Microsoft, take a cue from the XMG NEO 16: This is how to implement Mini-LED properly
Microsoft's new Surface Laptop Ultra showed some serious weaknesses in our review, and the new Mini-LED display in particular is rather disappointing overall. While it gets extremely bright, reaching up to 1,000 nits in SDR mode and 2,000 nits in HDR mode, the subjective image quality is compromised by the lack of local dimming and the IPS panel's slow response times
Although the Mini-LED backlight has 1,300 individual zones, the software simply does not make use of them. Instead, the backlight remains constant, behaving like that of a regular IPS panel. This makes black content look rather gray and results in a maximum contrast ratio that is far too low. Software updates should be able to address this. What cannot be changed, however, are the display's slow response times, which cause noticeable ghosting even in 120 Hz mode.
German manufacturer XMG demonstrates a much better Mini-LED implementation in its high-end gaming laptop, the NEO 16, which is available with an optional Mini-LED panel. It uses a much faster IPS panel that completely prevents ghosting. In addition, local dimming can easily be enabled or disabled with a single click using the supplied software.
In certain scenarios, such as image editing, disabling local dimming to ensure consistent brightness is actually beneficial. This gives users full control over the display and lets them make the most of the Mini-LED panel's strengths.
For buyers of the extremely expensive Surface Laptop Ultra, it is simply disappointing and regrettable that a corporate giant like Microsoft seemingly cannot deliver such an implementation and does not even use a fast IPS panel. For more information, see our in-depth review of the new Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra.
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