Is 48 hz enough for a 4K IPS display?

[Eggz]

I've only used 60 hz or higher monitors, but I'm considering buying a laptop for my girlfriend with a 4K IPS display that looks like it could be great for photo editing and occasional, light gaming. The only spec that concerns me is the refresh rate of the monitor - 48 hz.

Whenever I've set my vsync to half refresh rate to achieve 30 hz, it was terrible. Not even just for playing games, but for simple things like moving my mouse and dragging windows. I've just never seen what 48 hz looks like. It's only 12 hz slower than 60, and in my experience playing games at around 50 fps wasn't that bad.

The specs of the laptop are otherwise good . . . Thoughts?

CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-4710HQ (2.5GHz to 3.5GHz w/ Turbo Boost)
Screen: 15.6" WQHD+ 4K IPS @ 48 hz
GPU: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 970M w/6GB VRAM
RAM: 16GB DDR3L @ 1600MHz
Storage: 128GB M.2 SSD x 2 RAID 0 (transfer > 1GB/s) + 1TB HDD (7200RPM)

 

[paulemannsen]

48 hz sounds horrible. i cant even stand 60 or 75. probably tons of input lag and slow response times too. rather go with a quality 1080p or 1440p panel if you want to do anything besides photoshop.

 

[Skylarz]

I think you should get 144hz on 1080p it would look very good

 

[Eggz]

48 hz sounds horrible. i cant even stand 60 or 75. probably tons of input lag and slow response times too. rather go with a quality 1080p or 1440p panel if you want to do anything besides photoshop.

A 60 hz side grade in refresh rate would be totally fine with me. I can't really use anything faster anyway. The panel needs to be an IPS, not a Twisted Neumatic. Like I was mentioning above, the main use is color work for photographs. Computers used for Lightroom and Photoshop rank color accuracy much higher than gaming computers do in terms on importance. Also important is pixel density - the higher the better. I just don't want it to refresh so slow that it feels like 30 hz. I wish I could just go test it somewhere!

I think you should get 144hz on 1080p it would look very good

Only TN panels would do that, and those are for gaming anyway. The color on them can't keep up.

 

[paulemannsen]

if its color accuracy is good and you can stand a mouse that is stuttering all over the screen, go for it. but to me 4k with 48hz sounds like a marketing stunt. apart from having tons of pixels i bet its other specs are only crap. if you cant test it, dont buy it.

 

[Eggz]

^^ That's what I'm afraid of, but the thing seems quite high-end. If I order it and don't like it, the worst that could happen (I suppose) would be having to pay return shipping. . . . Have to think about it.

 

[bystander]

Back before being spoiled with 60+ FPS, the threshold for smooth play was usually around 40-45 FPS. 48hz won't be ideal, but it should be a lot better than 30hz.

Note: I get simulator sickness with FPS below 75-85. I wasn't aware of this back in the day.

 

[Eggz]

^^^ The threshold for me will be whether regular use in desktop application feels muddy or acceptably responsive. I just know 30 hz feels too muddy. Also, it'll be for my girlfriend, so she'll be the ultimate test. She's used to 60 hz on her work computers and curent laptop. Her current laptop has terrible color with a resolution somewhere between 720p and 1080p, so the screen has potential for a nice upgrade. Also, if 48 hz turns out to be acceptable, the laptop will be super snappy with all the hardware in it, especially having two M.2 drives in RAID 0.