Computer monitor buying guide
Which Monitor you should choose
Big Screen Size is a Good Idea
When it comes to computer monitors, you want something that can fit comfortably on your desk while giving you plenty of screen real estate. While in the past sub-20-inch monitors were common place, today unless you’re really constrained for space, there’s no real need to buy anything under 22-inches. For most, 24-inches is going to be a baseline as you can pick up a number of screens at that size for around $100 and they look fantastic at 1080p.
Resolution and Screen Type
Today all the best screens are still LCD monitors that use LED technology for a slim product that saves energy while providing ideal backlighting. We’ve been waiting years for OLED technology to make the transition to PC monitors, and it’s still over the horizon somewhere, despite continued teases and demonstrations at big tech shows.
One aspect of PC monitors that you do need to consider though, is resolution. While 1080p was once the gold standard, today it’s just the baseline. If you’re happy to spend a little more, there are a few other options worth considering, especially if you want to improve screen space or gaming visuals. Resolution isn’t the be-all and end-all of monitor features, though. In fact, too much resolution on too small of a screen can often be annoying, because it shrinks all images down and forces you to enlarge everything to easily read it.
--1080p: If you want reasonable clarity, but want to save on cost or focus on other, more important features, 1080p is where it’s at — as long as the monitor you’re buying isn’t extremely large. 1080p is ideal for 21-inch to 24-inch displays. These monitors offer great picture quality, and now that they are competing with 4K the prices are rock-bottom. If you want to go larger than 24 inches, though, you should consider 2,560 x 1,440 resolution at the least, and perhaps 4K.
--1440p: The oft-forgotten step-child in the gradual marriage of consumers and 4K, 1440p is still the suggested resolution for gamers, as it offers a noticeable improvement in visuals over 1080p, but doesn’t overly tax your graphics card. It’s also far more affordable if you’re interested in extra features like high refresh rates.
--4K: 4K is the resolution that the industry is most keen to drive consumers towards. It looks much more detailed than 1080p, with 3,840 x 2,160 pixels and prices have come down substantially in the past few years. That said, gamers will need a powerful graphics card to run a system at this resolution and finding affordable monitors with full suites of frame synching support or high-refresh rates is still difficult. There is plenty of 4K media out there to enjoy though, whether you’re streaming or using UHD Blu-Rays.
--5K: This resolution made headlines when Apple debuted it on its iMac, but it’s far from a common resolution even years later. Dell’s UP2715K is a great looking display, but we would recommend many high-end 4K monitors before it as you won’t be able to see too much difference between them.
Contrast, Refresh Rates and more
Several other aspects of a monitor’s display contribute to just how awesome of an image it can produce. Here are other factors to consider for your next monitor purchase:
--Aspect ratio: The aspect the screen shows images in (length compared to height). A common standard, and your best bet, is 16:9. It works with plenty of content and it’s great for movies or games. Some fancy monitors like to stretch things out with ratios like 21:9, but that is more suitable for unusual work situations or hardcore gaming. Another common format, 16:10, provides slightly more vertical space for viewing multiple open documents or images. 3:2 is becoming more commonplace in laptops for better web viewing, but that’s rare on standalone displays.
Brightness: High-end monitors these days have brightness around 300 to 350 cd/m2. Extra brightness may be handy if you work in a well-lit room or next to large windows. However, too much brightness is a recipe for eye strain. As long as brightness options reach 250 cd/m2, your monitor is good to go. That said, if you want one with HDR support, the more peak brightness the better to best take advantage of that technology.
--Contrast ratio: Contrast ratios tell you the difference between how white and how black a monitor screen can get. Higher contrast ratios are a good sign, because that means colors will be more differentiated. However, multiple measurements for contrast ratios exist and stated specs aren’t very reliable, so take it all with a grain of salt.
--HDR: High Dynamic Range, or HDR, is a recent addition to the PC monitor space and can have a dramatic impact on visuals. However, most PC monitors lack the brightness needed to take full advantage of it and even the best ones don’t look as good as they should.
Refresh rate: Rated in hertz (Hz) a monitor’s refresh rate is how often it updates the image on your screen. While most support up to 60Hz, some displays now offer much higher refresh rates. That can result in smoother movements on your desktop and support for higher frame rates in games which can make a big difference in high-paced titles by reducing your input lag. 120-144Hz is a great range to target, but you could opt for the fastest screens out there with up to 240Hz support. Just make sure you have a high-powered graphics card to back it up.
