By Over the years, PC-Mag has evaluated countless laptops, from early low-res screens to today’s 4K wonders. Their experts rigorously test performance, display quality, and battery life on over 100 laptops annually. For 2024, they highlight the MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo as the top productivity laptop, while also recommending diverse models for gaming, content creation, and various budgets. For detailed picks and buying advice, PC-Mag offers comprehensive reviews and comparisons.
Top Picks for the Best 4K Laptops of 2024
While the terms “4K” and “UHD” are often used interchangeably, there’s a subtle difference. UHD (Ultra High Definition) refers to the consumer standard of 3,840 by 2,160 pixels, commonly found in TVs and laptops. In contrast, true 4K is a professional cinema standard with a resolution of 4,096 by 2,160 pixels. However, most laptop manufacturers and consumers treat them as the same, and the distinction rarely impacts everyday use.
Chromebooks
Forget about the few remaining 11-inch Chromebooks or low-cost laptops with 1,366-by-768 resolution—modern laptops now start at a standard resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 pixels, known as Full HD (FHD) or 1080p. The “p” in 1080p refers to progressive scan technology, where a GPU draws each line of pixels sequentially, delivering smoother visuals. This process occurs at a typical refresh rate of 60Hz, refreshing the screen 60 times per second for crisp, clear motion.
Your brain perceives screens as smooth because it processes images faster than the eye detects rapid redrawing. While movies display at just 24 frames per second (fps), TVs and laptops usually need at least 30fps to avoid noticeable flicker. Gamers, seeking ultra-smooth performance, prefer higher frame rates, which is why gaming laptops often boast refresh rates of 120Hz, 144Hz, or even 300Hz, delivering seamless visuals during fast-paced action.
Understanding Screen Resolution and Aspect Ratios
1. The Standard 16:9 Aspect Ratio
Most modern laptops and HDTVs use a 16:9 aspect ratio, a widescreen format where dividing 1,920 by 16 and multiplying by 9 gives the 1,080 height in Full HD resolution. This ratio also applies to 4K displays (3,840 by 2,160 pixels) and older 720p (1,280 by 720 pixels) screens.
2. Evolving Aspect Ratios
While 16:9 dominates, other ratios have gained traction. Older laptops featured squarer 4:3 screens (e.g., 1,024 by 768 pixels). Recently, 16:10 screens, offering slightly more vertical space, have become popular in laptops, increasing 4K resolution to 3,840 by 2,400 pixels.
3. Ultrawide Displays
For immersive and multitasking experiences, some monitors adopt a 21:9 aspect ratio, delivering a cinematic or panoramic view ideal for workflows and gaming.
What Resolutions Do Laptops Have Between Full HD and 4K?
Do resolutions in between 1080p and UHD exist? Sure. Many gaming monitors and some laptops display at 1440p—2,560 by 1,440 pixels, dubbed QHD because it’s quad HD (720p) the way 4K is a two-by-two grid of 1080p. It provides sharper views of the gaming arena than 1080p but requires a relatively small increase in GPU horsepower compared with 4K.
Entry-level or affordable laptops that embrace today’s fashionable 16:10 screen aspect ratio show 1,920 by 1,200 instead of 1,920 by 1,080 pixels. You can find 16:10 gaming rigs with 2,560-by-1,600-pixel panels and chic ultraportable compacts with 2,880 by 1,800 (or QHD+) resolution, the last often with vivid OLED screens.
HP Dragonfly G4
A few Windows laptops, tablets, and Chromebooks have squarer 3:2 aspect ratio displays, such as the 1,920-by-1,280 IPS and 3,000-by-2,000 OLED choices of the HP Dragonfly G4. They’re better for productivity than multimedia (unless you like black bars above and below your videos), but great for seeing more of a document or webpage without scrolling.
Apple marches to the beat of its own drum when it comes to screen resolutions. Today’s 13- and 15-inch MacBook Air laptops pack 2,560 by 1,664 and 2,880 by 1,864 pixels respectively. The 14-inch MacBook Pro’s Liquid Retina XDR display has a 3,024-by-1,964 resolution; the 16-inch Pro’s has 3,456 by 2,234.
And yes, the latest and most expensive HDTV sets put out 8K resolution—7,680 by 4,320 pixels in a 16:9 aspect ratio. You’ll find scarce legitimate 8K content available, so owners of these beauties mostly watch lower-resolution movies and shows upscaled to 8K, and no one’s bothered to build an 8K laptop yet.
IPS, OLED, Mini LED: What Are the Different Kinds of 4K Panels?
You can dive into the details in our guide to laptop screen types, but to put it briefly, today’s high-res notebooks make use of three different technologies. All look fantastic, but each has its advantages and disadvantages.
Today’s classic notebook design is a liquid crystal display with in-plane switching (IPS) architecture, so named because its molecules remain parallel rather than perpendicular to the front and back polarizers when voltage is applied. IPS screens provide more uniform color and wider viewing angles than the now-legacy twisted nematic (TN) LCDs they replaced.
IPS laptop screens would be too dim to make out without built-in light-emitting diode (LED) backlights. The lowest-cost panels are edge-lit, with light shining from the borders of the display; higher-quality ones are full-array-lit, with light sources arranged or spread behind the whole panel. Backlighting or brightness is measured in nits, which is slang for candelas per square meter.
