Help 4K vs 1080p. 4K Laptop Screen running at 1080p = more battery life?

[Halo Spartan128]

Hi everyone, i plan on buying at "New Dell Inspiron 15 Gaming" (This family of laptops) (The link is for the canadian website i'm canadian)

 

I want to use it for a bit of everything. I have my dedicated gaming/everything else tower at home so no need of insane graphics. Just something to be able to play games at medium/high/ultra when i'm on the road or everywhere else. (I'm also using the train really often so i want to take advantage of that time to work on my projects or play.)

For all the research i have done in the past months this laptop is the one i need. I waited for them to refresh it at CES with the 1050ti and they did. So now it's time for me to buy it!  (If you have suggestions don't hesitate but after so much time searching into this one i must admit i'm pretty sold for it )


But i have one last question. Should i choose a 4K IPS screen. Or a 1080p TN screen. (no IPS 1080p choice available sadly)


Also, I know 4k is taking more battery. But i'm asking myself. If i take a 4K Screen and i change windows settings to run it at 1080p will i see somewhat of an increase in battery life or we are talking of such a slim difference it's not worth it?


So Question 1 : Should i take a 4K IPS panel or a 1080p TN panel?

and Questons 2 : If i run a 4k screen a 1080p will i save battery? (Not in gaming but in general tasks)


P.S. (I know i won't game at 4k with this computer. But for movies, video editing and general productivity 4k could also be a nice bonus because i don't plan on changing this computer for a really long time.)


Thank you all in advance for your help and time!
 

[The Sloth]

get a 4k screen why not long as you don't game on 4k its good, editing might be bit slow but for web and media its perfect.  

[Halo Spartan128]

3 minutes ago, nerdslayer1 said:

get a 4k screen why not long as you don't game on 4k its good, editing might be bit slow but for web and media its perfect.  

The only down side for me is battery life and price. For the rest 4k would be amazing!

 

[The Sloth]

1 minute ago, Halo Spartan128 said:

The only down side for me is battery life and price. For the rest 4k would be amazing!

 

 

if price and battery is your concern get a 1080p screen. 

[pwn_intended]

1 minute ago, Halo Spartan128 said:

The only down side for me is battery life and price. For the rest 4k would be amazing!

 

From my understanding, running a 4k screen at 1080p will still have the same power draw because the screen is still drawing all those pixels. It may be negligibly better in that the GPU doesn't have to render as many pixels, but outside of gaming, rendering more pixels shouldn't use an appreciable amount of power.

[Halo Spartan128]

1 minute ago, nerdslayer1 said:

if price and battery is your concern get a 1080p screen. 

If the battery is not affected that much it would be ok. I also plan on buying a Dell Power Companion to increase my time with the computer unplugged  (Link here)

Well i won't mind paying a bit more for a 4k screen! As i said i will keep this laptop for a long time

[Halo Spartan128]

2 minutes ago, pwn_intended said:

From my understanding, running a 4k screen at 1080p will still have the same power draw because the screen is still drawing all those pixels. It may be negligibly better in that the GPU doesn't have to render as many pixels, but outside of gaming, rendering more pixels shouldn't use an appreciable amount of power.

I have the exact feeling about it. I was curious to see if people had the same opinion or different feelings about this situation.

I'm almost sure i should buy the model with 4k IPS... I would get better color accuracy too!  

[The Sloth]

1 minute ago, Halo Spartan128 said:

If the battery is not affected that much it would be ok. I also plan on buying a Dell Power Companion to increase my time with the computer unplugged  (Link here)

Well i won't mind paying a bit more for a 4k screen! As i said i will keep this laptop for a long time

 

if you want 4k is a huge upgrade from a 1080p screen also battery will suffer, you can play games like csgo,lol,dota but not vary high intensive games. for the future a 4k display would benefit you. 

[kaiju_wars]

I didn't notice that.  Dell got rid of the 1080 IPS display.  That sucks.  

 

Personally, I usually go for what I know my GPU can handle (in this case, 1080p) but I prefer IPS over TN..

[Halo Spartan128]

Just now, kaiju_wars said:

I didn't notice that.  Dell got rid of the 1080 IPS display.  That sucks.  

 

Personally, I usually go for what I know my GPU can handle (in this case, 1080p) but I prefer IPS over TN..

Same... So i'm stuck at this decision right now... The best would have been 1080p IPS. But maybe 4k on the long run will bring more advantages compared to maybe 1 hour battery increase. Also with a Dell Power companion (External battery bank for the laptop) i will be able to charge everywhere i go.

