The difference between Mini LED displays and OLED displays

Looking at the development of displays, it has been evolving towards large size, high resolution, and high color gamut. Five years ago, the market was dominated by displays with W-LED backlights and colors that generally covered less than 80% of the Adobe RGB color gamut. It was not until 2022 that Mini LED and OLED, two major products recognized as the mainstream of future displays, began to "show their strength" in the display market. Among them, the price of Mini LED continues to drop, covering mid-range and high-end products, and has a "prairie fire" trend. OLED is also emerging in the display market, and its price is gradually decreasing. For a time, this made many consumers difficult to choose: Which is better to buy, Mini LED display or OLED display? To answer this question, we must first understand the difference between the two.

Mini LED is essentially an upgrade of traditional backlight

LED, which we often refer to as light-emitting diode, is a semiconductor with a wide range of applications, such as backlight sources for monitors and TVs, indoor lighting, and car headlights. If we take the literal meaning, can Mini LED be understood as a smaller light-emitting diode? This is also possible. Mini LED is indeed a type of LED, and it is also called "sub-millimeter light-emitting diode". The chip unit size of a single Mini LED is between 50μm and 100μm.

Mini LED is simply a small LED lamp bead. The "small" here is relative to traditional LED. Although Mini LED is smaller, it is far from being used directly as a pixel in monitors or TVs. In other words, Mini LED is not a screen panel, but exists as a backlight source. However, due to the smaller size of Mini LED, it can be regarded as an improved backlight of traditional LED. It is precisely because Mini LED is smaller that more than 2,000 lamp beads can be easily installed in a 27-inch monitor.

Each pixel of OLED can emit light by itself

Mini LED is just an upgraded version of traditional LED, while OLED is a completely different display technology because it has no backlight and each pixel can emit light by itself. OLED (Organic LED) is also called organic light-emitting diode. Its principle is to emit light through organic semiconductor materials and luminescent materials under the drive of electric field, and then through carrier injection and recombination. Since OLED can control each pixel, it can achieve precise light control and the picture is purer. At the same time, the brightness of the pixel will be in the off state in the dark field, so the contrast will be infinite.

▲The principles of OLED and Mini LED

After a brief understanding of Mini LED and OLED, we will then conduct a comparative analysis in terms of brightness, contrast, response time, refresh rate and resolution, color, service life, and price.

brightness

High brightness is the advantage of Mini LED. From the Mini LED displays we have tested, most of them can have a brightness of more than 500cd/㎡, and the peak brightness of some high-end models can even exceed 1000cd/㎡. This is because the Mini LED backlight is small in size, and more backlights can be installed in the same size display, so the brightness is naturally greatly improved.

The brightness of OLED is relatively much lower. The brightness of mainstream OLED displays is mostly within 250cd/㎡. The main reason for this is that the luminous efficiency of the luminous materials used in OLED displays is not high, and in order to avoid "screen burn-in", the brightness will be limited. Although the brightness of OLED displays is not as high as that of Mini LED displays, it is enough for daily use.

Contrast

According to our previous test data of many Mini LED displays, most of them have a contrast ratio of only 1000:1, which is not much better than the previous W-LED displays, and even lower than the VA panel displays. The contrast ratio of OLED displays can even be close to infinity when fully turned on or off. This is because when the brightness of OLED displays is the lowest, the brightness of the backlight is close to the off state, and the contrast ratio is naturally higher. This is also the reason why OLED displays are deeper when displaying black images.

Response time

Many Mini LED displays use IPS panels, which have a response time of 1ms (grayscale), and some can even reach 0.5ms. Such data has completely caught up with the obsolete TN panels. The response time of OLED displays is even more eye-catching, reaching 0.1ms. Such a fast response time makes OLED more suitable for use in e-sports displays.

Refresh rate and resolution

Mini LED displays are currently mainly targeted at models priced above 2,000 yuan, and their resolutions are almost all 1440p and 4K. In addition, mainstream Mini LED displays can reach refresh rates of 4K@144Hz or 2K@165Hz and above. Although OLEDs can currently reach 4K resolution, their refresh rates are generally not high. Currently, the main models on sale are 4K@120Hz and 4K@138Hz, and some flagship models can reach 4K@175Hz. It should be noted that Mini LED and OLED displays targeted at creative design are usually only 4K@60Hz.

color

The sRGB, AdobeRGB, and DCI-P3 color gamut coverage of the Mini LED displays we tested previously are mostly above 90%. In order to have better colors, many display manufacturers usually add a quantum film between the panel and the backlight to improve color performance. OLED displays are similar. By adding quantum dot technology and using high-purity blue light sources, OLED colors are better than traditional white light sources. Usually, the AdobeRGB and DCI-P3 color gamut coverage areas can reach more than 95%. In terms of color, Mini LED displays and OLED displays are comparable.

