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Samsung 15.6-inch OLED laptop screens enter production in mid-February

Those 15-inch 4K OLED laptops teased at CES come one step closer to reality.

Lori Grunin Senior Editor / Advice
I've been reviewing hardware and software, devising testing methodology and handed out buying advice for what seems like forever; I'm currently absorbed by computers and gaming hardware, but previously spent many years concentrating on cameras. I've also volunteered with a cat rescue for over 15 years doing adoptions, designing marketing materials, managing volunteers and, of course, photographing cats.
Expertise Photography, PCs and laptops, gaming and gaming accessories
Lori Grunin
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The HP Spectre x360 15 OLED screen option is currently slated for March availability.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Are you ready for deep blacks on your laptop? Samsung's almost ready to deliver them unto you. The company says it plans to enter mass production of the new 15.6-inch 4K OLED panels in mid-February, bringing wide color gamut, reasonably fast and high contrast to higher-end consumer and gaming laptops this spring, like the HP Spectre X360 15 and Razer Blade Advanced announced at CES this month.

The 15.6-inch size and 4K resolution are new for OLED; to date, the few OLED screens we've seen in laptops, such as the Alienware 13, have all been around 13 inches and lower resolution. 

Screens on mainstream consumer laptops have been one of the top Windows convertibles' few remaining weaknesses compared to the MacBook Pro, at least for creative work. While we don't yet know anything about the color accuracy of any particular display, it paves the way for laptops with a color gamut to challenge the reigning Apple laptop.

The higher contrast, thanks to very low black levels, also makes a laptop more suited for viewing in bright conditions. While it's capable of hitting a peak brightness of 600 nits during HDR gaming and video, you're more likely to see a maximum of about 450 nits during everyday use, which is still plenty bright. 

They'll likely bear a DisplayHDR True Black logo, since that marketing specification was created specifically to promote these displays.

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