The Uncomfortable Truth About Laptops with HDR Displays

Having watched HDR content on a laptop is unlike anything I've ever experienced before, and it's genuinely uncomfortable at times. The sheer brightness of these displays is something that requires a deep understanding of what makes them tick. To put this into perspective, making a display as bright as 1,000 nits isn't particularly difficult - you just need to pump more power into the backlight. However, this also means that blocking out all that light to get darker colors becomes an issue, leading to areas of the screen turning gray instead of black, which severely affects contrast.

To overcome this problem, manufacturers have had to get creative. One solution is local dimming, where several hundred or so zones of the backlight are independently lit depending on how bright a particular area needs to be. This can create some impressive images, but it also comes with its own set of challenges, particularly in terms of contrast. For example, if you have a bright object next to something dark, you might notice haloing effects around the bright areas. However, with modern LEDs that are designed specifically for laptop displays, this is less of an issue.

One of the most impressive examples of LED technology in laptops is Clevo's Ultra 17. This behemoth of a laptop boasts an impressive 1,000 nits of brightness and features tens of thousands of individual LEDs to achieve this level of brightness. However, despite its impressive specs, there are some compromises when it comes to contrast. For example, moving the cursor around on a black screen will still leave you with tiny haloing effects around the cursor - not ideal. Nevertheless, this is a far cry from what we've seen with traditional LCD displays.

Clevo isn't stopping at Ultra 17, though. The company also has an untitled XMG laptop that promises to blow minds when it's released in February. With its massive 18.5-inch display and massive 201.4% increase in speaker area, this thing is going to be LOUD. We're talking loud enough to potentially damage your hearing if you don't take precautions. The specs for this beast are impressive, with a desktop-class Ryzen 3 GPU and the ability to handle games like they were meant to be played.

Speaking of which, Clevo has also released an all-new laptop called the L140CU or Shanker VF14. This thing is essentially an LG Gram in disguise, with a sturdy build quality that belies its massive size and weight (888 grams). While it may not be the most exciting laptop on paper, it's certainly one of the most ambitious when it comes to specs. With a battery life of up to 73Wh and a power-efficient display, this thing is capable of getting you through a full day of work without needing a recharge.

However, before we get too excited about these laptops, it's worth noting that they're not without their flaws. For example, the Ultra 17 comes with a hefty price tag - around $1,000 for a decently spec'd model. Not exactly cheap, especially considering what you might be able to get in terms of specs from similar laptops on the market.

Finally, we have to talk about Pulseway. This is an app that allows you to remotely monitor and manage your servers and systems, whether they're Windows, Linux, or Mac. It's like having a team of IT experts at your beck and call - and it's free to try out, with discounts available for teams subscriptions. So if you've got a server setup at home or in the office that you need to keep an eye on, Pulseway is definitely worth checking out.

Linus Tech Tips' Pulseway Review

I recently stumbled upon Pulseway while trying to figure out how to monitor my servers and systems remotely. As it turns out, Pulseway is the perfect tool for the job - and I'm not just saying that because I forgot about CES to spend time with this app. With its remote desktop functionality, Pulseway gives you access to all sorts of critical information, including system status, resource usage, logged-in users, network performance, and more.

One of the best things about Pulseway is how easy it is to use. Even if you're not a tech expert, you can get started with this app in no time. And if you are a tech expert, well, then you'll be in heaven. The level of detail that Pulseway provides is staggering - and it's clear that the devs have put a lot of thought into how they want to use this tool.

Of course, like any good app, there are some caveats to consider. For example, you'll need to create an account and verify your email address in order to start using Pulseway. And if you're not careful, you might find yourself getting lost in the sheer amount of information that's available. But trust me, it's worth taking the time to explore.

One of the best things about Pulseway is how affordable it is - especially when compared to some of the other remote management tools out there. It's free to try out, with discounts available for teams subscriptions. And even if you don't need all the features that Pulseway has to offer, it's still worth checking out. After all, who wouldn't want to have a team of IT experts at their beck and call?

