I’m seriously considering an MSI MAG monitor. Do I need to adjust my workflow? I do lots of desktop work on my computer and I really don’t want to hide UI elements. I also do some gaming of course. I’d say it’s 70% desktop work and 30% gaming (though it varies). Do any Lemmings have any experience in this matter? Thank you!
Optimum recently did a video on this. After 3000 hours his OLED got very faint burn-in of static UI elements. So it really depends on your use case.
If you’ll use it to game for a couple of hours a day after work, it’s probably gonna be 5 carefree years enjoying the wonderful OLED contrasts before you even start noticing burn-in.
If you (like me) need your monitors to stay on for the entire workday (and then some) - you probably won’t be comfortable with the idea of starting to get noticeable burn-in after only a year of use.
Anyway, that’s pretty much a dealbreaker for me and I’ll probably be getting a MiniLED monitor instead. (Switch&Click recently had a video about this.)
I also like to buy stuff that will last ages, there are still monitors I bought in 2012 happily serving some of my family members. Buying something that will expire even if cared after seems… wasteful?
extremely dumb question, but why aren’t there screensavers that will invert the average pixel use when you’re not using it, opposite of safety, definitely not for office work, but home use?
It uses multiple techniques like that to balance and prevent burn in, called something like oled panel care. Its a very mature system now.
Yeah, 3k hours is nothing. I’m an edge case, but I am on my computer most waking hours, and gaming most of the time. I have something like 5.5k hours of game time in Forza Horizon 5, which just turned 4 years old; I have several other games I play heavily too, like 900 hours of American Truck Sim in the last 2 years.
I’m in the ‘wait for prices to keep dropping’ boat, and my current monitor is fine other than ‘just’ being a ips lcd instead of oled or whatever else. But at that time frame, I’d be buying new units like every 2 years. That’s fucking insane. I expect like a decade of issue-free use from a monitor.
I feel the same way, we have TFTs at work that are 20+ years old and still working just fine.
Of course that’s super bad for manufacturers if you just buy one monitor every 20 years.
Most decent OLEDs come with built-in protective features.
Mine notifies me that it’s due for “pixel refresh” (a 5 minute sequence where it looks like it’s off) every 4 hours of continuous use. I either let it do it and take a break, or it’ll just do it the next time I turn off my display.
There are other mechanics it uses to prolong its lifetime and prevent burn-in, e.g. my display is actually slightly larger physically than it’s reported resolution, and if you look at it very closely, it actually slowly moves the output from my PC around the extra space 1 pixel row/col at a time. So no UI elements will ever stay on the exact same pixel all the time.
I’ve never had to worry about burn in myself; I think the norm is that OLEDs largely take care of themselves now.
If you don’t mind me asking, how long have you had yours now? And how many hours a day do you typically use it?
Yes, it’s still a problem. I’ve linked a video below of someone testing it do you get an idea if its going to be an issue for you. https://youtu.be/RbEgQrigiLc
Just don’t use maximum brightness.
Most people use adaptive brightness.
Which actually means - don’t use bright rooms.
Eg floor-to-ceiling windows and OLEDs (even TVs) still don’t mix well at all (OLEDs strain to barely put out enough nits or even just not enough, have poor blacks bcs they reflect the general brightness of environment, and if you are a demanding user your OLED won’t last as long as other types of panels bcs either burn in, loss of brightness, or color changes occur).
It seems that most monitors do not have adaptive brightness and are not bright enough to discourage users from setting the brightness too high.
With my OLED I changed the display off time to prevent burn-in. So far no issues.
Does your monitor go to sleep when you’re not using it? If so, you’ll be fine
“Paused” still image is not the only occasion where it happens.
I have just bought a used one, and when I did the tests, it showed 5 little hearts of Minecraft along the bottom line - not very strong and no big deal at all for me, but still there.
Just use it to play Minecraft, problem solved lol
The question was “Is it still a problem”. It definitely used to be, but if you buy a new OLED monitor today, you’d have trouble burning without a deliberate effort
you’d have trouble burning without a deliberate effort
Well… No. The previous owner of my monitor was simply playing some Minecraft, among other games (mostly shooters). No deliberate effort, no negligence.
Before we did these burn-in tests together, he even explained proudly all the built-in anti-burn programs and features of the device, and how he did them regularly, and this is actually a real good device that has them all and runs most of them automatically.
After five minutes, yes.
