FHD(1080p) vs UHD(4k) for gaming: Any downside to UHD besides price?

Hey all,

I recently purchased a Lenovo Y700 (15.6 inch monitor) with UHD for $100 over the model with FHD. I know this is a gaming laptop, and I assume the graphics card will not be able to run new games at UHD resolutio.

So here is my question: If I put the display or games at 1080p resolution, will it look and perform the same way as the FHD screen? Basically, I am just wondereing if I lose anything by upgrading to the UHD screen. I figure it could be a win/win. 4K resolution when I want it when not gaming, and perhaps 1080p mostly when gaming. I saw a video where someone said 1080p does not look great on a 4k monitor, even though it makes sense that it would, since 4 pixels on a 4k screen equal 1 pixel on a 1080p screen.


Thanks!

Matt

 

It will perform the same as the FHD screen, but it will not be as sharp and crisp. There's no way around that.

 

It will not be as sharp and crisp as a 1080 P screen or as as a 4k screen?

 

Running any resolution on a LCD screen that is not the native resolution will result in a loss of image quality. It will still look good, but 1080p on a 4k screen will not look as nice and crisp and clear as would be on a 1080p screen.

That does not just pertain to a 4k screen. Any screen that is asked to output at its non-native resolution will have the same issue. It's a limitation of the LCD technology.

 

There isn't any reason at all to get 4K resolution on a 15" display. I don't think it's too much of a stretch for me to say that.

On desktop productivity use, you're going to use DPI scaling. So you won't actually get any additional screen real-estate or content on the screen (because of the DPI scaling). And you won't game at 4K, so you won't get benefit there either. And you'll notice shorter battery life as well, since your screen is pushing 4x the number of pixels over 1080p.

 

My question is what's the main purpose of using UHD? do you photoshop or video edit? if not then UHD/4K is overkill.

 

For those with good enough eyesight the bump in pixel density is noticeable on text, icons, pictures, games etc. Windows 10 Metro UI looks much nicer on a UHD display than a FHD one.

 

i just got a 4k tv and playing games at 1080p still looks just like good ole 1080p. i dont even notice a difference side by side native 1080p.

just get a 4k screen, you wont regret it

 

4k TV is far different than 4k monitor. 4k TV is intended to be viewed from several feet away, whereas a laptop screen is two feet in front of you. You see a lot more detail in pixel and image imperfections.

You also don't view read computer text on a 4k HDTV, so you won't understand what a colossal pain DPI scaling can be.

If you want an analogy, think about it this way...you can run 720p content on a 1080p on an HDTV, and it looks decent. But if you ran 720p on a 1080p 15" monitor, it would look horrible.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

 

Exactly. I have a 4K TV and don't regret the purchase, but I have tried 4K monitors and on 15" laptops and I would never buy one for gaming or productive work. Only thing it's good for is viewing 4K videos in native resolution and those are few and far between. The underlying issue here is Windows. I don't think Linux handles it much better. OSX does but it uses a completely different way of rendering text and graphics.

 

1080p on a 15.6" display has a higher pixel density than a 4k tv. So even if you are sitting close to the laptop display, thanks to the pixel density it won't look too bad.

To the OP, 1080p on that 4k monitor will look good but not as perfect as it would look as the 1080p display running its native resolution.

In games, running at 1080p on 4K isn't that bad. I don't think it will disrupt your gaming experience.

 

Obviously it can never look as good as true native 1080p because physics, but I find it very hard to tell the difference for the reason ssj92 gave - even 1080p 15.6" is a higher pixel density than most desktop 4K monitors. And there's plenty of less demanding and older titles that a 980M can handle at full 4K, 60fps - like Devil May Cry (2013), Shadow Warrior (2013), Child of Light etc.

It's only a matter of time before mainstream Windows programs like Steam fully support 4K in their UI.

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

 

ive been using my 4k tv as a monitor fyi. text isnt too bad

 

And how big is your 4k TV? If you're looking at 4k on a 15" screen vs a 40" screen there's a huge difference.

