Slick, all-metal build
Cons
- Limited configuration options
- All configurations are pricey
Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 8
Bottom Line
- 5.0 - Exemplary: Near perfection, ground-breaking
- 4.5 - Outstanding: Best in class, acts as a benchmark for measuring competitors
- 4.0 - Excellent: A performance, feature, or value leader in its class, with few shortfalls
- 3.5 - Good: Does what the product should do, and does so better than many competitors
- 3.0 - Average: Does what the product should do, and sits in the middle of the pack
- 2.5 - Fair: We have some reservations, buy with caution
- 2.0 - Subpar: We do not recommend, buy with extreme caution
- 1.5 - Poor: Do not buy this product
- 1.0 - Dismal: Don't even think about buying this product
Read Our Editorial Mission Statement and Testing Methodologies.
Lenovo’s well-rounded ThinkPad P1 Gen 8 blends performance and mobility with ease, capped by a brilliant OLED display, making for an entry-level mobile workstation at a respectable price.
Pros
- Dazzling OLED display
- Long battery life
- Well-designed keyboard and touchpad
- Impressive build quality
- Decent speakers and webcam
Cons
- Tops out with RTX Pro 2000
Asus Zenbook A14
Bottom Line
- 5.0 - Exemplary: Near perfection, ground-breaking
- 4.5 - Outstanding: Best in class, acts as a benchmark for measuring competitors
- 4.0 - Excellent: A performance, feature, or value leader in its class, with few shortfalls
- 3.5 - Good: Does what the product should do, and does so better than many competitors
- 3.0 - Average: Does what the product should do, and sits in the middle of the pack
- 2.5 - Fair: We have some reservations, buy with caution
- 2.0 - Subpar: We do not recommend, buy with extreme caution
- 1.5 - Poor: Do not buy this product
- 1.0 - Dismal: Don't even think about buying this product
Read Our Editorial Mission Statement and Testing Methodologies.
Featuring an eye-catching and lightweight build, Asus' Zenbook A14 laptop has ample ports, a premium OLED display, a 27-hour battery, and the latest in AI computing, making it a fantastic ultraportable system.
Pros
- Excellent battery life outlasts most other ultralights we've tested
- Premium OLED display
- More ports than competitors
- Featherweight design
Cons
- Snapdragon X Plus drives limited performance
- A few Windows on Arm compatibility issues remain
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EDITORS' NOTE
August 31, 2026: With this update, we added the Acer Swift 16 AI (2026) as the Best OLED Laptop for Most People, replacing an earlier Swift 16 AI model. We also named the Dell XPS 16 (2026) our Best High-End OLED Laptop, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 Aura Edition our Best OLED Laptop for Business Users, and the Asus Zenbook Duo (2026) our Best OLED Convertible. (These replaced older LG, Lenovo, and Asus models, respectively.) Finally, we added the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra as our new Best OLED Laptop for Content Creators and the Asus Zenbook A14 as our Best OLED Laptop with Long Battery Life, replacing earlier Dell and MSI picks. Our remaining selections have been vetted for currency and availability. Since our last update, we reviewed and evaluated more than two dozen new laptops for potential inclusion in this story and our other laptop guides. We currently have nearly two dozen new laptops in PC Labs for evaluation, from makers including Asus, Alienware, Dell, HP, and Lenovo.
- Muscular "Panther Lake" processor performance
- Color-rich OLED touch display
- Long battery life
- Huge touchpad is also a drafting surface
- Active pen stylus included
- Giant touchpad can be hard to type around
- Stylus works only on touchpad, not on the screen
- Screen is glossy and glare-prone
The Acer Swift 16 AI presents the best mix of price, design, and performance for the average shopper looking for an OLED screen. The 16-inch display is plenty roomy, and the 2,880-by-1,800-pixel 120Hz OLED touch panel looks sharp and speedy. Considering the quality of the screen, along with the snappy Intel Core Ultra X7 358H processor, 32GB of memory, and 1TB of storage, our review model is reasonably priced. (It's more expensive than its predecessor, in fairness, but what isn't today?)
The long battery life is another plus, as is its massive touchpad and stylus. You'll notice a few related misses (the touchpad is almost too big at times, and the stylus is meant for the pad, not the screen), but it's a fast, useful, and well-made big-screen laptop.
Buyers replacing a desktop: If you're ditching a stationary family PC or deciding between a laptop and a desktop for your only computer, this laptop can do the job of either. The 1800p screen is large enough to provide a monitor-like experience, the processor is fast enough for everyday needs, and you get 1TB of storage for all your files and photos.