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enokay guys can you please stop emailing me random laptops being like oh my god have you seen this when yes we have it is another clevo which is not a bad thing like this thing right here is one of the coolest laptops that i've seen all of ces but before that the ces video is brought to you by pulseway if you enjoy getting work done well not at work then you need pulseway the software that lets you remotely monitor manage and control all your it systems from just one app try for free and get 20 off their team's plan when you sign up at the link below clevo is an original design manufacturer or odm from taiwan that builds excellent laptops that are then sold by brands such as maingear origin pc electronics xmg or just loads of other ones basically how it works is clevo designs the chassis the keyboard motherboard and screens but the reseller then buys the bare bones and decides on the final things like ram and storage warranties bios and marketing so let's look into the laptops then this right here is the clevo x170sm-g whereas the consumer might see it the xmg ultra 17 giving you a good idea of why cleveo needs a bit of help on the marketing side of things the crazy thing about this is the display right here we have a 17 inch 4k mini led display that has an eye searing brightness of 1 000 nits look at that ah turn it down so the camera can see it still look looking at a white window on this is legitimately uncomfortable but watching hdr content is unlike anything i've ever seen on a laptop before so to understand why having mini leds on a laptop is so awesome let's talk for a second about what exactly is required to make a display as bright as 1 000 nits on its own making something bright's pretty easy just more power into the backlight and boom there you go 1000 nets the only problem is that you'll have to also block all of that light to get darker colors leading to areas of the screen that should be black turning into a kind of gray mess that lacks any level of contrast that you might expect from a display to overcome this manufacturers first used local dimming which is where there might be several hundred or so zones of the backlight that can be independently lit depending on just how bright like say this fire needs to be compared to the tree over here the only problem is that while this can be good the contrast will suffer in certain scenarios where maybe you have a bright object right beside something that's dark you'll get kind of like haloing effects for many led though there are effectively tens of thousands of little backlights there so let's try with the hardest possible test for local dimming displays the cursor on a black screen so as we can see here when i move it around you're just getting a little white dot perfect instead of traditionally you'd be getting huge halos like blocks all around it now you can kind of see like tiny haloing around it but it's it's pretty damn good now to be clear many leds are not going to give you the kind of contrast that you might get from an oled display but they will give you a much longer life with much less chance of catastrophic burn in the end goal is of course micro led where every individual pixel has its own led but in the meantime i just want to watch movies and play games on this display all night long but of course searing out your eyeballs was not enough for cleveo they also want to blow out your eardrums with a 201.4 increase in speaker area and four speakers plus two subs this has to be the loudest laptop i have ever experienced come on there we go let's that is crazy now unfortunately i can't tell you anything about the specs of the ultra 17 but given how big it is wow and really heavy too i think it's pretty safe to assume that it'll be powerful as all heck when it's available around may fortunately though i can tell you guys about the untitled xmg uh i guess they need a proper name for it too naming things is pretty hard but if this absolutely massive sticker here didn't tip you off though inside here we have a full blown desktop class ryzen 3 gpu given there is just a standard am4 socket you can chuck any ryzen cpu in here that doesn't have above 65 watts of tdp so anything up to a ryzen 7 3700x is fair game also in the future any am4 cpus should be relatively straightforward to just chuck in here and go as for graphics in here you'll get up to a gtx 1660 ti max p although they potentially will be equipping it with more powerful gpus in the future depending on demand and finally we have the all new clevo l140cu or the shanker vf14 which is kind of like an lg gram which is not a bad thing coming in at a lucky 888 grams this laptop well it isn't the one that you should buy because they have another one here that instead of a 36 watt hour battery goes all the way up to 73 and with that combined with their new low power display you should be able to get a stupid 16 hours of battery life while doing things like office tasks in my hands the overall build quality is pretty good although with a price tag of around a thousand dollars for a decently spec version i would like to run it through a couple tests before i wholeheartedly recommend it when it's available in february what i can definitely recommend though is watching linus recommend pulseway i can't believe this i went and didn't book a flight to ces because i had a bunch of server maintenance to do i forgot about pulseway pulseway is the app that allows you to remotely monitor and manage your servers and systems whether they're windows linux or mac its remote desktop functionality gives you access to all kinds of critical information like your system's real-time status system resources logged in users network performance and more and you guys can try it out for free you'll even get 20 off their teams subscription at the link in the video description so don't wait so thanks for watching guys get subscribed for a