UHD IPS or TN 120Hz G-sync panel?

I have a friend who is planning to get a 17 R4 because the store he wants to buy it from is having a sale. There's two panel options mentioned in the title available for him. He doesn't play anything competitively (stuff like MMO'S and fps games like overwatch or Cod) and prefers anything that he can play offline (stuff like dark souls or witcher). He also plans to use the laptop for photoshop if he decide to do graphic design. He's used to playing on 30Hz monitor for the last 5 years and doesn't know if the 120Hz will make a difference. He wants opinions from more than the four people he's talked to, just to be sure he's getting a good display. What do you people recommend?

 

I have the uhd panel on my 15R3 and I love it!

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Nice, do you have any screen tearing when playing games on it?

 

120hz. No question.

 

Yes, but it depends on the game. Vsync helps a lot.

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Even if it's a TN panel? Are the viewing angle good? If so, how much of an angle will the panels colours start to shift?

 

I don't know what you guys are doing on your laptops but I don't have my laptop curved away from me. The viewing angle is fine under normal usage for me.

 

It depends on the panel quality. Some TN panel color shift drastically even slightly. But I'm no sure how Alienwares panels are since people say they have wider viewing angles.

 

I owned both. Been swapping back and forth to be honest. Finally, I'm sticking with the QHD 120hz. Although the UHD has better color and resolution it just can't beat out the faster response time and refresh rate of the QHD if you are a gamer. It is one of the best TN panels out there.

 

I did see the panels for myself and it is true, the QHD doesn't look as bad as I thought. However Im not sure if the 120Hz is going to be useful if my friend just plays at 60fps for everything.

 

Once you go above 60fps, you don't go back. I have a friend who called it a gimmick until I finally got him to try it. He's always been good at FPS but after switching to a 120hz+ monitor w/ G-Sync he was owning every game thrown at him

 

So read all the replies and my friend has decided. Theres a sale coming on dell's website, he has some cash to spare for a monitor so depending on which laptop is cheaper, he'll buy a monitor of the other quality. Like if he gets the TN panel, ips monitor then. It's all up to him now but I have told him about what you people said and is taking it into consideration. I might post pictures and do thermal and other tests on the forum. Thank you all for the advice!

 

If he's been playing at 30Hz... then even 60Hz will be immensely more responsive. 120Hz might break his eyes... lol... Seriously? 30Hz? No way! You meant to say 60Hz right?

 

Yes, I'm not joking . He plays on a 30Hz TV, you can even see the individual pixels lol

 

do our self a favor, it is better to never use a 120hz monitor then to have to replace every monitor you have to 120hz. Now I have 2 useless 60hz monitors taking up space.

 

Wow, impressive xD.

120Hz all the way. But yeah, it's like a one way road.

 

The OP specifically stated his friend might end up using this for photoshop/graphic design as well, and yet people still suggested the TN panel?

For me the answer is always an easy one - if you plan on doing anything else in addition to gaming, especially anything related to graphics, get yourself the panel with the best colour reproduction. A fast TN panel is only useful for gaming, period. A high-quality IPS panel with high brightness and great colour reproduction is what you want for all tasks that aren't games.

 

This is true in many senses. However, it also entirely depends on personal preference. I am a professional video editor and DO need accurate color representation, but the difference between post-calibration color accuracy on a decent TN panel and an IPS panel is actually not that significant. Most TN panels have massive deltas out of the box, but can be calibrated with Spyder to below 3 usually. Black levels and contrast don't really change, but they are still "accurate" for most applications. They certainly won't look as good when compared side by side to a good IPS panel or Sharp's stellar 4k IGZO, but right when you start moving the mouse or open a browser or press the start key the quality of 120Hz animation vs. 60Hz animation is IMO more valuable to my overall experience than the color difference.

Plus, any serious colorist or well paid video editor isn't going to be using a laptop screen for their final renders, they'll be using something like a wide-gamut self-calibrating 10-bit Eizo (Maybe the $6000 CG318-4k haha). Making the step to mobile editing is where the largest sacrifice in color quality occurs. I've had both IPS and TN panels of varying qualities, but after getting my first 120Hz panel I can't stand 60Hz, even for video editing. At this point I've gotten used to working with color on a calibrated TN, and know what to expect when I transfer my work to my desktop for further refinement and tweaking. Sometimes that isn't even necessary.

For professional editing on the go, however, where end-to-end production occurs on one screen, sacrificing 120Hz for a good panel could definitely be worth it. That being said it would definitely have to be something better than the stock 60Hz IPS on the Clevo displays... The B173ZAN01.0 or the 15.6'' Sharp IGZO are supreme for sure.

After 120Hz, 60Hz just makes me feel like the OS interface, the entire computer, and my eyes are all lagging at once lol.

 

I had a very good 120Hz panel back when I had my Alienware 17R1 (I swapped out the craptastic default panel for a Samsung LTN173HT02-P01), and I can't say it impressed me enough to prefer it over a good quality IPS panel with superior brightness and colour gamut. For me the difference in refresh rate (outside of games) wasn't all that apparent.

 

Interesting. For me 120Hz vs 60Hz is night and day!

Well, to each their own I suppose haha.

 

I agree the difference between the 60hz and 120hz is marginal at best. I think it is a gimmick, like that Tobii rubbish.

 

Or maybe some people (like me, I guess) are less sensitive to the difference than others.

 

What about ghosting (response time) on the IPS? I have a retina display and its pretty awful :/