In the recent years nearly everything is having more and more pixels put into it, as everything is becoming HD or further such as 4k Ultra HD which is the new fad that is beginning to show up in nearly everything and recently even laptop computers. However, when it comes to the ultra HD laptops, there is a question about if it is really worth it?
While yes the idea of having a laptop with an ultra HD 4k screen is exciting is it worth the tradeoffs? With an ultra HD laptop, there is a difference of screen quality obviously, but along with that there is a difference in price and performance. When it comes to clarity and resolution, the 4k HD will always outperform the 1080p HD without any competition. When considering a new laptop and looking at the 4k HD laptops there is more to consider than just that simple quality of clarity. To start off there is the question about how much of a difference to the naked human eye a 4k laptop screen is going to make. Let’s face it laptop screens are only 13 to 15 inches wide. In the end, laptop screens are small and according to studies about it. Researchers have been able to conclude that people with 20/20 vision won’t be able to tell any difference after 220 pixels per square inch after they are thirty inches away from a screen of that size.
But many don’t have 20/20 vision which makes the case even worse because for people that don’t have this type of vision the number is lower many people with any vision impairment cannot tell the difference after 90 pixels per square inch. So do people really sit that close to their laptop when they work with it? Most of the time, no people usually stay a decent ways away from the screen of their laptop. Another thing that most people don’t look at before going and spending a lot of money for high definition is that the amount of pixels only affects the resolution and there is more to how clear a picture appears than just the resolution. The components that make up how clear a picture appears are brightness, contrast, color fidelity, and the viewing angle and in the end no amount of pixel density can make up for plain out the poor color.
But this is only one part of the laptop that needs to be considered when looking into purchasing an Ultra HD laptop another thing is laptops are meant to be portable. Meaning you need a good battery life in order for it to do its job properly for the customer. But when it comes to adding pixels per square inch to improve the resolution which creates the HD or 4K picture that tends to have an adverse effect on the battery life of a laptop. Researchers have done extensive testing to see how long the battery life lasts in some of the recent HD laptops that have come out over the years. The results are that these laptops battery life ranges from lasting barely over an hour to maybe two hours. But just like anything it depends if you are just allowing the laptop to sit and drain or what exactly you are using it for as everything takes a different amount of battery life depending on what it is being used for. Overall the HD screen seems to be the common factor in killing a laptop’s battery life; leaving the question of how worth is it to have an ultra HD laptop when even normal HD laptops are having their battery life compromised by the use of these screens.
So therefore the question is still there. Right now is it truly worth to invest in a 4K laptop when one of your main tradeoffs other than increased price is a laptop which has almost no battery life all because of a screen. 4K laptops don’t perform better than just normal laptops when all that is changed is the screen quality and the software for the screen but it does cause the price to increase dramatically plus it tends to kill off your laptops battery life.
So for those that are on the go and use their laptop for work it really isn’t worth it until the battery life is extended as well; unless the customer is willing to buy and charge extra batteries to carry with them. However, even that defeats the purpose of the laptop itself because then how portable is it?