Bargain laptops
Bargain laptops have 250- or 300-nit screens, but we like to see at least 400 nits from an IPS panel, and some mobile workstations boast 500 or 600 nits. (Many rugged laptops deliver 1,000 nits or more, making them bright enough to read in outdoor sunlight.)
Mini LED panels are a recent—and still relatively scarce and expensive—type of full-array-lit IPS screen with a greater number of smaller LEDs spread over the backlight area. This permits a denser array of backlighting or what are called “dimming zones,” with each zone covering fewer pixels.
IPS panels
Such screens tend to be slower or fall short of the high refresh rates of gaming laptops’ IPS panels, but mini LED delivers richer color by reducing a problem that plagues IPS tech: the backlight glowing through what are supposed to be black or dark areas of the screen image, which yields lower contrast (a spectrum of white to dark gray instead of white to truly black).
Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens don’t reduce the problem of backlight seeping through—they cure it. That’s because every pixel of an OLED panel is its own dimming zone, able to be turned on or off individually. This yields a sumptuous color with unbeatable contrast—blacks are genuinely black because the pixel is completely dark.
Of course, OLED displays are more costly than IPS panels but have come down sharply in the last couple of years, even reaching under-$1,000 laptops (though you’ll get 1080p, not 4K, at that price). They’re not as bright as IPS but, thanks to their sky-high contrast, they don’t have to be; a 350-to-400-nit OLED panel is just as pleasing to the eye as a 500-nit IPS screen.
What Are the Downsides of 4K Laptops?
Aside from arguably making icons and other screen elements too small on compact ultra-portables, why isn’t 4K resolution standard on every laptop? Frankly, it’s more expensive. A 1080p liquid crystal display has almost 2.1 million pixels, but a 4K panel has about 8.3 million (with a 16:9 aspect ratio; 9.2 million if it’s 16:10). More precise manufacturing takes more money, and—brace yourself—laptop makers pass those costs on to you.
What would happen to your electric bill if you replaced each light bulb in your home with four? A 4K laptop screen draws more power than a 1080p display, which (all else being equal) means shorter battery life.
This isn’t a big issue in terms of real-world buying decisions—today’s IPS, OLED, and mini LED screens are much more power-efficient than their predecessors, and Apple’s 2023 16-inch MacBook Pro lasted almost 28 hours in our unplugged rundown despite its 7.7 million pixels—but it’s a factor.
Integrated graphics
Just like increasing the number of light bulbs would require more effort to change them all quickly, a smooth, stutter-free display on a laptop demands more processing power. Integrated graphics are sufficient for everyday tasks like office work and video streaming. However, demanding applications like VR creation, CGI rendering, or fast-paced gaming need a dedicated GPU, which is why gaming laptops and mobile workstations come with these powerful graphics units to handle intensive workloads efficiently.
Achieving smooth visuals at 4K resolution requires significant processing power. While midrange GPUs can handle 1440p gaming, pushing for 4K at over 60fps demands high-end GPUs like Nvidia’s GeForce or AMD’s Radeon. Expect bulky laptops with noisy fans and limited battery life. These machines are costly but necessary for serious gaming at 4K, and portability becomes secondary.
What’s Is 4K Good for in a Laptop?
So, gaming at 4K remains a bridge too far for most laptops and budgets, though it’s coming closer every year. Regardless, you’ll find other reasons to be tempted by a higher-than-high-resolution display.
If your tasks mainly involve browsing or word processing, a 4K display may be overkill. However, for those managing multiple windows or working with data-intensive tasks like spreadsheets, 4K can offer added productivity by providing more screen real estate. For digital content creators—such as photographers, videographers, or designers—a high-resolution screen is vital for precise editing, as it ensures sharp visuals, whether working with 4K videos or detailed images.
For professionals in fields like architecture, engineering, and design, a 4K display is crucial when working with CAD, 2D/3D modeling, or CGI rendering. High-performance workstations like HP’s Z-Book, Dell’s Precision, and Lenovo’s ThinkPad P series offer specialized certifications ensuring compatibility with demanding software. These powerful machines are essential for handling complex tasks that ordinary laptops can’t manage efficiently.
Supercomputers
Mobile workstations, even more than gaming rigs, are the supercomputers of the laptop world, built to work long hours crunching through giant datasets and visually presenting their results with the sharpest detail and most accurate color available. A workstation without a high-res screen and dedicated GPU hardly qualifies for the name.
It comes down to this: Elite professional tasks demand elite professional displays. The days when laptops couldn’t join desktops in this arena are long gone, and an ever-increasing array of OLED, IPS, and mini LED 4K screen choices proves it. Whichever you choose from our above picks, you’ll get an ideal portable platform available for serious productivity and creativity. And okay, yes, gaming—we won’t tell if you won’t.
Ready to Buy the Right 4K Laptop for You?
In our spec table, we’ve detailed our top picks outlined at the start of this guide. We expect to see more and more 4K-equipped models into 2025, so stay tuned for more choices as we update this guide when new models cross PC Labs’ test bench.
