OLED monitors were all over the place at CES 2026, but in a fairly exciting way—if only because they’re one of the few things not hugely affected by RAM prices. And if anyone knows their OLEDs, it’s Tim Schiesser of Hardware Unboxed. Adam cornered him at the convention to ask about OLEDs and that fantastic series of burn-in testing that the HUB team has been doing for almost two years now.
OLED burn-in is a serious worry for PC users, especially if you’re planning on putting down hundreds of dollars on one. The static nature of a computer’s user interface lends itself towards burn-in much more than, say, an OLED TV or phone.
But is it something you need to be concerned about? Well, that depends, according to Tim. If you’re mostly gaming, probably not—it’d act more like a TV than a monitor. But if you use it for regular Windows-style tasks a lot—50 percent of the time or more—then it might be a problem.
There are things you can do to alleviate it. Use fullscreen apps and games whenever possible. Hide the Windows taskbar (if you don’t find that annoying like Tim and I do). But the 2-to-3-year warranties against burn-in that come with many OLED monitors might be comforting. On top of that, most of them come with new technologies and techniques that are attempting to alleviate burn-in issues, like static image and taskbar detection, localized dimming, that sort of thing.
But there’s only so much you can do to avoid burn-in for productivity tasks on an OLED, especially if you’re spending hours a day on that monitor. One of the most promising new developments is presence detection in the latest monitors. This has been around as a battery- and power-saving feature for a long time, but directing it towards preserving OLED panels is an interesting approach that might do a lot more than the various band-aid approaches.
It could be a big deal as OLEDs become more and more popular for PC gaming, especially as prices come down. But before you buy one, you might want to wait for the next Monitors Unboxed OLED burn-in test, which should be coming out soon. And since you’re already headed to YouTube, why not subscribe to PCWorld for more interviews and check out The Full Nerd for our weekly discussions on all things tech?
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer, PCWorld
Michael is a 15-year veteran of technology journalism, covering everything from Apple to ZTE. On PCWorld he's the resident keyboard nut, always using a new one for a review and building a new mechanical board or expanding his desktop "battlestation" in his off hours. Michael's previous bylines include Android Police, Digital Trends, Wired, Lifehacker, and How-To Geek, and he's covered events like CES and Mobile World Congress live. Michael lives in Pennsylvania where he's always looking forward to his next kayaking trip.