Mainstream shoppers: If you are an average user seeking a fast laptop with a big screen, you will be delighted with this Acer model. This year's version is not a budget model, but if you need a do-it-all computer for home and work, it checks every box. Anyone who takes it on the road frequently will appreciate the thin design and long battery life, both of which are better than average for a 16-inch laptop.
- Field-leading battery life
- Aggressively priced, and speedy enough for the cost
- Vivid OLED display
- Ultra-thin, light design
- Plastic keyboard deck could use stiffening
- Ho-hum graphics performance
The HP OmniBook 5 14 is our entry-level OLED pick because it's fast and light, and it costs less than $1,000. Weighing less than three pounds and lasting for a whopping near-35 hours on our video-playback battery rundown test, this is our new go-to travel companion. Since it's a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus machine, you should check whether your favorite PC apps have Arm-native versions before buying. But it's a sweet, budget-friendly pick, regardless.
Frequent travelers: This laptop is both super-portable and long-lasting, ideal for those who often use their system outside the home. The OmniBook 5 is a chart-topper for battery life, and it's thin and light for top-notch portability.
Budget buyers seeking a colorful screen: OLED panels are often found in expensive laptops, but you can grab this screen tech for less than a grand with the OmniBook 5 14. The display also delivers high dynamic range (HDR) support for better color and deeper contrast in videos.
- Attractive 3.2K OLED touch-screen option
- Pin-sharp 4K webcam
- Sleek, premium-feeling metal build
- Redesigned to address issues with previous generations
- No discrete GPU for additional graphics power
- Connectivity limited to USB Type-C ports only
Dell's XPS brand returned this year with a new look and updated components, making for one of the most fully featured, fastest general-use laptops around. Its slim all-metal exterior and seamless haptic touchpad are envy-inducing inclusions, and its 3,200-by-1,800-pixel OLED touch display is a treat. The XPS 16 features a sharp 4K webcam and long battery life, too, making mobile work not just possible, but a breeze.
The internal component updates include Intel's "Panther Lake" processors, some with the potent Arc B390 graphics for better-than-usual integrated graphics performance. (Note, though: No discrete GPU options are available.)
Premium buyers: The average shopper doesn't need a fancy chassis or a deep well of features, but as a high-end shopper, you will love what's here. The high-resolution OLED screen is a joy to use, and it's faster than most laptops in its class. If you have the cash, you can enjoy its speed, luxury design, display, and other advanced features.
- Best-in-class portable build
- Clever “Space Frame” design pushes user repairability forward
- Beautiful 2.8K OLED display option
- Longer battery life
- Potent connectivity and feature support
- Panther Lake brings minimal boost
- Small SSDs for their prices
Business laptops are not the most common destination for OLED screens, but you'll find a growing number of options. Our all-time favorite business portable is one of these, presenting an OLED display configuration that shines alongside the rest of its world-class build. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 Aura Edition has all the trimmings of a top-end enterprise laptop (with a price to match). Plus, the OLED panel elevates it further, making even routine productivity apps look sensational. On top of that, this year's model features an innovative repairable design that adds to its longevity. It's fast, portable, long-lasting, and home to a beautiful 1800p OLED screen.
Execs and big-budget shoppers: This laptop is better suited to the executive class; IT managers choosing an average fleet machine might lean more toward Lenovo's ThinkPad T series due to the price. We've called recent iterations of the X1 Carbon the world's best laptop, so you know it doesn't come cheap. It's too expensive for most shoppers as a daily driver, but you're one lucky business ace if you can snag one. Lenovo's new emphasis on interior-component accessibility and repairability only adds to the appeal.
- Elegant convertible dual-screen design
- Stellar twin 3K OLED touch displays
- Intel "Panther Lake" chip delivers capable integrated graphics
- Prodigious uptime with two-battery layout
- Removable wireless keyboard works seamlessly
- Expensive, though justifiably so
- Integrated graphics still can’t match powerful discrete options
Laptops that can flip and fold between laptop and tablet modes are helpful for presentations and an excellent fit for travel and remote work. Convertibles that can do all of the above with a gorgeous OLED display are even better, but how about two screens? The 2026 Asus ZenBook Duo is our favorite two-screen laptop to date, with twin 3K OLED displays in an elegant design. Use both screens at once with the laptop's stand-alone wireless keyboard and touchpad module to expand your setup on the fly, or cover up one panel with the keyboard and use it like a standard laptop. Its Intel "Panther Lake" Core Ultra X9 388H chip and Arc B390 graphics are fast for this category, too, making this an all-around productivity powerhouse.
