Монітор MSI MPG 321URX / MSI
OLED monitors attract with their vivid colors, deep blacks, and excellent contrast. But the specter of burn-in hangs over every such screen — the fear of everyone who has ever seen the remains of the «Start» menu, even in full screen YouTube. But it seems that the new models are holding up much better than anyone could have imagined. To prove or disprove this, the author of the Monitors Unboxed channel conducted an interesting 15-month experiment with a real monitor that was tried to «torture» with everyday life.
The video shows how an OLED monitor changes over time — during 15 months of active use. In short, the author gives a positive assessment of the monitor in general MSI MPG 321URX. After a long period of «worst-case scenario» conditions, the key indicators of the monitor remained normal.
During the test, the MSI MPG 321URX OLED monitor was operated daily in what the authors themselves called «aggressive burn-in». Tim Schisser from Monitors Unboxed didn’t intentionally harm the monitor — he just used it as a regular «office» LCD panel. The device was used mainly for work, without full-screen movies, so the static elements of the Windows interface and persistent applications had a chance to leave their mark. And indeed, some burn-in did occur.
The essence of the method is simple: Windows 11 in a light theme, without a screen saver, with the screen turning off after 2 hours of inactivity. Programs are constantly open in the same places — 95% of the time, the browser is on the left, the text editor is on the right. Schedule — 8 hours per day, 7 days per week, 250 hours per month, i.e. 3000 hours per year.
In the video, you can see what the monitor looked like after 6, 9, 12, and 15 months. There is almost no mention of 3 months — there were almost no problems then. It’s not easy to track changes over all periods, so the authors slightly «enhanced the» image to make it easier to see what exactly has changed. Given YouTube’s compression, this is justified.
The main problems are visible at the bottom of the screen, where the Windows taskbar was constantly on, and in vertical areas where the same windows were constantly on. We also found changes in colors — the green subpixels were affected the most. Such changes in hue and contrast can naturally disturb those who work with color. Schisser believes that at this rate, the monitor will lose the necessary accuracy in about 2-3 years.
The author assumes that the MSI MPG 321URX will have to be replaced earlier in a professional environment where color accuracy is important – in about 9 months.
But, as the authors note, most users are unlikely to use their OLED in such «extreme» conditions. For daily tasks, the monitor will last longer and look decent for a long time. Although, if you are a designer or colorist, it may be better to look at IPS options.
Monitors Unboxed promises to continue to update information about this test, so it will be interesting to follow.
Source: tomshardware