Alienware has announced a laptop with a 480Hz screen, but just what is that massive amount of Hz?

AMD has announced new AMD Advantage laptops, but they also have a screen with a refresh rate of up to 480Hz. Here, we’re interested in these new products by asking the right questions.

Dell Alienware announces the first release laptops AMD feature. But what? Behind this marketing term, hide laptops that include all of AMD’s new products. For example, a custom Radeon RX 6850M XT GPU paired with a Ryzen 9 6900HX CPU. On Alienware, the first is called the m17 R5 and the second is the x17 R2.

If you are wondering what is the difference between x17 and m17. From what we understand, the two computers do not share the same chassis or the same finishes. Thus, the x-series is thinner, and the m-series is a little cheaper, but with equivalent performance.

These two laptops arrive with many new features. The first is that they are AMD Advantage sealed. The second is that you have the option to buy it with a screen that has a refresh rate of up to 480Hz.

AMD advantage, what is it?

AMD Advantage is the marketing term that means these laptops were built in partnership with AMD, and there are Ryzen 6000 processors and Radeon RX 6000 GPUs. Radeon RX 6850M XT (12 GB GDDR6) As a dedicated GPU. This allows you to take advantage of all AMD technologies, including SmartShift Max, SmartAccess, and FreeSync Premium.

In addition to SmartAccess Memory, there is a SmartAccess Graphics option. It is a component added to the motherboard, a MUX switch, whose goal is that the image computed by the graphics card no longer passes through the iGPU of the processor to be displayed on the screen. Depending on the game, this option can bring in gains of about 15%. SmartShift Eco ensures that you switch directly to the processor’s iGPU when the computer is on battery. According to Alienware, the m17 R5 thus offers up to 11 hours and 9 minutes of autonomy (Mobile Mark 2018) and up to 14 hours and 21 minutes of HD video.

In other words: AMD doubles the functionality and improvements allowed by the combined use of its processors and graphics cards.

Finally, among these large laptops, 17 inches diagonally, the Alienware m17 R5 is sold with a new option: you can choose a Full HD screen with a refresh rate of up to 480 Hz.

What is 480 Hz used for?

Refresh rate, back to basics

term ” refresh rate used to describe Screen refresh times in one second. Measured in Hertz (Hz), most conventional monitors have a refresh rate of 60 Hz. On a smartphone, TV or PC, higher refresh rate models are increasingly common. Some manufacturers, such as Apple, hide this number behind marketing terms likeUpgrade functionalUsed to describe the 120Hz screen of the iPad Pro or MacBook Pro 14 and 16.

In recent years and especially with the arrival of Nvidia RTX cards, PS5 or the Xbox Xbox X, 120 Hz and 144 Hz games in the spotlight. At the higher end are the 240Hz and 360Hz displays, but we’re talking about 480Hz here.

You should know that screen refresh rate is closely related to frame rate (measured in frames per second or FPS). If you’re playing a 120fps game on a 60Hz monitor, your monitor can only show you half of the frames your GPU produces. To make the higher frame rates worthwhile, you’ll need a monitor that can keep up with your GPU. vice versa. In short, Alienware and AMD show us that the CPU and GPU pairs allow you to play in Full HD with very high frame rates. Sure, but what’s the point?

And 480 Hz?

If your screen has a refresh rate of 480Hz, it refreshes the image 480 times per second. When combined with the higher frame rates produced by the GPU and the CPU working together, this can result in a much smoother experience. Obviously, the machine should be able to produce as many images as possible to display.

We’re talking here about specialized use that requires a system review, including a high-end graphics card, proper content, and eyes sharp enough to reap all the benefits. Increasing the number of times the image is refreshed has a huge impact on the smoothness of motion, but it also improves clarity. The image becomes clearer and easier to see the higher the refresh rate. It also reduces latency because there is less time between each frame.

Another advantage of higher refresh rate displays is that they generally have a better response time, which means they can produce a sharper image with fewer shadows behind fast-moving objects. In short, these are things that can greatly improve the overall user experience. For esports games, this is an undeniable asset. But do we see the difference between a 240 and 480 Hz screen?

As shown in the table above, the time between each frame decreases dramatically when going from 60Hz to 144Hz, reducing it by 9.73ms. However, that number drops to 2.77 ms if you go from 144 Hz to 240 Hz, 1.39 ms from 240 Hz to 360 Hz, and so on. There are diminishing returns here as the frame rate goes up.

While everyone views motion and response time differently, the vast majority of people will likely struggle to see a difference above 240Hz. Upgrading to a higher level doesn’t hurt performance, but for people who don’t play esports, your money is sure to be better spent on other features.

Race on Hertz Who benefits from?

We’re definitely in the Hertz race right now. Manufacturers would probably be really better off keeping that precious bandwidth for HDR and uncompressed data rather than pushing Hz beyond 240 Hz.

As you can see, 480Hz seems excessive, but these products with a super refresh rate will always be in demand by competing gamers. Therefore, launching such products is a way for brands to communicate by showcasing themselves during tournaments.

Rejoice though, advances in this area will also allow us to see the arrival of QHD and 4K displays with higher refresh rates. This is great news for those who want high refresh rates and high display definitions simultaneously.

During the week of the presentation, the monitor manufacturer AUO presented two screens with an exceptional refresh rate: 480 Hz!
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