Hybrid users: If you like a convertible design and the idea of more screen real estate, you will be hard-pressed to find a better OLED laptop. This is a premium-built, powerful, and versatile system you can easily take on the road to enjoy two screens at your destination.
Desktop fans: As someone who prefers to work at a desk with multiple monitors, this is as close as you'll get with a laptop. The portable design belies how much screen room you'll have with the Duo fully expanded, its two 14-inch screens laid out in front of you. This laptop will let you travel and then set up camp quickly to resume productivity.
- GeForce RTX 5090 delivers speedy frame rates
- 240Hz QHD+ OLED display
- Long battery life
- Svelte, premium metal build
- Best-in-class touchpad
- Super expensive
- Highly reflective panel
OLED screens are far from a given on high-end gaming laptops, but the most premium models deliver the goods. The exorbitant Blade 16 is undoubtedly aimed at enthusiasts only, but it's a stellar package if it's within your budget. The 1600p 240Hz OLED panel looks gorgeous (albeit reflective), and the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 GPU in our test model blew away our benchmarks. This laptop is a rare combination of style and substance, so long as you can afford it.
Hard-core gamers with deep pockets: This laptop works best if you're a gamer willing to open your wallet wide for an OLED laptop. The cost goes toward not only high-end performance but also premium materials and design—so you'll enjoy long battery life, a 240Hz refresh rate, and an RTX 5090 GPU for a truly well-rounded experience.
Creatives and power users: The Blade is also well-suited for your professional creative work and other high demands. You'll find plenty of overlap between content creators and gamers today, and this laptop has as much muscle for crunching through media editing and data as it does for handling the latest games.
- Speedy processing and graphics
- Brilliant AMOLED touch display
- Long battery life for a big-screen power laptop
- Broad connectivity options
- Slick, all-metal build
- Limited configuration options
- All configurations are pricey
A beautiful display is a given on this list, but the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra pairs its 1800p OLED panel with powerful components suited to creative professionals. Inside our unit, you'll find an Intel Core Ultra 7 356H processor, 32GB of memory, a 2TB SSD, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 GPU, which together can power almost any creation or editing workflow. It's not perfect (configurations are limited and it's expensive), but few laptops combine such an advanced display with a slick, portable build and potent silicon combos. A powerful GPU, in particular, is rare among sleek ultraportables.
Content creators and editors: If you're a media professional, you're one of the primary targets for a system like this. The OLED screen is excellent for working with digital media in close detail, and the CPU and GPU are ready to crunch through demanding content-creator workloads.
Mac fans who need Windows: Let's say you'd prefer a MacBook Pro but need to work within Windows. In that case, you should consider the Book6 Ultra. This laptop has a dedicated GPU to power through visual and graphics tasks—crucial considerations for the types of users a MacBook Pro usually attracts.
- Dazzling OLED display
- Long battery life
- Well-designed keyboard and touchpad
- Impressive build quality
- Decent speakers and webcam
- Tops out with RTX Pro 2000
OLED displays aren't too common in the workstation space, but the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 8 demonstrates the idea done right. It features a gorgeous 3,200-by-2,000-pixel touch screen, top-notch build quality, long battery life, and speedy performance. Sure, you'll find more powerful workstations out there—but anyone seeking an OLED screen will likely care more about the Lenovo's fairly portable build and solid feature set than purely potent performance. That said, the ThinkPad P1 is no slouch in the power department, with its Intel Core Ultra 7 255H processor and Nvidia RTX Pro 2000 GPU.
Demanding professionals: This is a leading OLED laptop for digital professionals who need substantial workstation power. While most people don't need this much muscle, media editors, software engineers, and professionals working with large datasets will love the potency, portability, and overall feature set of this system.
- Excellent battery life outlasts most other ultralights we've tested
- Premium OLED display
- More ports than competitors
- Featherweight design
- Snapdragon X Plus drives limited performance
- A few Windows on Arm compatibility issues remain
While this laptop couldn't quite match our 42-hour record battery uptime, its 32-hour result is still something for Asus to be proud of. This long-lasting Snapdragon-based laptop is snappy, well-built, and super portable. Its pricing is more midrange than entry level, but if your priority is stamina from an attractive and mobile laptop, this one is difficult to beat.
Mobile professionals: Working pros who often need a quick, versatile laptop on a train, a plane, or in a café will love the A14. The long battery life means you won't always worry about where the nearest outlet might be, and it has the feature set needed for real productivity. Among OLED systems, this hits the sweet spot of stamina, performance, and mobility.
The Best OLED Laptops for 2026 Compare Specs
You might be asking: What is an OLED display, anyway?
