Whether you use your laptop for work, gaming or just general web browsing, having a good display can make all the difference.
OLED stands for organic light-emitting diode and works by using organic molecules which enable the individual pixels to emit their own light each time electric current is applied. It doesn’t need an external light source like LCD panels, and because there’s no external light source, that usually means the laptops are thinner, lighter and more energy efficient.
Much like OLED televisions, OLED displays create stunning visuals with superb colour accuracy, superior black levels and impressive brightness and contrast ratios meaning that once you’ve used an OLED screen, you’ll never want to go back.
Battery life is also greatly improved when using an OLED display. This is because, unlike LCD screens that display pixels in zones, OLED can turn individual pixels on or off, resulting in a more accurate image. But because the screen isn’t illuminating these extra pixels, it saves power.
OLED displays can also provide noticeably better refresh rates and wider viewing angles, which makes them perfect for gamers. But OLED screens aren’t without their problems. Whilst they may be superior to their LCD counterparts when it comes to visuals, they can suffer with burn-in. This is because certain pixels on an OLED display are often used more than others, and those pixels will become less vibrant over time resulting in an uneven image. However, this problem will likely be after some years of hard use, and if you upgrade your laptop regularly, you’ll probably never experience it.
Price was also another factor that stopped the OLED laptop market from expanding. But now that many of the major manufacturers such as Dell, Razer and ASUS are making these models more affordable, it’s time to move on from LCD screens and step into a new age of visual display.
We’ve rounded up the best OLED laptops to help you choose your next machine and upgrade your whole computing experience.
Best gaming laptops 2021, from budget to high end systems
Best 2 in 1 laptops 2021: Get the benefits of a laptop and tablet combined
Best laptops for children: from study sessions to gaming with friends
Best laptop brands 2021 for guaranteed quality whatever your budget
Best laptops for working from home
Best OLED TVs 2021: Top models reviewed from LG, Samsung and more
Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360
Best for: all-rounder
The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 offers compact design with powerful performance. Its chassis is made from brushed aluminium and comes in navy blue, so looks sleek and stylish.
It has a 15.6-inch full HD AMOLED display which results in bright, vibrant colours with fine details standing out that make this a really nice machine to work on. This display is touchscreen and can be used with the keyboard or Samsung S pen that ships with this model. The screen also benefits from SGS eye-care certification that filters the amount of harmful blue light, reducing symptoms of eye strain.
The audio is crisp and clear thanks to the AKG speakers with Dolby Atmos. It also functions as good as it looks with an Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor and 16GB of RAM that make it snappy to use.
There is a generous amount of storage space with a 512GB SSD and the battery will last around 18 hours of light office work and general web browsing. If you’re planning to take this with you when you’re working, the charger is smaller than the average phone charger, so it won’t take up valuable space in your laptop bag.
Buy now £999.00, AO
HP Spectre x360
Best for: 2-in-1
The HP Spectre x360 is part laptop and part tablet. It has a powerful Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB of onboard SDRAM for fast performance. And you never have to worry about running out of storage space as this model has a 1TB SSD.
The display is simply stunning, with a 14-inch OLED multi-touch screen. The screen also has edge to edge glass for a better viewing experience and has an anti-reflection coating, so you’ll experience no glare wherever you are using it. Colours are bright, vivid and the adaptive colour technology will adjust hues, light and colour accuracy depending on your environment.
There are plenty of privacy features built into this laptop, including a microphone mute button, which can easily be activated and uses an LED indicator light, so you know if your mic is on or off - handy for those never ending Zoom meetings.
Alexa is integrated into this machine, and you can use the voice assistant to listen to music, get news updates, manage your smart home devices, and use your PC hands-free.
Buy now £1579.99, HP
Asus ZenBook Pro Duo
Best for: dual screen
The Asus ZenBook Pro Duo is an absolute workhorse of a machine. It has two screens built into one single chassis, taking multitasking to the next level. Although the two screens do make this laptop very heavy, so it’s not really a great choice if you’re regularly commuting.
