It’s been an interesting time for the OLED monitor market already in 2024. In quick succession we’ve seen three big names in gaming monitors quickly go from offering no warranty at all on one of the biggest potential drawbacks with the display tech to now having all three offer a three-year warranty for that very issue. The new Gigabyte OLED monitor burn-in warranty change adds the final one of Taiwan’s big three PC tech companies to the list, following Asus and MSI having upped its warranties game a few weeks ago.
The battle for a place on the likes of our best gaming monitor guide is sure to hot up this year as we’re expecting a host of new super desirable, high-end OLED displays to enter the fray. We saw loads of new models announced at the CES 2024 trade show back in January and now we’re starting to see prices and release dates confirmed – and some like the Asus PC32UCDM are already available – while companies are preparing to ensure they get as large a slice of the OLED pie as possible by ensuring they offer a competitive warranty too.
The key issue here is that OLED panel technology is susciptible to an issue called burn-in. This is where the panel can take on a permanent ghostly image where parts of the screen have been subjected to regular high brightness output – the brightness gets burned into the panel.
This is particularly a problem for OLED monitors as compared to OLED TVs as computers tend to have a lot of very static elements on screen for very long periods of time – 8-12 hours a day if a screen is used for work and play. Windows taskbars, in-game HUDs and more can all erode the life of an OLED panel.
That’s why the fact that Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI all didn’t offer any sort of warranty cover for burn-in up until this year made it hard to recommend any of their OLED screens. However, starting about a month ago, Asus announced it was offering a two year burn-in warranty, which MSI then followed up mere days later with by saying they’d offer a three-year warranty. So, of course, Asus did the same and now Gigabyte has joined in the fun.
This is all on somewhat of a contrast to some other big names in the OLED monitor industry with the likes of Alienware/Dell, LG, and Samsung offering burn in warranties for a while.
As for the sorts of displays that will be getting this cover, all three companies will only offer this coverage for their new panels out this year. These include the likes of the Gigabyte Aorus FS32U2P, which is an example of the exact type of display I expect to become the most desirable gaming monitor on the planet this year. Its combination of a 32-inch screen size and 4K resolution, along with the ultra fast response time of OLED and a ludicrous 240Hz refresh rate is going to be the ultimate do it all screen, as you’d hope given it’s set to cost $1399!
While all this high OLED monitor news is exciting, if you aren’t in the market for such a top-tier display, you can find a wide selection of more affordable options in our best gaming monitor guide.