[kaiju_wars]

1 minute ago, Halo Spartan128 said:

Same... So i'm stuck at this decision right now... The best would have been 1080p IPS. But maybe 4k on the long run will bring more advantages compared to maybe 1 hour battery increase. Also with a Dell Power companion (External battery bank for the laptop) i will be able to charge everywhere i go.

See, and that's what they did with the last gen Inspiron (the 7559).  It has a 1080p IPS display.

Also, the 1050 can't run most games at 4K, so I don't really see much benefit there either.

[kaiju_wars]

http://www.dell.com/ca/p/inspiron-15-7559-laptop/pd?ref=PD_Family

Looks like they also still have the 7559... granted, only in the 4K flavors.

[Halo Spartan128]

1 minute ago, kaiju_wars said:

See, and that's what they did with the last gen Inspiron (the 7559).  It has a 1080p IPS display.

Also, the 1050 can't run most games at 4K, so I don't really see much benefit there either.

In canada they never said the screen was IPS on the website (Old model and New model)  And the Customer support chat told me it was not IPS. Only the 4k one is said to be IPS...

And yeah i know a 1050ti can't run 4k games at all. But video editing? I'm pretty sure it could?

[kaiju_wars]

1 minute ago, Halo Spartan128 said:

In canada they never said the screen was IPS on the website (Old model and New model)  And the Customer support chat told me it was not IPS. Only the 4k one is said to be IPS...

And yeah i know a 1050ti can't run 4k games at all. But video editing? I'm pretty sure it could?

No, the old one had IPS across the board.

I don't know why they would tell you the old one didn't.  (I have a 7559 also, so I can confirm it's IPS).

I mean, the 1050 could probably do 4K editing, but gaming not so much.  Granted, I'd also rather have 1080p for battery life and the scaling issues that come with 4K.

[Halo Spartan128]

2 minutes ago, kaiju_wars said:

http://www.dell.com/ca/p/inspiron-15-7559-laptop/pd?ref=PD_Family

Looks like they also still have the 7559... granted, only in the 4K flavors.

Yep : / i don't know if we really ever had the choice of 1080p IPS. Because as we can see in this video from Linus (Link) it seems like we never had a real IPS choice! Or they never said it. And i don't know many companies who won't say they have a IPS screen :') 

[Halo Spartan128]

10 minutes ago, kaiju_wars said:

No, the old one had IPS across the board.

I don't know why they would tell you the old one didn't.  (I have a 7559 also, so I can confirm it's IPS).

I mean, the 1050 could probably do 4K editing, but gaming not so much.  Granted, I'd also rather have 1080p for battery life and the scaling issues that come with 4K.

I heard it was 1080p IPS at a couple of places but as you can see in the picture they are not saying it's IPS  Maybe it's good quality TN......?

[kaiju_wars]

3 minutes ago, Halo Spartan128 said:

I heard it was 1080p IPS at a couple of places but as you can see in the picture they are not saying it's IPS  Maybe it's good quality TN......?

I mean, like I said, I actually OWN one.

It's an IPS display.  

 

This is the same company that put a 960m on their gaming laptop, but didn't have it listed in the highpoints.  You had to scroll down for it.

[Halo Spartan128]

8 minutes ago, kaiju_wars said:

I mean, like I said, I actually OWN one.

It's an IPS display.  

 

This is the same company that put a 960m on their gaming laptop, but didn't have it listed in the highpoints.  You had to scroll down for it.

I believe you  I saw the old model in my local best buy and the screen was really good. Not as good as my Ultrawide monitor. (In my opinion maybe i was wrong i didn't had much time to look at it)

[Halo Spartan128]

Well this is funny. I just asked another sale person at Dell. And they told me the 1080p screen is also IPS on the new model!
 

16 minutes ago, kaiju_wars said:

I mean, like I said, I actually OWN one.

It's an IPS display.  

 

This is the same company that put a 960m on their gaming laptop, but didn't have it listed in the highpoints.  You had to scroll down for it.

 

[Pendragon]

Wait for reviews. If they don't offer ips, just DIY a 15in 1080p ips on it. They are a time a dozen and cheap as fuck. For reference, a 17in 4k panel costs about 90usd

[Halo Spartan128]

4 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

Wait for reviews. If they don't offer ips, just DIY a 15in 1080p ips on it. They are a time a dozen and cheap as fuck. For reference, a 17in 4k panel costs about 90usd

I want to wait for reviews too... But yeah i don't know about the DIY option... I taught about it but i don't want to ruin my laptop by accident :') 

[The Pikachu Mafia]

Two things to consider:

 

1) As mentioned earlier, running a 4k panel at 1080p will not save much if any battery. You're still pushing a 3840 x 2160 display. That being said, streaming 1080p content will be less battery intensive than streaming 4k content (think Netflix and Youtube).

