In Depth: 4K laptops are gorgeous, but they're not worth it yet

4K to the human eye

As laptop manufactures pack more and more pixels into their screens, the question of "is it worth it?" arises. In most cases, an Ultra HD laptop will look absolutely gorgeous, but that doesn't translate to it being useful. There are some serious trade-offs, including price, a lack of 4K content and performance that need to be considered before spending the money to move beyond 1080p.

When it comes to clarity, 4K could knock 1080p from the top of the hill as the new resolution king and replace it in the coming years. Increasingly, devices of all shapes and sizes have taken the next step to go beyond traditional high definition, but as these screens go beyond the limits of traditional high definition, you may be left asking, is a 4K laptop right for me?

More than meets the eye

As far as resolutions are concerned, most people would agree at first glance that higher pixel density will give you a clearer picture. But according to Dr. Bryan Jones, research assistant professor of ophthalmology at the University of Utah, this is only true "to a point."

"Assuming that you are sitting at 30-inches from your display and your eyesight is 20/20, any more resolution than about 220 pixels per inch is going to be indistinguishable," he said. The two most common screen sizes for 4K laptops are 13.3- and 15.6-inch. At those sizes, pixel density exceeds the 220 ppi density by roughly 60 and 110 or more pixels per inch, meaning all those extra pixels no longer add anything to what the human eye can perceive at a normal laptop distance.

"If your vision is less than perfect or you find yourself sitting further away from the screen, the pixel density can be far lower [before noticing a difference]," Jones said, down as far as 90 ppi per inch, or even lower if you are "sitting on the other side of the room watching a movie."

Jones added another thing to note is "there is more to 'how clear' an image appears than just resolution." Brightness, contrast, color fidelity and viewing angle all come into play. No amount of pixel density will compensate for poor color.

The drain game

One of the main reasons laptops even exist is because they're portable, which means that they run off battery power as needed. If you're the type of laptop user who shuffles from meeting to meeting or to several different locations with your computer tucked under your arm, battery life is a serious concern. Somedays it's not easy to predict when the next chance to plug-in will arise, which makes battery life an important part of any laptop discussion.

The power required to push a QHD or 4K display is higher than that of a vanilla HD screen, which naturally leads to a decline in battery life. In our review of the MSI GS60 Ghost Pro 3K gaming laptop, which is actually a 3K machine, we lamented its lackluster battery life. In our tests, the battery went flat in just over two hours. In fact, poor battery performance seems to be the common thread among the laptops we've reviewed. The Toshiba Satellite P50T only lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes on battery, and its power-saving screen-dimming feature while on battery makes the computer virtually unusable outdoors.

Pushing more pixels in a display isn't the only added stress on battery life. The power necessary to output such pixel-packed visuals means most high resolution laptops require discrete graphics cards rather than integrated graphics. The need for a dedicated graphics card means the computer will naturally require more power than a laptop with integrated graphics.

Ultra HD media that matters

A distinct lack of 4K media

Another disadvantage of 4K and QHD laptops is there aren't really too many sources for 4K content as of yet. Blu-ray players will upscale 1080p movies to 4K, but it's not true 4K. Netflix is working to increase its 4K content, but to stream movies at that resolution requires a steady internet speed of 25Mbps.

Netflix does a monthly roundup of the fastest ISPs and even the speediest fastest providers only average around a fifth or less than that lofty requirement. The even-more heartbreaking news for those interested in a 4K laptop is that even if you meet the lofty requirements for streaming 4K content from Netflix or Amazon Prime Instant Video, which also offers some 4K content,'s Prime service, you're limited to only compatible television sets. Neither services' UHD offerings currently work on computers.

If you want to stream 4K content on the go, for now you're currently limited to YouTube. Of course, this could all change in the future, as is the case with any new technology. Remember those first HD-only channels that consisted largely of programs that showed off sweeping shots of landscapes and wildlife? Most 4K content is still in the "ooh" and "ahh" phase, but it will get more prolific. If you're thinking of getting a 4K laptop to watch movies, however, you'll be disappointed.

There's also a fair chance you'll be paying a considerable premium for a 4K laptop over its Full HD configuration. The Dell XPS 13, for example, is available as a 1080p machine for $999 (£879, AU$1,799), while the QHD model rings in at $1,299 (£1,099, $2,498). Likewise, the 2015 Razer Blade normally starts at $1,999 (about £1,337, AU$1,041) but pinning a high-res display on this machine brings the price up to a lofty $2,399 (£2,035, AU$3,699)..

When a 4K laptop makes sense

Now the question is when does a Ultra HD laptop make sense for you. The immediate situation that comes to mind is the field of photography, where a screen that best captures what the final, printed product will look like is ideal, perhaps even required.

Having a laptop on the go that can display the highest resolutions would be a godsend to photographers whose livelihoods depend on capturing and reproducing photos with as much tack-sharp clarity as is possible, a QHD or 4K laptop makes sense.

But as Dr. Jones pointed out, there is much more to a nice image on the screen than resolution. Having a 4K laptop doesn't guarantee that the colors and contrast will be reproduced accurately in a final print. Colors will need to be calibrated, just like with any other monitor. But once that step is taken care of (any photographer working in a professional capacity is going to have a calibrated monitor anyway) the bump in resolution will almost guarantee there are no surprises once the final product is printed.

Video cameras capable of shooting in 4K are becoming more and more common, and phones are beginning to tout their 4K video-shooting capabilities as a selling point. Obviously the only place to accurately edit 4K video is on a 4K laptop, but this also means storing 2GB of data for every minute of RAW footage. Even the 1TB hard drive , a machine like the Toshiba Satellite will fill up quickly. Additionally, the enormous power involved in simply working with 4K video means that a laptop would be less capable compared to a dedicated desktop machine, even when taking convenience into account.

Gaming like a boss

The most apparent and readily available way to enjoy content that pushes beyond the limited of regular high def comes in the way of PC gaming. Resolutions greater than 1080p are becoming commonplace in the world of PC gaming, and new high-end graphics cards for desktop rigs, such as Nvidia's Titan X, are pushing graphics beyond 4K. Building a desktop PC for gaming, however, can be an expensive gamble and doing so requires a fair amount of know-how on the part of the builder.

For those who want the power of PC gaming without the potential for a headache, a laptop is a great alternative. Ultra HD machines have even showed up on our list of the top 10 gaming laptops. But once again, there's a catch. Yes, games can look incredible at Ultra HD resolutions, but unfortunately to achieve that level of clarity, something has to give. That means sacrificing detail or frame rate. The Razer Blade 2015, one of our top-rated machines, was only able to run some games at 10 fps when set to its maximum 3,200 x 1,800 resolution.

Laptops have an advantage in that their relatively small screens create an inherent viewing distance for viewing 4K and QHD content at its optimum level. But for now, the trade-offs for a gorgeous display may still be too high to justify the price and sacrifice in battery life on a laptop running at such high resolutions. For a field photographer who's always a stone's throw away from an outlet, an Ultra HD laptop might make sense, but for those who are looking for the highest available resolutions without any unfortunate side-effects, the time for a 4K laptop might not be now.

• What is 4K and Ultra HD all about anyway?

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