To answer that, we'll start by getting into the details of OLED screens and the advantages they offer. As we said, the acronym stands for "organic light-emitting diode." The short explanation is that OLED technology is similar to traditional LED technology—the same concept of light-emitting diodes—but instead of producing light using only semiconductors, these panels use organic molecules. The result is brighter screens with more vibrant colors, which is why the tech is appealing for TVs and computers. OLED displays also tend to use less power than their rivals, all else being equal.
If you're interested, here's a slightly more technical explanation. The various kinds of LCD screens—the kinds you've gotten used to in most laptops and TVs over the past decade, whether TFT, VA, or other—all share a similar base concept. They use a white LED backlight source that pushes light through filters. That light is gated at the pixel level by liquid crystals in various states and orientations, which either block or tint it to generate pixels of the desired color. OLED screens use a different display paradigm: an organic compound that is self-emissive, allowing each pixel in the panel to produce its own light when current is applied.
That's the main difference between OLED and LCD screens, enabling the former to produce extra-brilliant colors and deeper blacks. When an LCD panel shows black, the backlight can still leak through the shutter. In OLED screens, black pixels are literally turned off, with no light leakage from behind to dilute the darkness. This provides far better contrast than filtering out an ever-present LED backlight.
This also allows for more efficient, and hence thinner, panels, although the last benefit doesn't play out as dramatically with laptops as with OLED TVs. Many of the latter are nearly razor-thin.
Should You Buy an OLED Laptop?
Of course, this beauty comes at a price. OLED configurations are generally more expensive than traditional display options and are often found in the pricier variants of a laptop family. But that's not true across the board; things have changed since the first wave of laptop OLED panels hit the market (which were all manufactured by Samsung and were mostly 4K resolution).
Today, you'll find plenty of lower-end configurations and even some budget or entry-level models (like the HP OmniBook 5 14) with OLED screens. In fact, many of our picks these days have lower resolutions than 4K. That said, you will still find 4K resolution and cutting-edge screen technologies in the most premium versions of any given laptop.
If you're interested in an OLED display but unsure whether you can justify it, focus on one basic selling point: they're incredible to look at. An OLED will make watching videos, playing games, and even staring at your emails look amazing. Is that worth the extra money? That's up to you and your budget.
Sure, OLED is not strictly necessary, but neither is 4K resolution, and many tech features start as luxuries before becoming standards. If you're buying a new panel, it's a solid move to adopt cutting-edge technology that's becoming increasingly popular.
Specific user types should consider the pros and cons in more detail. Gamers will enjoy eye-popping visuals, and many titles' fantasy and sci-fi settings are ideal for deep blacks and vibrant colors. However, only the highest-end laptop components can power 4K gaming at 60 frames per second, so most gamers must dial down the resolution to 1440p or 1080p. That's not the end of the world, since you can still view other content in 4K, but you are paying extra for 4K resolution to get OLED, as the two are often intertwined in many laptops. Not playing at your laptop's native resolution may feel like a waste to some, but as it stands, that could be a cost of getting an OLED panel.
There's also the issue of the refresh rate. More and more modern gaming laptops come equipped with 144Hz, 240Hz, and even up to 300Hz displays to show more frames per second in competitive games. The first wave of 4K OLED panels was limited to 60Hz, but higher-refresh-rate options have since been released. Going higher in the future will only cost more, but professionals who can benefit from a higher refresh rate should consider 4K 120Hz options. Some gaming machines now offer an appealing combination of high refresh rates, OLED technology, and sub-4K resolution.
True, a 60Hz refresh rate is a fine fit for AAA titles where appearance matters more than frame rate, but many gamers play both big-budget blockbusters and the hottest battle royale or MOBA titles. It's another trade-off you'll have to make for picture quality, though even some budget laptops today come with refresh rates above 60Hz.
Also, consider some of the nuances. It takes a tip-top GPU to push frame rates above 60 frames per second (fps) at 4K and high detail settings in many modern AAA titles. In practical fact, if you're playing the Cyberpunks and Battlefields of the world, and even if you have a high-end GPU, you can't expect to hit 144fps or even 120fps at 4K and high image-quality settings, anyway. Even today's Nvidia GeForce RTX 50-series silicon is hard-pressed to achieve such a feat, unless frame-boosting technology like DLSS 4 gets involved. Given that, a "mere" 60Hz refresh rate won't matter as much.
The 60Hz limit is more of an issue if you're an aficionado of older games or of less-demanding but highly competitive esports titles (CS: GO, Valorant, Apex Legends) in which maximum frame rates are life-and-death matters. For those kinds of games, an OLED will have you leaving frames on the floor—unless you land one of the new 90Hz or 120Hz models.
