There is a huge range of desktop monitors available and even today, more and more manufacturers are entering this enter the competition. But what should you look out for if you don't want your monitor purchase to be a series of bad decisions? We've found out!
Types of monitors
Monitors can be grouped in several ways. By price, size, display panel or even brand. The most useful, however, is to consider the target group for which the displays are intended. For those who want to buy a monitor for learning, simple workflows - word, excel, video conferencing, email, internet - it is bordering on the ridiculous. the colour accuracy of a monitor recommended for graphics work and the high price it commands. Or the response time of a gamer monitor - and of course the high price it commands. Because for a while now, you can also buy monitors that have been specifically designed with gamers in mind. We can't say that they're ONLY for gaming, but we can say that they have features and functions that make sense for gaming.
The range of such products is now vast, and the models available may differ significantly in design, features and related services. In this article, we will look at which of these are important in reality and what each of these terms actually means.
However, we would like to quickly point out that there are some basic rules to follow when buying a monitor. First and foremost, before you go into a shop or order a monitor online, think carefully about where, under what conditions and how you want to use it.
And, if possible, everyone should see the model in action before buying. We also try to give some advice by listing the most important aspects.
Aspect ratio
Most monitors, like TVs, have a 16:9 aspect ratio. But there are also ultra-wide, 21:9 aspect ratio monitors, and even 32:9 aspect ratio monitors are now on the market.
The latter can be a huge advantage in racing games, for example, and even real-time strategy (RTS) fans love it because it simply fits more on the screen.
In almost all other cases, this size is bordering on unusable, as documents are bulkier in the vertical direction, just like, say, web pages. So unless you want to browse 3-4 web pages side by side, or manage hundreds of columns of spreadsheets, stick with 16:9, it's a great way to save money.
Curved display
The curved display is of interest almost exclusively to gamers. For them, too, giant, super-wide curved displays are the way to play, as they fill up most of the field of view and add an amazing sense of presence to the game. But they're rather tiring to work on, not to mention the fact that these monitors actually provide a perfect experience when viewed from an angle.
Oh, and the really serious pieces are going for staggering sums of money.
Resolution
With a Full HD (1920 x 1080) display, which is now almost standard in the shops, you can still do almost anything using a relatively normal computer. You can watch movies, play games and work in peace - provided you're not a graphics or video editor, of course. The next step up is WQHD (2560 x 1440), which is becoming more and more common. In fact, there are more and more 4K (3840 x 2160) resolution displays available, but of course, while more is better, there is an important aspect to this. High resolution also requires the right hardware. If you don't have a powerful enough computer or an older games console, it's completely unnecessary to think about a 4K monitor, because you'll only be adding more expense to your life.
Connectors
HDMI and some form of DisplayPort are now standard on most monitors. Either of these is fine, as you'll find their equivalent on most computers, consoles and laptops. Those that don't may also have USB-C, but this can easily be converted to an adapter for one of the above connectors, so don't push for such monitors just yet, as you'll be paying a lot more for them than the service is worth.
Rack
Ideally, a monitor should allow the screen to be pushed up and down on the stand, rotated left and right and tilted backwards and forwards. This way, the user can easily choose the most comfortable position.
It's not the most important thing to know when judging a product (in fact it is), but it can be really useful to know them.
Image refresh rate
It is given in Hertz and indicates how many frames a screen can display in one second. Obviously, the higher the number, the better, both because the user sees the image as more continuous and because certain information is simply conveyed more quickly. This can be the deciding factor between victory and defeat, life and death in games, for example.
Viewing angle
In general, the official factory values are given in the product specification for all monitors. But experience has shown that you can see colour fading and distortion with your own eyes from much smaller angles. That is why everyone should look at a product with their own eyes to decide where the disturbing limit value is.
Screenshot from
With TVs, we think the bigger the better, but that's not necessarily the case with monitors. It's important how close you sit to the screen, because you may find the image distractingly large when you're sitting at a short viewing distance. This is best decided by a practical test.
Design
It makes a difference what you look at all day, so it's also worth considering design when making a purchasing decision.
Price
We have left the most important things for last. You can't have a 39-inch curved LED supermonitor or Apple's cheese-grating wonder if you don't want to (or can't) spend a small country's annual military budget on a monitor - and the computer to power it. That's where the reasonable, or not so reasonable, trade-offs come in. Like this:
