Simple Guide to Buying a Monitor

Resolution, refresh rate, panel types, and more you SHOULD know

Jul 12, 2025

You can spend Rs. 30,000 on a monitor…and still get scammed.

A couple of weeks ago, I dropped by a friend’s place to help him set up his new PC. He’d bought a used monitor for video editing - but the moment I looked at it, something felt off.

The colors were washed out. There was noticeable backlight bleed. The bezels looked cheap, and the brand? Some random name I’d never seen before. He’d paid for an IPS panel with good color accuracy. What he got was a low-end knockoff from a no-name Chinese company.

He returned it the next day and managed to find a decent used IPS monitor. But that experience made something clear:

Most people don’t actually know what to look for when buying a screen

See, you don't need a PhD to choose a better monitor for yourself. Knowing about a handful of terms and concepts is more than enough. In this article, I’ll try to explain these very concepts and terms in a simple way, just as I explained to my friend.

Why Monitors Matter?

These days most of us are too immersed in our phone and laptop screens to care about a traditional monitor. They seem to take up more space and aren't even portable. But even today full-sized monitors have their own place in many environments.

Gamers with their custom-built gaming PCs are not the only ones who care about their monitors but common folk like you and me can also use them to increase the level of comfort and productivity in the work we do.

Take me for example, I use a laptop for most of the work I do on a daily basis. I also have weak eyesight. The 13 inch screen of my laptop is sometimes not enough for me. When I'm away from home I use its screen primarily and it's great.

I know people with multiple monitors hooked up to their laptops.

I usually prefer working in an upright position on my chair. At home I have a 27 inch monitor on my desk. When I'm in my room, I just plug in my laptop with my monitor and it significantly adds to the comfort. This setup gives me the flexibility to unplug and take my laptop anywhere when I want to.

Another plus point for external monitors is the immersion that one can get. Even though I'm not a big movie watcher, watching Interstellar on my teeny tiny laptop screen and the 27 inch monitor makes a lot of difference.

I know many people who use a similar setup if they don’t have dedicated gaming rigs. I know people who take it up another level and drive multiple monitors through a single laptop too.

Screen Resolution vs Size: What You Actually Need

When you start with displays, there is a certain mambo-jumbo you should be familiar with to make a truly better decision for yourself. Below I am discussing some fundamental terms that you need to be aware of before making a decision for your next monitor.

Resolution & Size

When talking about computer screens, resolution is the most talked about thing in general. A pixel is a really tiny square that can display a single color and resolution is the number of total pixels your screen has.

Full HD or 1920 x 1080 is probably the most popular resolution. Here, 1920 is the amount of horizontal pixels and 1080 specifies that amount of pixels vertically on the screen. This resolution is also sometimes referred to as 1080p.

2K, 4k, 5k are names for some of the other popular resolutions available on a wide array of computer screens. The maximum resolution that your monitor supports is usually mentioned on the box.

Monitor size is the diagonal measurement of the screen itself. It is commonly measured in inches. Generally, most consumer monitors appear in between 20 - 30 inches. For laptops, 13 and 15 inch sizes are more common.

Below, I have listed the three most used screen-to-resolution combos with different use-cases:

24 inch & 1920 × 1080 (Full HD) - Basic Work & Web Browsing
27 inch & 2560 × 1440 (Quad HD or 2K) - Everyday work & Mid-range Gaming
30 inch & 3840 × 2160 (4K) - Higher-end Gaming & Higher Fidelity Creative Work

If you’re using Retina scaling on MacOS, you may be better off with a 4k display. You can read more about Retina Scaling in the linked articles in the Further Reading section.

Refresh Rates: Why Gamers Obsess (And You Might Not Need To)

In addition to the important terms, there is some more mambo-jumbo that you may be interested in learning about.

Refresh Rate

Refresh rate is the number of times a screen is able to update information on it. It is usually measured in Hz. The common refresh rate for most monitors is 60 Hz which means that the screen can draw an image 60 times in a single second.

A higher refresh rate generally means a smoother experience. When you're dragging a window you can feel the difference in animation smoothness between a normal and a higher refresh rate display.

Higher refresh rate monitors are commonly used by gamers. 120 Hz and 144 Hz are some of the common refresh rate standards that they use. To take advantage of high refresh rate monitors you typically need a compatible Graphics card that can drive the same amount of fps as the supported refresh rate of the monitor.

For an everyday user, high refresh rate does mean a smoother experience but that comes at a cost. The usual rule is that if you don't know about refresh rates you don't need anything above 60 because most monitors and TVs already support it.

Color Gamut

I'm not that old but if you are old enough you might have experienced black and white TVs. Originally they were black and white and then came color TVs and life was simple.