It has a large 15.6-inch OLED 4K screen with outstanding colour accuracy thanks to the Pantone verified colour space. The second screen is 14-inches wide and also has a 4K resolution.
It performs very well and enjoys an 8-core Comet Lake 10th generation Intel i9 processor with 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. The battery life is great, lasting around 5 hours, but since this is a machine you’ll most likely use when sitting at a desk, it’s not really an issue to keep it plugged in. The second screen is touch-sensitive and can be used with the Asus stylus, which has over 4,096 pressure levels to closely mimic real life writing and drawing. This is one for the creative types.
Buy now £2649.00, AO
Asus Vivobook 13 Slate OLED
Best for: students
The Vivobook 13 Slate is perfect for students who want one machine for everything. It has a stunning 13.3-inch OLED display which offers bright images with an excellent contrast ratio and fast response times. It includes Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, so it’s great for catching up on your favourite TV and movies.
This machine uses a 1.1GHz Intel® Pentium® Silver N6000 Processor with integrated Intel UHD graphics. There is plenty of storage space as it has 128GB, but it does let itself down with just 4GB of RAM, which can leave it feeling a bit sluggish when multi-tasking.
It comes with a full-sized detachable keyboard that is comfortable to type on and can be removed when using the screen for entertainment or as a tablet. The cover stand has a 170º hinge movement, so whether you’re working or binge-watching the latest Netflix must-see, you’ll find the perfect sweet spot. The device has a great battery life, lasting up to 9.5 hours on a single charge. It benefits from fast charging too, so it will reach 60 per cent charge after just 39 minutes. Speedy.
Buy now £499.00, Currys
Razer Blade Stealth 13 OLED
Best for: touchscreen capabilities
The Razer Blade Stealth has a 13-inch OLED with Razer Chroma that provides access to 16.8 million colours and a range of different effects for a veritable visual treat.
This machine has the latest 11th Generation Intel Core i7 processor and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti graphics for fast and fluid performance. It has a 120Hz refresh rate, so you won’t experience lag or long wait times - and so it’s a perfect machine if you’re a gamer or content creator.
The chassis is made from high-grade aluminium, which is very thin and super light. The audio is great on this laptop, too, with four stereo speakers that work to deliver 7.1 surround sound. Connectivity is no problem either with Thunderbolt™ 4, USB-C, USB-A ports, and the inclusion of Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1.
Buy now £1299.97, Amazon
Dell XPS 13 OLED
Best for: work
The Dell XPS 13 has a 13-inch 3.5k OLED display - one of the best screens you’ll find on any laptop. It has an ultra-portable design with a sleek chassis and weighs in at just 1.27kg so you can take it from the office to working from home with ease.
The device uses the latest 11th Gen Intel processor, which will breeze through everyday tasks and is powerful enough to handle tougher jobs such as video and photo editing. It comes with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage space with high read and write speeds. The laptop is held back somewhat by the integrated XE graphics, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still play some AAA games without experiencing lag.
The battery lasts around 7.5 hours, and considering the quality of the screen and powerful performance that isn’t bad at all.
Buy now £1299.00, Very
Asus ProArt Studiobook pro 16
Best for: getting creative
The Asus ProArt Studiobook pro 16 is a must-have to flex your creativity. It does have a high price tag but that is totally worth it for the crisp and clear 16-inch, 4K OLED display which has some of the most vibrant and accurate colours we’ve ever seen. The panel is factory-calibrated for colour accuracy to make sure that it meets the strict Pantone standards.
The laptop is powerful enough to handle any heavy task that is thrown at it thanks to the high-end Intel Core i9 processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 graphics. It has a very generous 256GB of RAM and a whopping 2TB of storage space.