bunch more ces content see yaokay guys can you please stop emailing me random laptops being like oh my god have you seen this when yes we have it is another clevo which is not a bad thing like this thing right here is one of the coolest laptops that i've seen all of ces but before that the ces video is brought to you by pulseway if you enjoy getting work done well not at work then you need pulseway the software that lets you remotely monitor manage and control all your it systems from just one app try for free and get 20 off their team's plan when you sign up at the link below clevo is an original design manufacturer or odm from taiwan that builds excellent laptops that are then sold by brands such as maingear origin pc electronics xmg or just loads of other ones basically how it works is clevo designs the chassis the keyboard motherboard and screens but the reseller then buys the bare bones and decides on the final things like ram and storage warranties bios and marketing so let's look into the laptops then this right here is the clevo x170sm-g whereas the consumer might see it the xmg ultra 17 giving you a good idea of why cleveo needs a bit of help on the marketing side of things the crazy thing about this is the display right here we have a 17 inch 4k mini led display that has an eye searing brightness of 1 000 nits look at that ah turn it down so the camera can see it still look looking at a white window on this is legitimately uncomfortable but watching hdr content is unlike anything i've ever seen on a laptop before so to understand why having mini leds on a laptop is so awesome let's talk for a second about what exactly is required to make a display as bright as 1 000 nits on its own making something bright's pretty easy just more power into the backlight and boom there you go 1000 nets the only problem is that you'll have to also block all of that light to get darker colors leading to areas of the screen that should be black turning into a kind of gray mess that lacks any level of contrast that you might expect from a display to overcome this manufacturers first used local dimming which is where there might be several hundred or so zones of the backlight that can be independently lit depending on just how bright like say this fire needs to be compared to the tree over here the only problem is that while this can be good the contrast will suffer in certain scenarios where maybe you have a bright object right beside something that's dark you'll get kind of like haloing effects for many led though there are effectively tens of thousands of little backlights there so let's try with the hardest possible test for local dimming displays the cursor on a black screen so as we can see here when i move it around you're just getting a little white dot perfect instead of traditionally you'd be getting huge halos like blocks all around it now you can kind of see like tiny haloing around it but it's it's pretty damn good now to be clear many leds are not going to give you the kind of contrast that you might get from an oled display but they will give you a much longer life with much less chance of catastrophic burn in the end goal is of course micro led where every individual pixel has its own led but in the meantime i just want to watch movies and play games on this display all night long but of course searing out your eyeballs was not enough for cleveo they also want to blow out your eardrums with a 201.4 increase in speaker area and four speakers plus two subs this has to be the loudest laptop i have ever experienced come on there we go let's that is crazy now unfortunately i can't tell you anything about the specs of the ultra 17 but given how big it is wow and really heavy too i think it's pretty safe to assume that it'll be powerful as all heck when it's available around may fortunately though i can tell you guys about the untitled xmg uh i guess they need a proper name for it too naming things is pretty hard but if this absolutely massive sticker here didn't tip you off though inside here we have a full blown desktop class ryzen 3 gpu given there is just a standard am4 socket you can chuck any ryzen cpu in here that doesn't have above 65 watts of tdp so anything up to a ryzen 7 3700x is fair game also in the future any am4 cpus should be relatively straightforward to just chuck in here and go as for graphics in here you'll get up to a gtx 1660 ti max p although they potentially will be equipping it with more powerful gpus in the future depending on demand and finally we have the all new clevo l140cu or the shanker vf14 which is kind of like an lg gram which is not a bad thing coming in at a lucky 888 grams this laptop well it isn't the one that you should buy because they have another one here that instead of a 36 watt hour battery goes all the way up to 73 and with that combined with their new low power display you should be able to get a stupid 16 hours of battery life while doing things like office tasks in my hands the overall build quality is pretty good although with a price tag of around a thousand dollars for a decently spec version i would like to run it through a couple tests before i wholeheartedly recommend it when it's available in february what i can definitely recommend though is watching linus recommend pulseway i can't believe this i went and didn't book a flight to ces because i had a bunch of server maintenance to do i forgot about pulseway pulseway is the app that allows you to remotely monitor and manage your servers and systems whether they're windows linux or mac its remote desktop functionality gives you access to all kinds of critical information like your system's real-time status system resources logged in users network performance and more and you guys can try it out for free you'll even get 20 off their teams subscription at the link in the video description so don't wait so thanks for watching guys get subscribed for a bunch more ces content see ya\n"