Lenovo has presented the Legion R9000Pa 16-inch gaming laptop that becomes the first device on the market to incorporate an OLED screen manufactured using inkjet printing (Inkjet Printing OLED), a TCL technology that has been around at technology fairs for a few years now. According to Lenovo, this is a relevant step towards the commercialization of this type of panels, especially taking into account that the manufacturing process allows costs to be lowered.
A screen that marks all the ticks
Although Lenovo has not yet shared the complete technical data sheet of the equipment, the firm has given some quite interesting details. And the Legion R9000P mounts a 16-inch OLED panel with a refresh rate of 240 Hzdesigned especially for the most gamers. Furthermore, according to data provided by Lenovo, the screen covers more than 99% of the DCI-P3 color space and promises to maintain stable color performance regardless of the brightness level, something that the brand links to uses that go beyond gaming, such as professional design.
The panel also features a Real RGB Stripe subpixel layout, a design that Lenovo explains corrects text blurring and color striping issues that often appear on OLED displays with the traditional triangular layout.
It is worth clarifying, however, that if we look at the panel from the point of view of the specifications it offers, it is not a new technology, since multiple manufacturers already offer quite powerful 240 Hz OLED panels. The novelty lies precisely in how it has been manufactured. this panel.
What changes in inkjet printing?
Traditional manufacturing of OLED displays is based on a process called vacuum thermal evaporation (VTE), which requires high-precision metal masks and very expensive machinery. TCL CSOT’s IJP OLED technology replaces that method with inkjet printing to deposit the light-emitting organic material, which the company claims simplifies the process, reduces material waste and improves production yield.
In practice, this could translate into OLED screens that are cheaper to manufacture without giving up the features that make this type of technology attractive, such as very high contrast and color reproduction. These IJP OLED panels They also promise improvements in brightnessan aspect in which conventional OLED screens usually have more difficulties, and something especially relevant in a laptop when we use it in multiple lighting conditions.
Neither Lenovo nor TCL CSOT have confirmed whether those manufacturing savings will be passed on to the consumer, as the company has not yet offered details on pricing.
More than a decade of development
Although the Legion R9000P is the first commercial application of this technology in a laptop, TCL CSOT has been working on it for more than ten years, according to collect in his own statement. We ourselves have witnessed it on more than one occasion at multiple technology fairs such as CES. And not only in laptops, since the idea is that this manufacturing process is compatible for all types of screens, including televisions.
According to data According to Counterpoint Research, TCL has around a 14% share in the global television market, a business until now mainly supported by screens. LCD and mini LEDso this technology could also open the door to compete with Samsung and LG in the OLED field.
New products are beginning to appear with this technology
The Legion R9000P is not the only product that debuts this technology. And days before its presentation, MSI also showed the monitor PRO MAX OLED 271UPJW12a 27-inch panel with 4K resolution that shares very similar specifications to the TCL CSOT panels, although MSI has not openly confirmed that it uses this manufacturer’s technology.
If production costs continue to fall, this technology could facilitate the arrival of higher quality OLED screens to cheaper devices. For now, the Legion R9000P is limited to the Asian market and Lenovo has not offered more details about its technical specifications or its availability in other regions, so we have to wait to find out if a launch in Europe is confirmed.
Images | TCL
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