In recent years, Mini LED displays have emerged on the market. However, many people, unfamiliar with Mini LED displays, tend to overlook them when making a selection. Therefore, this article will start with the principles and advantages of Mini LED displays and share some excellent displays I've recently experienced.
I. What is a Mini LED Display?
Since Mini LED displays are a type of LCD display, to understand this, we first need to understand what an LCD display is.
1. LCD Display LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display.
The principle of liquid crystal display is that liquid crystals exhibit different light characteristics under different voltages.
Generally, they are divided into three categories: Reflective LCD Displays: Reflective LCD displays utilize external light for display. A reflective plate is added behind the bottom polarizer of a reflective LCD display. Transmissive LCD Displays: Transmissive LCD displays have a fully transparent bottom polarizer and require a backlight. Semi-transmissive LCD Displays: Semi-transmissive LCD displays fall between the two above. The bottom polarizer partially reflects light and generally also has a backlight. However, these three types of displays share a common characteristic: narrow viewing angles. Furthermore, transmissive and semi-transmissive LCD screens are relatively less energy-efficient, thus presenting some drawbacks.
2. LED So what is an LED? An LED is essentially a light-emitting diode, its main function being to convert electrical energy into light energy. The most commonly used diodes emit red, green, or yellow light. LEDs use solid-state semiconductor chips as the light-emitting material. Compared to traditional lamps, LED lights are energy-efficient, environmentally friendly, and offer better color rendering and response speed. So how can LEDs be combined with LCDs?
3. Mini LED Displays Therefore, Mini LED technology emerged. Mini LED displays actually use 50um-100um LED chips. "Small" here refers to the size relative to traditional LEDs. It's important to note that Mini LED is not actually a display panel technology, but rather a backlight source for displays. In reality, Mini LED displays use Mini LED chips as backlighting; the LCD liquid crystal layer is still present, making it an upgrade from LCDs.
4. Advantages of Mini LED Monitors: More uniform backlighting; due to the uniform size of the LEDs, precise dimming can be achieved by adjusting different zones. Better color performance; because Mini LED technology allows black areas to remain completely black, increasing contrast and allowing for thinner monitors with a more premium look. More energy-efficient display; since black areas are not illuminated, power consumption is significantly reduced.
Therefore, I highly recommend Mini LED monitors. However, most current Mini LED monitors are quite expensive, making them unaffordable for most people.
So, is there a Mini LED monitor that offers better value for money and is more accessible to a wider audience? Absolutely. I recently purchased the United Innovation M2U monitor, a Mini LED monitor with excellent value in the 2000 RMB price range. I'll share my hands-on experience with you below.
II. Hands-on Experience with the Joint Innovation M2U Monitor As a 27-inch 4K Mini LED monitor, the first thing to understand about the Joint Innovation M2U is the number of Mini LED chips and backlight zones. The M2U boasts 384 zones, totaling 2304 backlight chips. Among monitors in the same price range, this number of zones and chips is quite high. The most noticeable effect of a high chip count is a very high contrast ratio; the 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio is truly outstanding.
However, when it comes to the actual display of a screen, the most important thing is the first impression, which is often determined by the screen's colors. Speaking of color, we must mention DisplayHDR certification in professional monitors. The M2U achieves HDR1000 certification, placing it at the top level among monitors in its price range. Here's a brief explanation. Display HDR certification is divided into four levels: DisplayHDR 400, DisplayHDR 500, DisplayHDR 600, and DisplayHDR 1000. HDR1000 is positioned as a professional-grade monitor, targeting enthusiasts or advanced creators.
The core requirement for HDR1000 is a peak brightness of 1000 cd/m², which is more than three times that of a typical monitor. Secondly, compared to DisplayHDR 600, it requires local dimming, which improves contrast by twice, meaning less washout. Compared to DisplayHDR 400, the color gamut volume needs to be significantly increased, and a 10-bit color depth is required.
In general, devices that achieve Display HDR1000 certification offer a high level of display quality. Therefore, I believe the United Innovation M2U monitor perfectly meets my needs, not only achieving Display HDR1000 certification but also exceeding my expectations in certain areas, such as its 99% dual-color gamut coverage.
We know that color gamut coverage is one of the most important indicators of a monitor, determining the number of colors it can display. The United Innovation M2U monitor achieves 99% Adobe RGB and 99% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage, which is arguably among the best in the market for professional-grade monitors. With this level of color gamut coverage, it's safe to say that colors will meet standards regardless of the professional or industrial software used.