 

2) 1080p will generally looks better on a native 1080p display. Even though 4k is an exact doubling in dimensions, running 1080p content in fullscreen still requires interpolation, which can affect image quality. (1 pixel displaying a solid color > 4 smaller pixels displaying the same color).

 

I heavily prefer IPS over TN as well, but if you're planning on doing almost everything in 1080p anyways and having a TN panel is a deal breaker, looking into a different laptop model or DIYing it (as mentioned by pendragon) would probably be your best option. Imo unless your laptop has a 1080 in it having a 4k screen is a pointless waste of extra dollars and power drain. Although I totally understand that going the DIY route isn't an appealing option (especially since it would void your warrenty on a new laptop).

 

The last time I bought a laptop from Dell (Inspiron 15 7548) they said it would come with an AMD dGPU, but then when it arrived it didn't have one and their customer service claimed that there was an error on the website. So It's entirely possible that there is a 1080p IPS panel out for your model and dell just messed up, again.

[Halo Spartan128]

1 minute ago, The Pikachu Mafia said:

Two things to consider:

 

1) As mentioned earlier, running a 4k panel at 1080p will not save much if any battery. You're still pushing a 3840 x 2160 display. That being said, steaming 1080p content will be less battery intensive than streaming 4k content (think Netflix and Youtube).

 

2) 1080p will generally looks better on a native 1080p display. Even though 4k is an exact doubling in dimensions, running 1080p content in fullscreen still requires interpolation, which can affect image quality. (1 pixel displaying a solid color > 4 smaller pixels displaying the same color).

 

I heavily prefer IPS over TN as well, but if you're planning on doing almost everything in 1080p anyways and having a TN panel is a deal breaker, looking into a different laptop model or DIYing it (as mentioned by pendragon) would probably be your best option. Imo unless your laptop has a 1080 in it having a 4k screen is a pointless waste of extra dollars and power drain. Although I totally understand that going the DIY route isn't an appealing option (especially since it would void your warrenty on a new laptop).

 

The last time I bought a laptop from Dell they said it would come with an AMD dGPU, but then when it arrived it didn't have one and their customer service claimed that there was an error on the website. So It's entirely possible that there is a 1080p IOS panel out for your model and sell jist messed up, again.

I will go with the 1080p version. i contacted Dell support (again) and they told me the screen was IPS like the old model. And it was an error on the selling page. In any case i have my conversation with them sent by email by Dell. So if they told me the wrong stuff i have some backup

For sure colors wont be perfect. But they sure will be better compared to a TN panel

I just need to choose the SSD/HDD/RAM Options now ^^ I have a brand new 7200 RPM WD Black 750go laptop hard drive that i never used since i bought it for a client that canceled the project of fixing is laptop in 2012. So i need to find the best bundle for me because i can use this drive Also i can easily add my own M.2 Nvme SSD and ram if needed.


Thank you for the suggestions!  

[edit1754]

I made this post in another thread about this laptop but I feel like it's important I make it here too.

It is not confirmed if the 4K display in the Inspiron is a true 4K or not.

 

Last year's 4K model used the RG/BW Pentile matrix to claim the 4K (3840x2160) resolution, which replaces the RGB in each pixel with either only RG or only BW. It calls for a full 4K 3840x2160 picture from the GPU, but the downsampled picture the display shows you has lower chromatic detail than that of a 3K 2880x1620 display. It gives you all the downsides of 4K (potential scaling issues, potential lower battery life) without all the benefits (picture isn't as sharp, diagonal "screen door effect" can be visible, text can appear fuzzy). A common consensus on this is that it's a deceptive practice, and that it means the display is not truly 3840x2160.

 

If you are interested in the 4K model, I would recommend holding off until reviews come in confirming if this is a full RGB panel or a pentile panel, as this has significant bearing on what the 3840x2160 spec means. If it's pentile, I would recommend instead purchasing a laptop that is confirmed to use a true (RGB) 4K panel, such as the Dell XPS 15 or upcoming Lenovo Y720 which has been confirmed at CES to use a true 4K display.

 

This demonstrates the issue:

[edit1754]

Update: The 4K displays in the Inspiron 7566 (basically 7567 with older GPU, released in some countries) have been confirmed true! I'd venture to say it's safe to assume the same for the 7567, and to go ahead and order the 4K model.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/5jiwcg/psa_the_4k_uhd_3840x2160_displays_in_the_inspiron/dcirw8p/

 

True 4K looks like this image (Inspiron 7566, credit /u/Frag1le) , and pentile looks like this image (Inspiron 7559, credit /u/C21DigitalBoy).