Edge-Lit: the Fashionable Lighting Technology in Monitors

Edge-LED

We are in the middle of a paradigm shift in the gaming monitor sector. Players and professionals are expecting an evolutionary leap to shell out what manufacturers ask for a current panel. For this reason and until the arrival of OLEDs or Mini LEDs , the panelists are betting on a new type of technology for flat panels that are at the center of the controversy: Edge-Lit. What is it and what is it based on? Is it recommended for gaming monitors?

Edge-Lit technology is not new as such, but the overall project was developed quite a few years ago. In any case, this technology is based on the fact that it has been created for flat panels with LED technology, since as we will see below, its foundation is based precisely on its flatness.

Edge-Lit, revolution or technology halfway?

Monitor 1440p

For some time now, LED panels have evolved little by little with various patented technologies that, on the one hand, are based on some existing ones to have been developed, but on the other, there are panelists who have chosen their own path.

In the latter, Edge-Lit panels are quite controversial, but before we get into it, we will explain what the technology behind it is based on. Edge-Lit technology is a screen illumination system that uses the edges of the monitor as light sources, that is, LEDs illuminate the LCD pixels from along the edges of the panel.

Different-alignments-of-LEDs

Obviously, each LED looks towards the inside of the screen, which has certain advantages and certain disadvantages and this is precisely where the controversy lies. Edge-Lit panels are up against full-array panels, commonly known as Full-Array , where each has its advantages and disadvantages.

But leaving out the comparison given for another article, we just have to know that the protagonists of this one have the factor that as we get closer to the center of the panel, the quality and lighting decreases, since the uniform amount of lighting does not reach to the furthest pixels. So the more to the center of it, the worse the effect will be.

Why are models with this technology still being launched?

Although Edge-Lit has improved a lot in recent years through more defined, better reflected panels and LEDs with higher power and lower consumption, the main advantage of this technology is clear: it allows to create monitors and TVs of less thickness, in some cases much less thick.

In addition, formerly the LEDs were located on the side parts of the panels, that is, there were only two lighting zones, so the effect was horrible compared to the Full-Array, but today there are panels with lighting in their four sides, which has greatly improved details such as contrast.

For this reason, there are brands that are being encouraged to launch panels of this type to the market in the middle of 2021, since the effects have been mitigated and they can even afford to create larger panels without ending up affecting the total weight of the screen .