LG's world-first LCD laptop display has a battery-saving superpower — and an OLED version is coming next | Tech Radar

Overview

LG's world-first LCD laptop display has a battery-saving superpower — and an OLED version is coming next

LCD innovation allows for 1 Hz refresh rate with appropriate content to save power

Details

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LG Display is now mass-producing its world-first LCD panel

The unique feature is VRR, which can adjust itself to as low as 1 Hz in order to save power with static on-screen content

The OLED version of this tech is currently a 20 Hz implementation, but a 1 Hz spin will be coming in 2027

LG Display has announced that mass production of its world-first LCD panel has just started, with the unique twist being that it has a variable refresh rate (VRR) that can dip to just 1 Hz — and an OLED take on this formula will follow in 2027.

Tom's Hardware highlighted LG's press release that explains: "In order to achieve this world first, the company developed its own circuit algorithms and panel design technology, discovering new materials and applying the oxide with the lowest power leakage during low-refresh-rate mode to the display's thin-film transistor."

The screen intelligently adjusts the refresh rate depending on the content being displayed, running at up to 120 Hz, or as low as 1 Hz as noted.

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It's with static images — like when reading a document, or web page, where you don't need the screen to be refreshed many times per second — that the tech will drop to 1 Hz (once per second). The benefit of this is to save power, and therefore battery life, with no impact on the quality of what you're viewing on the screen.

This so-called 'Oxide 1 Hz technology' is actually already available in the Dell XPS 14 and 16 for 2026, though with volume production now underway, it'll presumably be coming to more notebooks soon enough.

Note that the OLED version of this tech — again as seen on the Dell XPS 14 and 16 — can't drop to 1 Hz, but rather its lowest limit is 20 Hz. However, LG says it has an OLED version that can get down to 1 Hz, coming into mass production in 2027.

Analysis: a considerable benefit — with others set to join the 1 Hz party

LG claims that this tech makes a big difference, noting, "The result is dramatically improved battery efficiency, including 48% more use on a single charge compared to existing solutions."

We don't have to take LG's word for it, as it's clear enough that the mentioned Dell laptops have excellent battery life. The LCD model of the new XPS 14 offers a longevity of up to 31 hours (based on Dell's own testing with streaming Netflix playback), and while that's not all down to VRR (by any means), it seems the tech definitely helps keep power usage frugal.

According to Notebookcheck.net, the Dell XPS 16 (LCD version) sips just 1.5W of power when idling at the desktop (with VRR on, and with nothing happening on-screen, the tech will be dropping the refresh rate down to its lowest 1 Hz level).

LG isn't the only player in this battery extending game, either, with BOE in conjunction with Intel also having developed 'Winning Display 1 Hz tech', which is the same idea.

The end result is that by next year, we should be seeing a lot more of these power-saving screens beefing up battery life, including a widespread deployment of an OLED variant from LG that can hit 1 Hz, as noted. And with mobile silicon continuing to take big strides with power efficiency, there should be some seriously long-lasting notebooks coming down the line.

➡️ Read our full guide to the best laptops

1. Best overall: Apple Mac Book Air 13-inch M4
2. Best budget: Asus Chromebook CM14
3. Best Windows 11 laptop Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch
4. Best gaming: Razer Blade 16
5. Best for pros Mac Book Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro)

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Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for Tech Radar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).

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Key Takeaways

• LG's world-first LCD laptop display has a battery-saving superpower — and an OLED version is coming next

• LCD innovation allows for 1 Hz refresh rate with appropriate content to save power

• When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission

• LG Display is now mass-producing its world-first LCD panel

• The unique feature is VRR, which can adjust itself to as low as 1 Hz in order to save power with static on-screen content