--Response time: Response time indicates how quickly the monitor shows image transitions. A low response time is good for fast-paced action video, twitchy gameplay, and similar activities. Response times are measured in milliseconds, with the best screens able to switch pixels at only a couple ms, but not everyone needs such fast reactions.
--Viewing angle: Viewing angle isn’t as important for a monitor as it is for a TV screen, but if you like to watch shows on your computer with groups of friends, aim for a larger viewing angle so people at the sides can see easily. Anything above 170 degrees is good news here.
Panel Type You Should Consider
The type of panel used to make your new display can have a major impact on what it looks like and how it performs. They all have their strengths and their weaknesses, making them better suited to different sorts of PC users. While manufacturers have made valiant attempts to bridge the gaps between the types, each tends to still have their evangelists and depending on what you spend most of your time doing while on your PC, you’ll likely want to opt for one over the other. There can be a cost to pay for certain features though.
--TN: The most common panel type, Twisted Nematic, or TN panel displays offer good visuals and some of the fastest response times making them great for gamers. But colors can look a little washed out and viewing angles aren’t great. Displays with TN panels tend to be the most affordable.
--VA: VA panels, sometimes referred to as MVA or PVA, have slightly better colors and good viewing angles, but can suffer from ghosting. While their response times can be good on paper, they don’t always translate well into real world usage.
--IPS: Displays with IPS panels tend to be the most expensive of the bunch, but what you get for your money is much richer colors and clear viewing angles that are near horizontal. The downside of IPS panels is that they don’t tend to have as fast response times as TN displays, so some consider them inferior for gaming. There are, however, gaming IPS displays, like the fantastic Asus PG279Q, which make good ground on their TN counterparts. Some IPS monitors suffer from quality control issues though and most IPS displays have a telltale glow when displaying dark images due to backlight bleeding.
Ports
There are a few different ports you should look for on your monitor. Where VGA and DVI were standards of yesteryear, today new displays ship with HDMI, DisplayPort, and USB-C connections most commonly. To make things more confusing, each of those has their own multitude of generations which you need to be aware of if you’re planning on running a high-resolution or high-refresh-rate display.
To run a display at 4K resolution, you’ll need to use HDMI 1.4 at the very least, though HDMI 2.0 would be required if you want to support a refresh rate of 60Hz, which should be a bare minimum unless all you do is watch movies on it. If you want to do high refresh-rate gaming, especially at higher resolutions, DisplayPort 1.4 monitors can handle up to 8K at 60Hz and 4K at up to 200Hz, so is better suited than HDMI in that regard.
The slightly older, DisplayPort 1.2 connector can handle 1440p and 1080p at high-refresh-rates too, so if you’re not opting for 4K, that port option should suffice for lower-resolution monitors. USB-C is an option, as it can support up to 4K resolution, but it’s not as capable as DisplayPort connections.
Some Specifications You should Keep in Mind
Screen Resolution is a measurement of its display area in pixels, given in (width × height-pixels). These resolutions will often be referred to in shorthand, showing the numeric value of the height. 1080p, 1440p, or 4K. The majority of computer displays have 1080p resolutions, with 1440p 4K gaining mainstream adoption. Other not as common resolutions include 2560 × 1440 (1440p or 2k) and 1600 × 900. You can also find displays with 5K resolutions, but there are only a few models available at this time.
--Contrast Ratio is the difference in light intensity between the brightest color (white) and darkest (black). You want a high contrast ratio for a more brilliant image. Computer monitors often have two separate contrast ratio measurements: active / dynamic contrast ratio and static contrast ratio. Active / dynamic contrast ratio measures the brightest and darkest colors over a period of time, while static measures them at a single point in time. Pay more attention to the static contrast ratio.
Manufacturers may have different testing methodologies for active / dynamic contrast ratio. Using it as a comparison metric may yield inconsistent results.
--Response Time refers to how LCD monitors constantly refresh the displayed image, but it isn’t always smooth process. When there is a lot of action happening on screen, the panel may not update quite fast enough to keep up with how the eye perceives motion. This results in a slightly blurry image. Response time measures how quickly it takes a monitor to update from one frame to the next. A lower response time means much less blur while a high response time means more blur.
For movies and gaming, a low response time is better, while for production work with static images it doesn’t really matter.
