Thank you for your feedback
You have rated this page helpful
You have rated this page not helpful
Enter the title of your guide here (example: "Top products for...")
Please install the latest version of Adobe's Flash Player to view the videos
You rated this helpful.
The Monitor Buying Guide
If you're going to give yourself a spinal injury by staring at this thing for so long...at least buy a kick-butt screen.
Let’s face it, you probably spend more time looking at a computer monitor everyday than you do anything else. So much time that you can suffer from repeated stress injuries depending on your posture, the angle of your head, the height of the screen. It’s actually kind of depressing and pathetic when you think about it...so don’t. Instead you should try to make your monitor time as pleasurable as possible by buying a great screen!
The first step when purchasing a monitor or monitors is to decide what kind of setup you’re looking for. Dual monitors side-by-side, one large monitor, a monitor rotated for landscape images; there truly are a ton of configurations to fit your lifestyle and professional needs.
Think about the applications you’ll be utilizing. Graphic designers and video production specialists greatly benefit from a dual monitor setup. This gives you two screens to separate your work spaces. Think of running Adobe Photoshop on one screen and Adobe Illustrator in another. You can also buy two smaller monitors at a very comparable price to buying one big monitor. Make sure your video card supports a dual monitor setup of course. You’ll need two separate outputs, one for each screen.
Gamers and film nuts should go for a single, larger monitor. Gaming on a 30-inch Dell Ultra Sharp can be a euphoric experience, and watching a movie at full 1080p from 2 feet away can be pretty immersive. Once again, you’ll want to make sure your computer can support high resolutions for the bigger screens. Some people think that goes without saying, but you’d be surprised by the dinosaurs I’ve seen attached to 2,000 dollar monitors.
Next point to consider is resolution. Typically, you’ll find larger monitors supporting seriously high resolutions such as 1900 x 1200 and 2560 x 1600. Some might say that’s overkill, but the truth is, if you’re editing high definition video and 10 megapixel images, the more resolution the better. Smaller screens will tap out at 1680 x 1050 or maybe 1920 x 1080. I would advise springing for big resolutions, you’ll learn to appreciate the extra real estate you get while running your operating system, and playing games like Crysis or Half-Life 2 at 1900 x 1200 is rad.
Now some people buy high definition TVs and use them as computer monitors. Depending on your setup, that can be a great idea. If you’re using a wireless keyboard and mouse, or playing games with a wireless controller, rocking a 50 inch TV as your monitor can be pretty slick. Keep in mind, the biggest and baddest HDTVs max out at a 1920 x 1080 resolution. Also, some HDTVs can be a little finicky when it comes to switching resolutions. If you run programs in a variety of resolutions, like maybe playing games low res so you can get a higher framerate, this might not be the best option for you. Most HDTVs only support a handful of resolutions.
Writers note: viewing 1080p from over 6 feet away on anything smaller than a 50 inch TV will make your eyes bleed, so go big screen if you have distance between you and the monitor.
Finally consider the amenities. A lot of monitors come with SD slots, USB ports, and other cool gadgets and inputs that turn your screen into a Swiss Army Knife of sorts. This isn’t anything to base a buying decision off of, but it can swing the vote if you’re running out of inputs on your computer.
The finer points of monitor buying come in the form of screen performance. Things to look for:
1. High contrast ratio. Deeper blacks and brighter colors are important for televisions, guess what, they’re important for computer monitors as well.
2. Response time. The lower your response time, the better. A solid response time would be around 5ms (milliseconds) give or take a millisecond. This means you’ll see less ghosting, which is really important for the multimedia user (movies and games), not so important for building spreadsheets and checking out Power Point presentations. It’s definitely easier on the eyes to have good response time.
3. Backlighting. LED backlit is the way to go these days. That means you’ll have an array of tiny LED lights placed strategically behind your screen instead of one single lamp lighting the whole monitor. This will improve your black levels and color reproduction. A note here: I would advise against using a plasma as your sole computer monitor. Yes I love plasmas, and no, I don’t think they’re super susceptible to image burn-in, but having static computer graphics on screen for many hours of your day creates a true concern for image retention. Having said that, using a LCD as your main monitor and a plasma as a second output monitor say for games and movies...that’s an ideal setup.
So now you’re educated in the art of monitor shopping. You owe it to yourself to spend the extra cash to get a high-end screen. After all, you’ll be looking at this thing more than you look at your wife and kids...more than you look at the sky and mountains...more than you look at the ocean...sigh...here comes the depression again.