 

Your laptop screen is 15" - there's no point in getting the 4K screen. Small laptops benefit less from very-high-resolution screens. As @HTWingNut has said - Windows has terrible DPI scaling, and it certainly isn't as elegant as OS X's solution. Just get the 1080p screen - you won't regret it. 1/4th the pixels, and more battery life.

 

Don't forget, more performance too. With that said, I would suggest getting a 4K screen, downscale it to 1080p, then in several years once you get a better GPU, switch to 4K and then play games @ 4K with ease with a super beefy GPU.

 

Indeed.

This is assuming OP has an MXM-capable laptop, which he probably doesn't. The Lenovo Y700 is just too thin to be MXM.

 

How does anyone in his right mind buy a 4K screen laptop?

 

Bottom line is Windows scaling sucks. And there needs to be more resolution options than just 1080p or 4k. Something in between please. And on netbooks/thinbooks/whatever you want to call them, that come with 3K or 4K screens, sure they aren't gaming powerhouses, but you can game at 720p, but Intel scaling for games sucks too. Half the time it won't go full screen, other times it shifts it to a tiny unmovable window in the upper corner, and other times it just won't run. I have not experienced these same issues on laptops with 1080p or lower native LCD resolutions. Windows PC's just have too many issues with high DPI LCD's still to make it a viable option.

 

I don't even know why a laptop manufacturer would include UHD as an option on a laptop that comes with a GTX 960M. That card can't push any game at a decent level of detail at that resolution.

To give you an idea, my desktop is running a GTX 980 and a 2k (2560x1440) 25" monitor. On high settings, a game like Dragon Age Inquisition gets average FPS of around 70-75. That's with a desktop GTX 980.

Now imagine what a 960M would do with 2.25x as many pixels.

Sure, you can downscale "pefectly" to 1080p (4 pixels acting as one), but then what's the point of UHD? And a 15" monitor is so small that 1080p looks really sharp on it due to high PPI.

FYI, I had the Y700, and the FHD display is pretty bad, only marginally better than the crap screen on the new Dell Inspiron 7000. They actually put a thin matte film over a glossy screen - it isn't actually a matte display. So from that point of view, maybe you're better off with the UHD display panel.

 

Oh, I didn't even think about that. I didn't realize I was in the gaming section, not the Clevo section (where most laptops are MXM). >_<

 

Hehehe, not most. Maybe a quarter to a third. The W230SS wasn't MXM (but still rPGA), the P6 series are fully BGA.

 

I dunno, I'd say at least half of them are, and you see a LOT more posts about the DM/ZM series these days which are fully upgradeable and MXM, compared to how many Lenovo MXM? Probably like 0 but I'm not sure.

 

As far as the majority of the newer models are concerned, only a handful are fully socket-based.

P750/P770
P775
P870

The older models were more likely to be socket-based.

 

Hey all,
Thanks for your feedback and different perspectives. It's cool to post in a forum like this one where everyone knows way more than I do about this topic. So here's an update:

I got the Lenovo Y700 with the 4K screen because due to a deal with the sales guy over the phone, it only cost $100 more than the HD screen. After running some benchmarking tests and games, it's clear the graphics can't support 4k gaming, as you all know. Maybe 15-20 FPS max. But turn down the resolution to 1080P and the graphics card seems capable of running modern games at high settings upwards of 30-50 FPS. The LCD does a great job of downscaling to 1080P. I do have to look hard to notice differences, and the image looks crisp to me.

While editing photos or looking at text, 4k is clearly sharper than 1080P. So it seems like a win/win to me, especially because I want to get more proficient at using a new DLSR. Gaming at 1080P on a 4K screen looks great to me. I'm curious if anyone has info on just how much a 4K screen drains battery vs a 1080P screen, but that really isn't an issue for me because I have an iPad. So for air travel, watching movies, etc, the iPad does the trick.

