OLED monitors have taken the PC gaming scene by storm. These monitors offer truly deep contrast, plenty of brightness, and incredibly low response times (as low as 0.01ms). This blend of incredible image quality and minimal input lag makes OLED displays a fantastic experience for both single-player and competitive games. However, all that bleeding-edge performance is going to cost you a pretty penny. So, before you start your hunt for the best gaming monitor, there are a few caveats you need to know.

4 QD-OLED vs. WOLED

Not all OLED panels are the same

All the latest and greatest 4K OLED monitors will use either Samsung's QD-OLED or LG's WOLED panel. Most of these monitors will have high refresh rates, excellent color reproduction, and high contrast. QD-OLED and WOLED are subvariants of OLED displays, meaning they both use organic diodes to directly emit light. This eliminates the need for a backlight as seen on standard LCD displays. Since these pixels can turn off completely when there's no color on the screen, the black levels and contrast are much better.

However, both QD-OLED and WOLED are different when it comes to panel and subpixel structure. Here's what that means and why it matters:

• WOLED: A WOLED panel uses an OLED layer at the bottom that releases white light. This white light passes through four subpixels with a color filter of red, green, or blue to display those respective colors. There's a fourth white subpixel as well, which lacks a color filter and directly passes the white light coming from the OLED layer.
• QD-OLED: The OLED layer at the bottom of a QD-OLED panel emits a blue light that passes through a quantum dot layer that changes the light's wavelength to red or green for their respective subpixels. A third blue subpixel directly passes the blue light coming from the bottom OLED layer. The three subpixels are arranged triangularly: green on top, red and blue on the bottom.

The motion performance and response time speeds on both panels are roughly the same at the same refresh rate. However, QD-OLEDs tend to have better color brightness and a wider color gamut. The quantum dots emit highly specific wavelengths of light when they are illuminated by the blue light from the OLED layer. These quantum dots also directly convert blue light into red and green without the need for filters. Peak white brightness might be better with some WOLEDs, but most QD-OLEDs still manage to compete well.

Another subtle difference is the fact that most QD-OLED panels are glossy, and most of the WOLED monitors on the market right now have a matte coating. Some WOLED monitors like the LG 32GS95UE also offer a 480Hz Dual Mode that makes them better for competitive gaming. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, so make the choice based on your needs.

3 Matte vs. glossy coating

Some people are really stubborn about this

A lot of people online are not happy about LG's OLED panels, mainly because they're using a matte display instead of a glossy one. The matte coating reduces reflections and makes them easier to use in rooms with significant lighting. Typically, matte displays will be slightly less punchy and have lower contrast than their glossy counterparts. However, that issue is a bit overblown with monitors that are using LG's latest WOLED technology.

Despite a slight difference in color temperature, the black levels and color saturation between a lot of matte and glossy OLED monitors are nearly identical. Sure, the glossy QD-OLED panel will be slightly sharper, but you will need to get very close to your monitor to notice this difference. However, you will definitely notice the difference in coating more if you have a lot of light in the room. Reflections on a glossy panel will be more distracting than on a matte panel.

At the end of the day, it's a personal preference that won't affect the user experience all that much. However, if you really feel that the reflections will be distracting to you on a glossy panel, go with the matte displays. On the other hand, if you want a slightly sharper and punchier image, glossy is your best bet.

2 Text clarity

If you're dead set on an OLED display, particularly a QD-OLED one, text clarity might be something that you need to worry about. The triangular subpixel arrangement of a lot of QD-OLED displays isn't perfectly aligned with the grid-based pixel arrangement seen on Windows. This misalignment can lead to color fringing, where colored edges appear around the text and make it look slightly blurred.

It's worth noting that this is more of a Windows problem than a panel problem. The text rendering algorithms on Windows are optimized for traditional RGB stripe layout, but QD-OLED panels use a different subpixel structure. Both early WOLED and QD-OLED monitors faced this problem, but it's less of an issue with newer displays. Samsung has also introduced QD-OLED Gen 3, which makes significant advances in text clarity. These panels have optimized subpixel arrangements and better rendering technologies, reducing the color-fringing issue.

Still, it's an issue that you should look out for when reading or watching reviews of any OLED monitor you're considering. If you're sensitive to this sort of thing or your workflow involves reading a lot of text, maybe put off buying an OLED until the situation gets better.

1 The HDR experience is inconsistent

Not something you want from a $1000 monitor

If you're buying a high-end 4K OLED monitor, you'll also want to use HDR to get the best experience, right? Unfortunately, the HDR experience on Windows is wildly inconsistent across different games. This Reddit thread sums it up perfectly. Many people report problems with tone mapping, incorrect brightness levels, and inconsistent color representation in a vast variety of games. Bugs and glitches are also common, with some games failing to properly detect or apply the correct HDR settings.

There's also the fact that turning on HDR increases response times and input lag on most displays. This won't be a problem in single-player games, but you definitely don't want to use HDR if all you care about is competitive gaming. For now, treat HDR as an added bonus instead of an absolute must-have. If you're going to buy an OLED monitor, get it for the high contrast levels, excellent colors, and low response time, not for HDR.

Be careful when choosing an OLED monitor

OLED gaming monitors are certainly exciting, but make sure you conduct ample research before buying one. If problems such as text rendering or potential burn-in are a major concern, I wouldn't buy an OLED right now. However, the lifelike colors, low response times, and excellent motion handling are certainly tempting. Prices are certainly high, but they will inevitably drop and make OLED monitors more accessible for the average person.