Once you have decided to buy a monitor, you need to decide on some basic things.

What is the main purpose of the monitor that you’re going to buy?

1. Office applications

2. Internet

3. Multimedia consumption

4. Media creation

5. Gaming

Office applications

For this segment of users, the monitor should have as much higher resolution as possible.

But why?

Larger the resolution, larger the working area!

So for example, let us assume that your monitor has a resolution of 1366×768, then you can work on only a single page at a time in MS Word, more than that won’t be visible to you clearly. Another reason is that if the resolution is higher, the smaller text will appear crispy.

For an 11 to 14 inch monitors, 1366×768 is a reasonable resolution, but for a 20 inch monitor it’s a low resolution. Similarly 1920 x 1080 is a reasonable resolution for 21 inch monitors.

Internet

Nowadays most of the websites have a separate design for mobile website mobile optimized responsive design. So, for viewing webpages, you don’t need a resolution more than 1366×768. But if the monitor can display deeper blacks and brighter whites then the display will be pleasant for the eyes.

Multimedia consumption

For this segment, users should see many things, while buying a monitor. They are:-

1. Full HD resolution

2. Higher dynamic contrast ratio

3. Deeper blacks

4. Maximum brightness that the monitor can deliver

5. Saturation or colour accuracy

6. Monitor size – as large as possible

7. Viewing angles

8. Tilting arrangement

9. Anti-Glare screen

Full HD resolution helps in better clarity of the video. If you play any video of native full HD resolution in a full HD display then you will feel as if you directly see them in live.

Higher dynamic contrast ratio helps in dynamic adjustment of contrast of videos while playing.

Do you know, what it means?

You need not adjust to a constant contrast on your own. The monitor can adjust the contrast by itself for every scene, so that bleaching of videos can be prevented.

Deeper blacks help in displaying black colours really black, which means the Cinemascope, monitor’s bezel, black region in videos will blend with each other. It will give a real cinematic feel if you switch off your room lights and watch the video.

• The monitor should be capable of delivering a decent amount of brightness. Most of the times, we use monitors inside our house, so a decent amount of brightness level will do the job. But if you want to use the monitor outside the house in direct sunlight then you’d buy a monitor with maximum brightness.
• Saturation comes along with vibrancy controls. Higher vibrancy will produce artificial colours but they will please your eyes. For example when you watch films like Avatar, if you increase the vibrancy then those violet colours and pink will be displayed in a more saturated way. It may not look real but it will be pleasing for your eyes.
• Normally when viewing films or videos, we watch it from a certain distance. So, larger the monitor, better the video.

Viewing angles play a major role when more persons watch the monitor at a time. Normally 1 to 2 persons can watch video in a monitor with narrow viewing angle. But, when a whole family is viewing a film in a monitor, viewing angle of 170° is preferable. This comes normally in any IPS display.

Tilting arrangement will be helpful for you if you work in the monitor at various positions. For example, when I feel sleepy, I used to tilt the monitor completely up and then I’ll stand and work. Also I feel much more comfortable with that type of working.

Anti-glare screen comes into action when you place your computer opposite to windows or lights. This type of screen does not reflect the image rather they diverge it.

Media creation

People working in this area, normally uses multi monitor setup. So they buy 2 or 3 monitors with same resolution and size. Beyond that they need exact colour accuracy. For colour accuracy I will always suggest performance range Asus monitors, they are a bit costly but they produce Whiter whites.

Gamers

Gamers usually need fast response monitors to avoid ghost effect, while playing games and to take advantage of their faster graphic card, if they have one. A budget gamer may not need more than 5ms (millisecond) response. But if you have more budget for monitor then you may prefer a 2ms response monitor, lower the ms faster the response.

These are the things that you should be aware of before buying a monitor.

Tomorrow let’s see some interesting things about keyboard and mouse.