E-ink vs LCD: what the screen difference actually means
Why e-paper looks the way it does, where it wins, and the trade-offs — refresh, colour and ghosting — you are accepting when you choose it.
Last updated August 2026
An e-ink screen moves tiny pigment particles with an electric charge and then holds them in place with no power. An LCD shines a backlight through a fast-switching liquid-crystal layer. Almost every difference you notice follows from that.
Where e-ink wins
- Reading in daylight. It reflects ambient light like paper, so bright sun makes it more readable, not less.
- Battery. Holding a static page costs nothing; you charge in weeks, not hours.
- Eye comfort for long sessions. No backlight flicker, and a front light that bounces off the surface rather than shining at you.
The trade-offs
- Refresh speed. Page turns take a fraction of a second and scrolling is rough. Fine for books, poor for the web.
- Ghosting. Faint remnants of the previous page until a full-screen refresh clears them.
- Colour. Colour e-ink exists but is muted and lower-resolution than the black-and-white layer on the same screen.
Choosing
If your main use is reading text, e-ink is the better tool and the trade-offs fade into the background. If you want a general tablet that also reads, an LCD tablet will frustrate you less.