Meanwhile, OLED raises different considerations for creative professionals. If your job requires careful color matching or accuracy, choose your laptop carefully. Different OLED laptop manufacturers make different claims about which color gamuts are fully covered, even though many of the laptops use the same panel. Note that Pantone validation is an option on some machines.
If you know how to tune and calibrate displays for professional work, you can adjust the OLED to achieve better results than out-of-the-box settings. Essentially, the color coverage and accuracy are good enough for most casual and prosumer use cases.
Beyond the display, for our general laptop-buying advice, including what components to look for given your needs and budget, check out our roundup of the best overall laptops and our guide to the best gaming laptops.
How Does OLED Affect Laptop Battery Life?
As explained previously, when an OLED screen displays black pixels, those pixels are completely turned off. As a result, the screen should use less power when displaying black-dominant images or videos. This also holds even if the scene or image is not entirely black, just dark, because the pixels still use less power.
To leverage this OLED trait, we've found that some OLED laptop makers ship their systems with Windows Dark Mode turned on, so no more juice than necessary is spent displaying your windows, folders, and the taskbar. In our reviews of the first batch of OLED laptops we received at PC Labs, we tested the impact of both OLED screens and Dark mode on battery life.
As some of the first OLED laptop reviews we published, the Razer Blade 15 and the Dell XPS 15 (7590) include our testing and information on this topic, but the takeaway is that Dark mode could be the chocolate to OLED's peanut butter. Using it delivered a noticeable improvement in battery life in our tests. OLED uses more juice to display white pixels, and even pumping up the brightness to the max in Dark mode has much less impact than it does on white screens. Using Dark mode and watching videos with many black or dark scenes could add up to hours of additional battery life.
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Generally, OLEDs are power-efficient, which only adds to their potential savings. The longest-lasting laptop we've tested yet, the MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+, lasted a massive 42 hours and 6 minutes in our testing, making full use of that OLED panel and earning our first PCMag Lab Award for battery life among laptops.
It may feel like overkill to monitor how much black or dark space displays on your screen at any one time, so we wouldn't obsess over it. Generally, with OLED, keeping dark mode on (or switching to it when you're going to use your system off the charger) should make a difference. But you may want to keep that desktop wallpaper dark, too!
What Kinds of OLED Laptops Can I Buy?
Not every laptop line today comes with an OLED panel, but many above the budget level will at least offer OLED as an upgrade option. Manufacturers most often reserve OLED panels for their top-end models, but some entry-level and midrange machines let you swap to an OLED display for an added cost. You'll find far more OLED laptops available across more laptop categories than ever. Even OLED-screened Chromebooks are now a thing.
This technology is now expected only on higher-end, media-centric machines, many of which support native 4K resolution. But there is a slow but sure proliferation of OLED screens to less expensive laptops, too.
Video and photo pros need advanced, color-accurate displays, which is why OLEDs are most pervasive in content-creation laptops. The next most common categories they show up in are ultraportables and convertibles, mobile laptops that really sing with a screen that has a sharp resolution, touch input, and OLED tech.
Depending on the components, these laptops can be optimal for watching 4K streaming videos, viewing photos, and maybe doing content creation; entry-level discrete graphics are available in some of these laptops, which should enable light gaming at resolutions below 4K. Over the last few years, we've seen OLED screens deployed across a broad range of form factors—after all, everything you're doing benefits from OLED, with few downsides beyond the price.
Gaming laptops are a different story. Aside from an initial wave of OLED excitement when they first hit the market, OLED screens are more the exception than the norm in gaming-specific laptops. They may appear as add-on options, but manufacturers often opt for super-high-refresh-rate displays over OLED for gaming notebooks. Only the most premium machines may have both. If you still see the option offered on a gaming laptop you're considering, you may have to choose between OLED and high refresh. Our favorites, like the Razer Blade 16, combine all these features.
Ready to Buy the Right OLED Laptop for You?
The main, clear upside to OLED screens is how stellar they look. That alone may well be worth the money, though, as we've explained, OLED carries clear dollar costs and has some more abstract drawbacks. These panels are not for everyone, and paying four figures for a laptop with one is an investment.
It will be a while before OLEDs are used in budget-tier laptops and their costs come down to a point where they're a non-factor. But for now, they're a joy to behold, and we're glad they're here. If your budget can swing it, check out our recommendations in this guide and our spec breakout for the top OLED-bearing laptops that PC Labs has tested.
