What monitor to get for your PC set-up
As with most things PC related getting a new monitor depends on what you plan to use it for.
An LED or IPS monitor with Full HD resolution works well for multipurpose use.
For gaming, you’ll need a monitor that can keep up with the speed and intensity of today’s games.
The things to check for:
Connection needed.
You’ll need to check the output on your computer and see what kinds of ports are available (if you have a dedicated video card, you’ll want to look at those outputs). Then, make sure your monitor features the same type of ports — if it doesn’t, you’ll need some sort of adapter or special cable.
Standard and till available, VGA is the oldest video-out standard. It needs a small, trapezoidal connection usually comes with a screw-down plug coloured blue. It operates on an analogue standard, so there’s no technical limit to its resolution or refresh rate, but it’s practically limited by the electrical power and length of the cable itself.
DVI is the digital successor to the analogue VGA standard. While it’s also quite old now, it’s still commonly used on monitors, desktop motherboards, and discrete graphics cards,
HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface is a digital standard that carries both audio and video — that means if your monitor includes built-in speakers or a headphone jack, HDMI ports and cables come with different capabilities based on when they were released.
DisplayPort is one of the most advanced connections available to modern PCs. Like HDMI, the standard is constantly updated, and it can handle both video and audio on a single cable.
Newer laptops using the USB-C connection standard (a reversible oval rather than the rectangle connection of USB-A) can usually send video and audio through the connection.
Even cheap monitors tend to come with at least two different options for video connections. Mid-range and high-end ones will have more.
Screen resolution:
Screen size is a personal choice, and is one of the major contributors to the cost of a PC monitor.
- Larger monitors are better if you’re using them for graphics related purposes: watching or editing video, graphics intensive video games, photography, and so on.
- If you don’t use the PC intensely for any of these purposes, you may not need a large display.
The resolution of a monitor refers to its total number of pixels, expressed as a number value of Horizontal by Vertical. So a standard resolution size, 1920×1080, actually includes over two million individual pixels in the display.
Generally speaking, higher resolutions are better. You generally want as much resolution as you can afford.
Refresh rate:
The standard for LCDs is 60 hertz. Most users don’t need a monitor with more than this value.
Gamers, however, often prefer faster refresh rates, which allow for smoother, more dynamic animation and motion in games.
Contrast Ratio:
This is the difference between the luminance of the brightest white and the darkest dark a display can produce. This is important to a display, because the greater the contrast in these two extremes, the more subtle the differences in color and value a monitor can display.
How many colours can it display:
Any monitor worth its salt displays the full 16.7 million colours (24-bit) possible from an RGB colour space.
Other questions to consider
Does the picture distort if viewed from the side?
USB hub: a built-in set of USB ports that let you plug in devices when your computer is out of reach. Very handy for mice, keyboards, and flash drives.
Does it have an adjustable stand and can it be wall mounted?
Does it have integrated speakers and/or camera?
It is important to define what you want your monitor to do but you should also understand the return policy and period.