Writers note: my favorite monitor brands are Samsung and Dell. If you’re going for a HDTV LCD, Samsung and Sony are safe bets. See below for some of my choice models.
The first step when purchasing a monitor or monitors is to decide what kind of setup you’re looking for. Dual monitors side-by-side, one large monitor, a monitor rotated for landscape images; there truly are a ton of configurations to fit your lifestyle and professional needs.
Think about the applications you’ll be utilizing. Graphic designers and video production specialists greatly benefit from a dual monitor setup. This gives you two screens to separate your work spaces. Think of running Adobe Photoshop on one screen and Adobe Illustrator in another. You can also buy two smaller monitors at a very comparable price to buying one big monitor. Make sure your video card supports a dual monitor setup of course. You’ll need two separate outputs, one for each screen.
Gamers and film nuts should go for a single, larger monitor. Gaming on a 30-inch Dell Ultra Sharp can be a euphoric experience, and watching a movie at full 1080p from 2 feet away can be pretty immersive. Once again, you’ll want to make sure your computer can support high resolutions for the bigger screens. Some people think that goes without saying, but you’d be surprised by the dinosaurs I’ve seen attached to 2,000 dollar monitors.
Next point to consider is resolution. Typically, you’ll find larger monitors supporting seriously high resolutions such as 1900 x 1200 and 2560 x 1600. Some might say that’s overkill, but the truth is, if you’re editing high definition video and 10 megapixel images, the more resolution the better. Smaller screens will tap out at 1680 x 1050 or maybe 1920 x 1080. I would advise springing for big resolutions, you’ll learn to appreciate the extra real estate you get while running your operating system, and playing games like Crysis or Half-Life 2 at 1900 x 1200 is rad.
Now some people buy high definition TVs and use them as computer monitors. Depending on your setup, that can be a great idea. If you’re using a wireless keyboard and mouse, or playing games with a wireless controller, rocking a 50 inch TV as your monitor can be pretty slick. Keep in mind, the biggest and baddest HDTVs max out at a 1920 x 1080 resolution. Also, some HDTVs can be a little finicky when it comes to switching resolutions. If you run programs in a variety of resolutions, like maybe playing games low res so you can get a higher framerate, this might not be the best option for you. Most HDTVs only support a handful of resolutions.
Writers note: viewing 1080p from over 6 feet away on anything smaller than a 50 inch TV will make your eyes bleed, so go big screen if you have distance between you and the monitor.
Finally consider the amenities. A lot of monitors come with SD slots, USB ports, and other cool gadgets and inputs that turn your screen into a Swiss Army Knife of sorts. This isn’t anything to base a buying decision off of, but it can swing the vote if you’re running out of inputs on your computer.
The finer points of monitor buying come in the form of screen performance. Things to look for:
1. High contrast ratio. Deeper blacks and brighter colors are important for televisions, guess what, they’re important for computer monitors as well.
2. Response time. The lower your response time, the better. A solid response time would be around 5ms (milliseconds) give or take a millisecond. This means you’ll see less ghosting, which is really important for the multimedia user (movies and games), not so important for building spreadsheets and checking out Power Point presentations. It’s definitely easier on the eyes to have good response time.
3. Backlighting. LED backlit is the way to go these days. That means you’ll have an array of tiny LED lights placed strategically behind your screen instead of one single lamp lighting the whole monitor. This will improve your black levels and color reproduction. A note here: I would advise against using a plasma as your sole computer monitor. Yes I love plasmas, and no, I don’t think they’re super susceptible to image burn-in, but having static computer graphics on screen for many hours of your day creates a true concern for image retention. Having said that, using a LCD as your main monitor and a plasma as a second output monitor say for games and movies...that’s an ideal setup.
So now you’re educated in the art of monitor shopping. You owe it to yourself to spend the extra cash to get a high-end screen. After all, you’ll be looking at this thing more than you look at your wife and kids...more than you look at the sky and mountains...more than you look at the ocean...sigh...here comes the depression again.
Writers note: my favorite monitor brands are Samsung and Dell. If you’re going for a HDTV LCD, Samsung and Sony are safe bets. See below for some of my choice models.
Some Great Monitor and LCD HDTV Choices
Member Details
Folks also looked at these products:
Copyright © 2000-2013 eBay Inc. All Rights Reserved