LG's New Laptop Display Can Drop To 1Hz For Major Battery Life Gains
LG Display is on a mission to vastly improve laptop battery life with a new LCD panel equipped with its Oxide 1Hz technology. Now in mass production, this first-of-its-kind panel is capable of dropping down to a 1Hz refresh rate when the screen is static, a tactic that LG claims "dramatically" improves battery life with up to a 48% longer run time on a single charge. It's the latest development in an industry-wide effort to improve laptop battery life.
The technology won't interfere with gaming, either, according to LG Display. The panel maker says a core feature of its Oxide 1Hz technology is the ability to intelligently detect how a laptop is being used, and then automatically switching between the display's native 120Hz refresh rate all the way down to an energy-preserving 1Hz. So if you're streaming a movie or playing a game, it will run at 120Hz.
"By ushering in the unprecedented mass production of a laptop panel that flexibly adjusts the refresh rate based on on-screen activity, LG Display is able to offer a product that boasts greater power efficiency.
In order to achieve this world first, the company developed its own circuit algorithms and panel design technology, discovering new materials and applying the oxide with the lowest power leakage during low-refresh-rate mode to the display’s thin-film transistor (TFT)," LG says.
"The result is dramatically improved battery efficiency, including 48% more use on a single charge compared to existing solutions." LG adds.
We'll be curious to see if LG's bold claim pays dividends in real-world testing. To that end, Dell is incorporating LG's Oxide 1Hz panel into its premium XPS laptops. And so far, the feature is not commanding a premium. Dell's 2026 model XPS 14 (starting at $1,549.99) and XPS 16 (also starting at $1,549.99) both feature the 1Hz-120Hz display as the base option. They're InfinityEdge options too, which we've been impressed with in the past.
"With variable refresh rates as low as 1Hz, you can save more battery than ever before. Get up to 31 hours[9] of streaming battery life with a 2K display," Dell says.
LG is getting the 1Hz mass production party started on its LCD panels, but says it also plans to crank out OLED screens with same capability starting next year.
