Physical Cores: The Best Ever Monitor Buying Guide

Hello PC readers! Today I thought that I should write something for those who are thinking about getting a new computer, or more precisely, a new monitor. However, I’ll not be giving you those stinking definitions and stuff that you can easily find everywhere, just type in ‘define monitor’ in Google and you’re set.

LCD vs LED vs CRT

So first things first, which type of monitor is best for you? We’re going to be covering 3 basic types of monitors here today,

CRT Monitors
LCD Monitors
LED Monitors

Yes, I know that CRT’s are extremely outdated, but why not include them? Since they were the first ‘monitors’ most of us saw?

Now, you don’t want to go with a CRT monitor, simply because its quite heavy, old, has a higher latency and has resolution limits. Plus, you probably won’t find a new one, at least from major brands. However, they are cheap.

Next up we have LCDs, this is something you should consider, they are on par with LEDs when considering resolutions and PPI, however, they do have bad viewing angles but then again, they’re cheaper than LED’s. So if you’re low on budget, this is what you should get.

Finally, there are LEDs. This is the one you should be going after if you can. They’ll give you everything you want, the viewing angles of CRTs and the quality and lightness of LCDs.

Which Monitor Size is Best?

Alright, in this section, I’m sure you’ve decided the ‘type’ of monitor you want to get, now we’ll be considering the size. One thing you should know, the size of a monitor (written in inches, such as a 28”), is the actual screen size, not the dimensions of the whole thing. They are measured diagonally, which means that the aspect ratio of a monitor will also matter in the final shape. For example, if we have 2 monitors, both 24”, one is 16:9 the other is 4:3, then they will have extremely different shapes, just keep this in mind.

Personally I would encourage everyone to get a widescreen (something with something like a 16:9 aspect ratio) monitor, since movies and most games are best suited on this shape. Anyway, you should get at least a 21” screen, whether its for gaming, movies or office work. If you get something smaller, than you might have difficulty in making things out. Especially if you have a monitor with a high resolution.

What Resolution to get?

This is a major question, maybe this matters more than the screen size. Basically the higher the resolution, the more stuff you can jam into it without making it impossible to see, the best option is to get a monitor with a high resolution (1080x1920 is quite common), and a good screen size (24”+). However, if you have a smaller desk, or are limited by something else, such as vision problems, then you might want to get a lower resolution monitor, something like 1366x768. Anything above 1280x720, is called HD, anything above 1080p is called Full HD.

Best Refresh Rate for Gaming?

First lets make this thing clear, if you’re gonna be using MSOffice on this monitor, any refresh rate will suite you just fine, however, if you plan on gaming, then I would suggest getting a monitor with at least a rate of 60Hz, why? You know all those FPS wars? The refresh rate of a monitor is the maximum FPS is can properly display, if you get one with 30Hz, then even if your GPU produces 100 FPS, you wont be able to see them, all you’ll see is 30FPS. Now a days, most monitors you’ll see will be supporting 60 Hz, some expensive ones even have up to 144Hz, which is of course better if you PC can handle it.