--Refresh Rates refer to the amount of times per second the monitor will update the image. You’ve probably seen the terms 120 Hz or 240 Hz when shopping for TVs and monitors—those are refresh rates. 120 Hz means that the display refreshes the image 120 times per second. The higher the refresh rate, the smoother the movements and actions appear on screen.
--Viewing angle refers to the maximum angle you can view the monitor at for the image to still be color accurate. The angle is measured from one side to the other and viewing the monitor straight on is 0 degrees. So a monitor with a 160 degree viewing angle has acceptable color accuracy when viewed 80 degrees off-center.
Ergonomic Stand Adjustment
Professional-grade monitors tend to have more monitor stand adjustments than consumer variants. These additional adjustments include height, tilt, swivel, and pivot. Ergonomic customizability is the foremost trend in the business PC monitor conversation.
--Ultrawide Screens: a better dual monitor alternative?
An ultrawide monitor delivers all the benefits of a dual monitor setup—without gaps and bezels getting in the way. Manufacturers gear ultrawide 21:9 monitors toward gamers and movie buffs, but creative professionals find them useful as well. The advantage of 21:9 is that you have more screen real estate when tiling two windows side by side. On a single 16:9 monitor this might feel too narrow. Another advantage is that you only connect one cable to your PC graphics card, meaning you have free video outputs for even more screen space if desired.
Panel Technologies – TN, IPS, VA, OLED
When LCD monitors first came out, people did not pay much attention to the type of panel a monitor used. However, as users are becoming more educated on the advantages of certain types of panels, manufacturers are starting to advertise that information.
--Twisted Nematic (TN) – The most common type of TFT display, TN provides very fast response times but poor color accuracy and viewing angles. Popular display technology for gaming monitors.
--Vertical Alignment (VA) – VA panels are found in higher-grade monitors and tend to have better contrast ratios, viewing angles, and color accuracy compared to TN panels. They typically have slower response times than TN panels.
--In-plane Switching (IPS) – IPS displays have even better color accuracy and viewing angles than VA and TN panels. IPS displays have slower response times than TN screens. There are several display panel types that are similar to IPS, including plane-line switching (PLS) and Super-IPS (S-IPS).
--Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) – The latest in visual display technology, OLED displays comprise of thousands of individually-lit pixels for blacker blacks and truer color integrity compared to LED-backlit displays. We’ve seen OLED smartphones and televisions enter the market, but in the wake of Dell canceling its OLED computer monitor plans, we’re still waiting for the first OLED PC display for consumers. Manufacturers apparently are having issues with screen burn and durability.
Video input & output connections
--DVI-I – The standard connector for 720p and 1080p content. Not used for resolutions higher than 1920 × 1200 pixels due to bandwidth constraints.
--DVI-D – A higher bandwidth version of DVI-I used for screens up to 2560 × 1600 pixels.
--HDMI – There are several different version of the HDMI standard but the latest, 2.0, supports up to 4K at 60 Hz.
--DisplayPort – A standard newer than the ones above, DisplayPort pushes 32.4 Gb/s. HDMI 2.0 only allows for up to 18 Gb/s. That difference allows DisplayPort to push 4k content at 120 Hz and 5K content at 60 Hz.
--VGA – Obsolete; strictly used in a legacy equipment support capacity.
Curved screens improve wide viewing angles
A curved LCD screen improves viewing angles and offers a more immersive experience. You’ll notice the sides of the screen appear clearer due to a reduction in parallax distortion. They tend to be priced 25-33 percent higher than comparable flat screen models.
Adaptive Sync enhancements prevent screen tearing
FreeSync and G-Sync graphics enhancements from AMD and NVIDIA drove the release of new monitors to support the technology. For enthusiasts, adaptive sync technology eliminates screen tearing, which is a visual artifact that occurs when a monitor displays multiple frames at once. The end visual result is that a vertical line running down the screen may appear to be segmented or broken up. Screen tearing occurs when the number of frames sent to the display from the computer doesn’t match the display’s refresh rate. G-SYNC and FreeSync ensure a monitor’s refresh rate matches the frames sent to the display.
Monitors for editing photo and video
A larger monitor (25- or 27-inch) is recommended for visual production and a higher resolution QHD (2560 x 1440-pixel @ 16:9 aspect ratio) is advantageous. IPS panels are highly recommended, and deliver superior color matching compared to less expensive TN monitors. Should be compatible with hardware calibrators like X-rite, Display Pro, and Datacolor Spyder if designers use them.
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