by Andy Edser, Hardware writer
This month I’ve been testing: Laptops and flying sticks again, with a focus on a couple of RTX 4090 mobile beasts. I still think the mobile RTX 4080 is a much better shout for a laptop GPU, but some prefer the biggest GPU you can get. always buy, even if it comes with some serious disadvantages.
Tech trade shows are the place where companies can showcase not only the latest consumer products, but also the wild, crazy and futuristic products. For a while now, we’ve seen transparent displays and see-through screen technology at many of these events, but they’ve always seemed to be a few years away from release.
However, the tide is turning, and some of these devices seem to be very close to release, and they are planning to release very soon.
Samsung grabbed the headlines at this year’s CES with its claim of the world’s first transparent Micro display, which showed some impressive color and brightness reproduction, as well as better transparency that lets you see more of what’s on the other side. Meanwhile LG unveiled the world’s first wireless transparent OLED TV, which it said would be available for purchase this year.
We’ve also covered some leaked images of Lenovo’s transparent laptop concept to be unveiled at MWC, which looks like yet another attempt to showcase a use case for the technology, coming to your home devices sometime in the near future.
Trouble is, I still can’t see it why you want one.
Commercial use is one thing. Samsung’s massive Micro displays look very beautiful and impressive, and to put it another way, a fancy hotel lobby. Visiting guests would ooh and ahh over the technology, children would run around it looking through the glass at each other, and everyone would feel very reassured that they spent a lot of money wisely picking up high-tech accommodations like this to use. . stay during their journey.
But in your home, or on your lap? I remain less than convinced. First, let’s talk about the big honkin’ elephant sitting right in the middle of our transparent room: Visual fidelity and readability.
See, to me, the purpose of a show is to show you things. Things you want to see, read, immerse yourself in, in detail. Display technology up to this point has focused primarily on providing the user with visual information as clearly, as vividly as possible with panel technology, because after all, that’s what you want to spend your money on. You want to see things, and see them as well as they can possibly be provided.
So what brings transparency to the party? I’ll admit, I’ve rarely seen a document or web page on a transparent display, mainly because that was barely shown in the trade booths. There are always fireworks over a night cityscape, or fish swimming merrily through a bowl. The hope is that with a solid background helpfully displayed behind the text, or some highly adjustable transparency settings, it’s a perfectly usable experience comparable to the readability of a regular panel.
However, as every attempt I’ve seen at opaque block rendering stands on one of the displays it doesn’t look as clear as it would on a traditional screen, with green edges, blurry pixels and odd distortion effects. Do all these issues bode well for the ability to see through the panel itself?
Another LG CES demonstration came in the form of Dukebox, an “innovative audio product” concept that features a gorgeous adjustable transparent OLED display in front of its very nice glowing shutters, along with the suggestion that it could be used to watch a movie. .
I mean, I’m sure it could, but given the issues we’ve seen so far the question is, do you really want to?
LGs transparent OLED TV, for what it’s worth, features two different display modes. You can view your content in transparent mode to create a “powerful and atmospheric effect”, or you can press a button to raise a contrast screen behind the display, which can be more like it’s regular television.
LG suggests that you can place your TV in the center of the room as a giant display for your photos and artwork, as it is a large glass panel. Much less visible than a regular display, that big piece of glass, you see.
Still, good luck keeping your children or visiting guests from smearing it with fingerprints from both sides, or dust from collecting on both sides of the panel. Keeping a large, prominently placed glass panel clear on both sides is a headache, although that cutting-edge technology is likely to be priced, it may not be much of a problem for your average early adopter and your own screen keep clean.
And then there is the Lenovo laptop, called Project Crystal. When we first covered the leaked images, there were some suggestions in the comments that it could be using a transparent display that was only visible on one side, and that the assumption is that you could see from behind and that read everyone’s emails publicly (albeit in reverse) ahead of time. Okay.
However, it has just debuted at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and I’m sorry to tell you that, but…
Although Lenovo says it is working on possible features to block the back of the display, as it stands this transparent laptop doesn’t bring much to the table other than aesthetics. And while I can recommend it as a visually interesting piece of concept display, it doesn’t seem to add much to the usability of the device by making it transparent, other than perhaps making it more desirable to take off as it clearly is it is very desirable. dear
Before I let this column get too winded, I’ll make one important admission: Transparent displays can be really nice. We covered a fishbowl PC case displayed by MSI at its CES booth that featured an LED crystal film display that wraps around the curve, and even I was impressed with the visual result.
For what it’s worth, the novel is scarce. If transparent displays become mainstream, then the shine will probably disappear.
It caught our attention. He drew us in. It made us pay attention to the display, just looking at the originality of an image beautifully rendered on glass while still being able to see what was behind it. Once there, show attendees were expected to check out the other products as well, which we faithfully did, although I’d like to point out that we did so for the purposes of comprehensive journalistic coverage, and not just because we’re drawn . to shiny things like moths to flame.
All very well as a selling point technique to attract the attention of the public there, although it is very worthwhile, the novelization is lacking. If transparent displays become mainstream, the light will probably wear out soon, and most people will ignore the visual clutter in the hope of achieving something substantial.
But have one in your home? Buying a transparent panel not only because it is very attractive, but because you want to drive it daily as a meaningful useful device that you are willing to spend serious sums of money on?
Until now, I count out.
Still, be prepared to marvel at some amazing transparent displays in public demonstrations near you. Make them, if you like, and I will be among you. But for me and my personal devices, I’ll take my traditional screens if that’s okay with the rest of you, sci-fi aesthetics be damned.
