Monitors Unboxed's latest 18 month OLED burn-in update is in and it's mostly good news. Even after well over 4,000 hours of brutal, worst-case usage the YouTube channel's 32-inch 4K QD-OLED panel is only just beginning to show sufficient signs of burn in to be "annoying."
Monitors Unboxed emphasises that their usage isn't at all representative of gaming, or even of mixed usage of work and games. They've used their MSI MPG 321URX QD-OLED monitor, just like the one we reviewed, for 95% static content and productivity work, no gaming and only occasional video playback.
What's more, the channel hasn't run the panel's pixel compensation cycle every four hours as recommended due to the interruption that causes to workflows, instead only allowing it to run after each work session and thus roughly every eight hours.
Running at a calibrated 200 nits and Windows in Light mode but with a dark taskbar, Monitors Unboxed has been using the display for about 60 hours a week and 250 hours a month. They estimate that at 15 months that added up to between 3,400 and 3,800 hours with 413 panel compensation cycles, and now this latest 18 month update represents 4,000 to 4,500 hours usage and 486 compensation cycles.
So, what are the results? From 12 to 18 months, "there's been a noticeable increase in the visibility of the main artefacts in uniform dark grey test images," though only a small change from 15 months.
While the burn-in is "universally" worse than at 15 months, "we're not talking about a mind-blowing difference, it's continual, gradual degradation," Monitors Unboxed says. The burn-in comprises a visible line down middle, mainly because the channel's daily usage consists of two side-by side app windows, plus an inverse shadow where the dark task bar has worn the panel less. No app icons are visible, just these general shadows.
More specifically, the red subpixel has degraded the least, the blue subpixel is the second most affected, with the green subpixel clearly the worst of the three. As a consequence, the panel is effectively shifting towards red, with the measured white point shifting from 6450K at new to 6350K after 12 months, though after 18 months that hasn't drifted any further.
Interestingly, the panel still hits the same 243 nits peak full-screen brightness, that hasn't changed from day one. However, the channel is, "becoming a bit more annoyed with the problem in specific situations."
Apparently, the taskbar burn-in a non issue, it's just not noticeable. But the line down the centre and the "left-right uniformity issue" are starting to become annoying. it's most visible in apps with dark grey backgrounds, but is also just noticeable when reviewing game capture video.
Still, the overall conclusion is mostly reassuring if you own an OLED monitor. At 18 months, Monitors Unboxed is, "only now starting to get a little annoyed at the level of burn-in. But really for most tasks, it's still fine."
Monitors Unboxed also says that their absolute worst case usage is probably equivalent to heavy mixed use for at least three years for most people, and possibly even more. That ties in with recent claims from MSI itself, that after running an OLED monitor for 533 days, seven hours, and 22 minutes straight, the effects of burn-in on its displays are 'basically none'.
All of which means that while OLED burn-in is real enough, you can be pretty confident that gaming isn't going to be a problem and even pretty heavy general computing should be just fine for quite a few years.
1. Best overall:
MSI MPG 321URX
2. Best 4K:
LG Ultragear 27GR93U
3. Best budget 4K:
Gigabyte M28U
4. Best 1440p:
Xiaomi G Pro 27i
5. Best budget 1440p:
KTC H27T22C-3
6. Best budget 1080p:
AOC Gaming C27G4ZXE
7. Best Ultrawide:
Asus ROG Swift OLED PG34WCDM
8. Best 32:9:
Samsung Odyssey OLED G9
9. Best budget ultrawide:
ASRock Phantom PG34WQ15R2B
10. Best WOLED:
LG Ultragear 32GS95UE
11. Best 1440p OLED:
MSI MPG 271QRX
12. Best budget OLED ultrawide:
Alienware 34 QD-OLED
13. Best dual-mode:
Alienware AW2725QF
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