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Monitor Talk

by | Feb 18, 2019

Lets talk Monitors!

“There is nothing like a dream to create the future.”
– Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

When it comes to selecting a monitor for your computer(s) it can be cumbersome if you have little or no knowledge what to look for and on the other hand, if you have vast knowledge in the area, it can still be a little daunting. Hopefully, this blog will help you out.

It all comes down to personal preference. There are loads to consider such as the size, refresh rate, adaptive sync technologies, ports, ultrawide, 4k monitor it can be a bit overwhelming!

Let’s kick with the most important stuff, size and resolution! The most common sizes in 2019 are 24 inches to 40 inches, of course, you can but bigger than that, but I don’t recommend it as it can cause discomfort to the eyes and it just doesn’t make sense if you’re close to a fairly large display! A common size is 24-inch monitors, and most of them are 1920 x 1080 (a.k.a Full HD) these can be reasonably cheap and can run off your laptop with ease. Next size up is 27” which are much more common for gamers as the pixels are slightly bigger.

In my personal experience, if you’re after a 4K monitor get at least a 32 inch or bigger, this will take more advantage of more detail and extra pixels.

So, what is the benefit of a 4K monitor?

  1. Everything is sharper with more detail, but you need a fast computer to power it with a good GPU. (Min GeForce 1080) And CRUCIALLY has the right ports
  2. Fast Frames Per Second for gamers
  3. Good for production purposes (Photography, Videography, Animation etc…)

Here are the five critical questions that you should ask yourself about selecting a display:

  1. Environment: Where is the display going to be used:
  2. Application: What is it going to be used for?
  3. Interfaces: What interfaces do you need?
  4. Colour accuracy: Do you need extreme or good colour accuracy?
  5. Lifespan: Yep, still an important aspect to consider

 

Technologies are forever changing especially in the world of monitors! OLED, LED AMOLED, SUPER AMOLED, just to name a few!

I want to take a brief moment to talk about IPS display, which is, by the way, the widely most used for professionals today. This technology is also my preferred choice. (My recommendations)

In-Place Switching panels are not only crystal clear and sharp, but the viewing angles are fantastic! The colours which are accurate don’t distort where you’re looking at them from. IPS don’t show tailing when touched (which is important for tablets with touchscreens. Although IPS draw up to 15% more power than TN panels, I rather have the benefits of colour accuracy any day.

Ports:

This is a VITAL piece of the puzzle before buying any monitor an I can’t stress enough if you’re not sure please send us an email if you’re not 100% sure

Definition of ports by

https://www.techopedia.com/definition/8413/monitor-port

“A monitor port is a port used to establish the connection between the monitor and computer in order to display the computer’s output.”

Once again, these are always changing, to keep this section of the blog short I’m going to outline the four main ports that are used today:

  1. DVI: Digital Visual Interface is one of the oldest but still are used Single link and dual link signal can be used for monitors, TVs and DVD players
  2. HDMI: High-Definition Multimedia Interface designed in 2002 this connection is still widely used today
  3. DisplayPort: My personal preference! Can support high speeds. Not supported on most TV’S. Support wide colour gamut. (somewhat similar to HDMI)
  4. MiniDisplayPort: Apple calls it ThunderBolt. Delivers enough bandwidth to carry video resolutions of up to 3840×2160

 

If you’re still confused and need further help, get in touch with us, and we can analyse your needs and provide recommendations on what to buy with a specified price range.

Image supplied for Free-Photos/stux / Pixabay