The USP comes in the form of a separate dial on the keyboard that can be used to access the contextual tool commands in any of the Adobe creative apps. It can also be used outside of Adobe too for adjusting screen brightness or the audio volume.
There are plenty of connectivity ports including USB 2.0, USB-C 3, Thunderbolt 3 USB-C 3.0 with Power Delivery for charging your devices and an HDMI 2.1.
Buy now £3299.99, John Lewis
Alienware m15 R4
Best for: gamers
The Alienware m15 R4 is possibly one of the best gaming laptops on the market at present. It combines sleek design with robust performance to step your experience up to the next level. It has an Intel Core i7-10870H processor with 16GB of RAM, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 graphics and 1TB SDD storage space.
The screen is 15-inches and 4K OLED with an impressive 60Hz refresh rate. The display is bright, and the colours are rich with stand-out detail. The battery life isn’t the best lasting around five hours of solid use. This is surprising given how lightweight and portable it is which gives the impression that it’s built for being on the move.
The chassis on this machine also lights up around the keyboard and the rear edge for the wow-factor as you’re dominating in Call of Duty, Fortnite or wherever your video game allegiance lies.
The connectivity ports are spread out around the edges too, with some on the left-hand side, some on the right-hand side and unusually some, including the HDMI port situated on the back of the machine.
Buy now £2079.00, Very
Gigabyte Aero 15 with 4K OLED
Best for: content creators
The Gigabyte Aero 15 appeals to creatives and gamers alike. It has an outstanding 15.6-inch, 4K OLED screen, with plenty of configuration scope to finesse your ideal display set up. It comes with a 10th-gen Intel Core i7-10875H processor alongside 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage. Thanks to the dedicated NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 3060 with 6GB GDDR6 memory, the graphics are taken care of, and gamers will find it good enough to run most AAA games.
There are plenty of connectivity ports, including USB 3.2, USB-A, 1x USB-C with Thunderbolt support. The battery life could be better, lasting around five hours, although the integrated power management system can improve this. The keyboard has an RGB backlight, and there is a fingerprint reader for extra security.
Buy now £1829.99, Box
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Gen 6
Best for: lightweight
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Gen 6 is the world’s lightest and most durable laptop. The chassis is made from military-grade carbon fibre and comes in stylish silver. The display is a 14-inch, 16:10 QHD OLED that brings images to life. It also has an impressive 90Hz refresh rate, so your movies and shows will look smooth and life-like - next thing you know you’ll feel like you’re attending Euphoria High.
The sound is also incredible on this machine as it uses Dolby Atmos to create an authentic cinematic experience. You’ll find AMD Ryzen™ 7 5800U mobile processors with 16GB dual-channel memory and NVIDIA® GeForce® MX450 graphics. There is also a generous 1TB SSD of memory. This laptop also makes the most of the Lenovo AI Chip to enjoy hands-free login as well as Smart Adaptive sensors for display tuning and Smart Presence Detection, which will automatically wake up or lock your PC when it senses you’re near.
Buy now £1063.99, Lenovo
Verdict
If you want the best picture quality, a faster refresh and a battery that lasts longer than the average laptop, then an OLED laptop is the way to go. Whilst they are usually marketed to those in creative industries or gamers, once you experience working on one of these screens, a regular LCD screen will seem dull and dingy in comparison. Of course, budget is a big consideration when it comes to whether you should opt for an LCD or OLED laptop, and beauty does come with an expensive price tag, but a price tag that we think is worth it.
The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 is a fantastic laptop with good all-around performance. It looks incredible, it has a decent processor and a superb battery life, which is why this is our best buy choice. The fact it’s also a 2-in-1 machine and can quickly make the leap from laptop to tablet gives it a definite edge.
We also really loved the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo; yes, it is heavy, but the dual-screen is excellent for productivity, and the 4K OLED screen offers outstanding visuals. This machine also has a super-fast processor and plenty of RAM, so it is speedy, snappy and gets things done.
