One of the biggest criticisms leveled against OLED monitors, despite being some of the best gaming monitors you can buy, is how dim they are. Although brightness is steadily increasing, it looks like the next crop of OLED gaming monitors will make quite the leap when it comes to HDR performance. Ahead of CES 2025, VESA has revealed a new tier of its DisplayHDR standard that’s focused squarely on the brightness of OLED monitors.
The certification is DisplayHDR True Black 1,000. Most OLED gaming monitors, such as the MSI MPG 321URX or Alienware 27 QD-OLED, are certified with DisplayHDR True Black 400. This certification level is reserved for OLED — or extremely high-end mini-LED — displays that achieve nearly perfect black levels. According to VESA’s specifications, the display has to reach 0.0005 nits with a checkboard pattern. Now, VESA is focusing on the other end of the spectrum, adding a more demanding tier that maintains those low black levels while pushing brightness higher.
As the name suggests, the DisplayHDR True Black 1,000 tier certifies monitors that can reach 1,000 nits of peak brightness, which doesn’t sound that impressive. The way VESA defines peak brightness is a bit different than most monitor brands, however. A recent OLED like the HP Omen Transcend 32 can reach up to 1,000 nits, but only for 1% of the screen. Take the window out to 10% of the screen, and the monitor can barely clear 500 nits.
The certification adds some more strict rules around brightness. With the new tier, a monitor needs to clear 1,000 nits, at minimum, with 2% of the screen lit up. In addition, the monitor must be able to reach 500 nits for the full screen, both with a brief flash and during a long-duration stress test. For reference, DisplayHDR True Black 400 monitors only need to hit about 250 nits for the full screen.
There aren’t any monitors using the new DisplayHDR True Black 1,000 standard yet, though that will likely change next week when CES 2025 is underway. Alongside the new DisplayHDR standard, VESA announced ClearMR 21000, which validates motion clarity in monitors. LG has already said that it’s new UltraGear OLED 27GX790A is the first monitor to receive certification. We expect to see it alongside LG’s 5K2K OLED display next week.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.