Service life

Mini LED displays are still based on traditional LED backlights, and the advantage of long service life is also inherited. After a few years of use, the brightness is usually only slightly reduced, which has little impact on use. Since OLED is an organic material, it will age and even "burn in" after long-term use. In order to solve the "burn in" problem, many manufacturers will build some technologies into OLED displays to avoid it as much as possible, such as moving pixels, reducing brightness, and turning off the screen when not in use for a long time.

price

As the Mini LED display industry is more mature, the prices of models on the market are generally low, and the prices of some 2K@165Hz models have even dropped to less than 2,000 yuan. The models of OLED displays currently on sale are mainly concentrated in 40 inches or more, and the prices are generally above 6,000 yuan. Even a 27-inch OLED display costs more than 5,000 yuan.

▲Comparison of the main characteristics of OLED displays and Mini LED displays shows that Mini LED is superior overall.

Purchase suggestions

By comparison, at present, Mini LED displays are more cost-effective overall, and also have good performance, which is suitable for users with limited budgets. However, it should be noted that most of the current low-end Mini LED displays have only more than 500 partitions. It is recommended to choose products with more than 1,000 partitions for better light control. If your budget is relatively ample and you have high requirements for display size, contrast, and response time, it is recommended to choose an OLED display. Many manufacturers have built-in anti-"burn-in" technology in their products. As long as they are used properly in daily life, there is no need to worry too much. Next, we will recommend several Mini LED and OLED displays that are worth buying.

Titan Legion P27A6V

Reference price: 3999 yuan

Screen size: 27 inches

Screen ratio: 16:9

Panel type: IPS

Backlight type: Mini LED

Resolution: 3840×2160

Response time: 0.5ms (GTG)

Viewing Angle: 178°/178°

Brightness: 500cd/m2

Contrast ratio: 1000:1

Refresh rate: 144Hz

Interface type: HDMI 2.1×2, DisplayPort 1.4×1, Type-C×1, 3.5mm audio×1

Comments: The Titan Legion P27A6V has 1152 backlight partitions, which is more than 500 partitions of many ordinary Mini LED displays on the market, and the light control is more precise. It has a halo control function set in the menu, which can make the picture display more pure. The Titan Legion P27A6V uses a 3840×2160 resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate. The combination of the two is a high-end among current e-sports monitors. At the same time, its sRGB, AdobeRGB, and DCI-P3 color gamut coverage areas reached 100%, 97%, and 95%, respectively, with excellent color performance. The Titan Legion P27A6V is equipped with an ambient light sensor at the top right of the monitor, which allows the brightness of the monitor to change with the changes in ambient light. The brighter the ambient light, the higher the screen brightness, and the darker the ambient light, the lower the screen brightness automatically. Its function is to avoid excessive contrast between the screen brightness and the ambient brightness, which causes eye discomfort, which is very considerate. Titan Legion P27A6V also supports gravity sensing function. When the monitor detects that the user is rotating the screen, it will automatically adjust the display direction of web pages and windows, which is also very user-friendly.

Thundergod LU27F160M

Reference price: 4899 yuan

Screen size: 27 inches

Screen ratio: 16:9

Panel type: IPS

Backlight type: Mini LED

Resolution: 3840×2160

Response time: 1ms (GTG)

Viewing Angle: 178°/178°

Brightness: 1000cd/m2 (peak)

Refresh rate: 160Hz

Interface type: HDMI 2.1×2, DisplayPort 1.4×1, Type-C×1, 3.5mm audio×1

Comments: The newly launched LU27F160M gaming monitor by Thunder has a refresh rate of up to 4K@160Hz, which is higher than the ordinary 4K@144Hz. At the same time, the Mini LED backlight it uses has up to 1152 partitions. Compared with many ordinary models with only 576 partitions, the number of backlight partitions is not only more, but also the light control is more precise, which can greatly reduce the halo effect. In addition, the Thunder LU27F160M also has a peak brightness of up to 1000cd/㎡, and the ultra-high brightness helps to improve the picture when HDR is turned on. In addition, the color of the display is also excellent. By using quantum dot technology, the DCI-P3 color gamut coverage rate has reached about 99%. Not only that, the LU27F160M is also calibrated one by one when it leaves the factory, so that the color accuracy is less than 1. It is worth mentioning that the Thunder LU27F160M has a built-in light sensor. After turning it on, the brightness of the display backlight can be adjusted according to the ambient light. It uses a stepless dimming method, which is not dazzling in dark environments and not dark in high-brightness environments.