So here's another question/problem I've stumbled upon, and noticed in other LCD monitors. I want to bring it up now, though, since I could still return this PC if something is wrong.

I noticed that when I boot up the computer and the screen is black for a few seconds, that the black color is not uniform accross the screen but a bit blotchy, particularly in the bottom right corner. I notice this effect changes when I touch the edge of the screen to change the viewing angle. Here's a photo to document what I'm seeing using a black screen youtube video:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3DMDxsayy42cWRtNFJKc1VqNVllZ2gyaEZpcVBNWjg5N0hv/view?usp=sharing

And for comparison a red video captured via my iphone camera--I don't think the camera caught the color the display was getting out, but you can see the inconsistency and I think it's more obvious in the photo than in reality:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3DMDxsayy42a1VEalU0UGpHd3dHeVpCYTVzRkI4bUdINi1F/view?usp=sharing

Finally, here's a photo of what the LCD looks like when viewing this page:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3DMDxsayy42eUJXMkNLS3lZdkRqYzZuX08xSmlDSFVESEU0/view?usp=sharing

I've also noticed a very similar effect on my Samsung LCD TV when a program begins and the screen is black. In both cases, the phenomena I'm talking about is not visible (as far as I can tell) when regularly using the computer.

So some questions. Is this normal? Is there a name for this phenomenon, because I can't seem to find anything about it online? Should I return this computer? Is it defective?

Thanks,
Matt

 

Fair enough. If the screen works for you and you haven't really got issues with the downscaling in games then it's a decent investment. As you rightly mentioned - it's excellent for photo/video editing.

The phenomenon is called backlight bleeding - it's very common in notebooks with IPS (in-plane switching) screens. It occurs because of uneven pressure on the edges of the screen by the bezel, and causes the screen to appear brighter where there's higher pressure than normal (try it yourself by pressing on any part of the screen with your finger - it becomes brighter). The problem is mitigated to a large extent by glueing another layer of glass onto the screen (á la Retina MacBook Pro) thereby flattening it and evening out the pressure on the edges. However, this means that the screen will not be easily replaced.

Many laptops face this problem, and I urge you to not send in your laptop for this, since it's relatively minor, and as you also rightly said, unnoticeable in normal use with widely varied colour.

However, if you do feel savvy enough and are willing to risk your warranty (probably), then you can consider removing the bezel to inspect where there might be high-pressure areas and cleaning them. Frequently, just removing and reinstalling the bezel itself would help - it certainly did with mine. Don't try this if you're not confident that you can put everything back together without the manufacturer noticing, though.

Oh, and finally...

You can attach images directly in this forum. If you're on a smartphone, download and install Tapatalk, and search for NotebookReview. Sign in and you can directly use your camera roll. If not, and you're on a desktop (or you don't want to use Tapatalk, though I can't be sure why one wouldn't want to use it) you can still attach images using the WYSIWYG editor (click the paperclip - I think - since I'm using my smartphone now and can't be exact).

 

Well, I went against your advice and ordered a replacement laptop. The replacement arrived today and has just as much clouding or more than the original. So is the clouding inevitable with laptops? Do you think it has anything to do with the 4k display?

 

Well, can't say I didn't tell you so. But nevertheless -

It's not inevitable and certainly not with all laptops. As I said, your laptop has an IPS screen, and most laptops with an IPS screen that do not have an additional layer of glass glued to the screen (i.e. every laptop in the market besides MacBook Pros) suffer backlight bleed to at least a small extent. Just need to visit the Clevo forums and the most recent threads to see what I mean, and most NBR participants agree that Clevo makes the best laptops.

Even my smartphone has some backlight bleed. It's not inherent to the screen, and it's mainly because of the bezel assembly. As I said, it can be mitigated (by performing what I mentioned) but not eliminated, unless you do it like Apple (which makes replacing screens hard and wasteful).

I suggest just leaving it as it is, since it's a minor issue.

 

Duplicate post.