These days when you go looking for a new monitor you get showered with a range of jargon like DCI-P3 or Rec. 2020 or Adobe SRGB Coverage. All of these are different standards for the range of available colors on the screen.

Color coverage is measured in percentages of color spaces like Adobe SRGB and DCI-P3 for example. 99% Adobe SRGB coverage means that the monitor can produce 99% of the colors defined in the Adobe SRGB color space.

A better color coverage generally means you'd have a bigger range of colors to choose from. This is mostly relevant to people who are into editing and design work or anyone who wishes to produce graphics-related creative work.

For reference, a normal SDR TV can produce ~16 million unique combinations of colors while an HDR capable TV can easily show ~1 billion unique color combinations.

I won’t go into much detail about HDR because I’ll be discussing it in an upcoming article, Stay tuned for that!

Pixel Density

Monitor's size and resolution make up pixel density which dictates a sharper image as it increases. It is described as pixels per inch (PPI).

A higher pixel density means that you'd have sharper fonts/text and lines on your monitor. A lower pixel density entails grainy text and lines that may seem pixelated or blocky on the screen.

For an average user who wants their daily work done on a computer, they don't need to overthink the pixel density of their monitor.

Panel Types: IPS vs VA vs TN

The monitor screen or the panel is the most important thing in a monitor. The panel would largely dictate what features and specs your monitor would have. There are two main kinds of panel technologies - LED and OLED.

Both LED and OLED have a number of other subcategories beneath them. We'll discuss those that are relevant to us down below:

LED

LED monitors use an LED backlight that shines through a liquid crystal screen, the liquid-crystal layer controls that light to form each pixel. The pixels then form up the image on the screen.

LED monitors are technically LED-backlit LCD monitors but you'll see them marketed as LED monitors. Even though they are technically LCD, they are largely advertised as LED monitors.

Although there are other lesser known panel types like QLED and Mini-LED but for now, we'll focus on the 3 main types of LED monitors that are commonly used these days and they are:

TN Panels

Twisted-Nematic aka TN panels are some of the oldest LCD panels around here. TN panels were originally introduced back in the 80s. These monitors are known for their high refresh rates although at the cost of bad viewing angles and relatively flat colors.

TN panels are notorious for their viewing angles which means that the monitor would give you a blacked out experience if you're not sitting at the right angle. The colors fade out as you move away from the ideal angle.

Being the oldest among the other LED panels, TN panels are pretty inexpensive but they're being phased out for quite some time and are not that popular nowadays outside of specific ultra high refresh rate applications like eSports.

IPS Monitors

In-Plane Switching or IPS panels are the most common type of LED monitors these days. IPS panels have the best looking colors and are widely used for productivity.

IPS panels display accurate colors and don't have viewing angle restrictions unlike TN-panels. Recent IPS panels balance the high refresh rate with their impeccable color coverage.

The drawback for IPS is their contrast that is not up to par with VA panels and they are more expensive too. IPS panels generally do a more than fine job at everyday tasks but they do have some contrast limitations like less deep blacks.

Overall, IPS panels are perfect for those who do creative work like Design & Editing. They are also perfect for gamers who want to play on high refresh rates while still maintaining the color accuracy or others who just want a productive work session.

VA Panels

Vertical Alignment also known as VA panels are the middle-ground between TN and IPS panels. These monitors perfect the best contrast and black-levels among the three we discussed while also not breaking the bank.

VA monitors have better viewing angles than TN along with better colors but not up to par with IPS panels. Faster VA panels could also reach high refresh rates.

VA is better suited for those who want a more cinematic experience at home or solo gamers who want to upgrade from TN.

OLED

OLED displays are fundamentally different in their working to LED displays. Instead of a backlight, each pixel in an OLED display is an LED that has its own light. What that means is that the screen has greater control of the color down to each individual pixel.

OLED displays are known for their contrast and their deeper blacks. Out of any other display they have the best black levels because individual LEDs can turn themselves off to present a pure black color.

OLED has further types of panels like QD-OLED and WOLED but we might cover them in a separate article.

How would I pick my next monitor?

Coincidentally (or not so co-incidentally), I’ll be picking up a new monitor for myself later this year and here’s how I’d go over the purchase decision:

My first step would be to find out what size and resolution I want the monitor to be. I have used 1080p monitors for quite some time now so I want to experience 1440p at 27 inches screen.

My second step would be to figure out what I'll be doing on my monitor. I know I would be doing most of my work. I am not looking to do high refresh rate gaming anytime soon but I really want good color coverage since colors on my current monitor suck!

Naturally, IPS is the choice for me at the moment but if I was buying for my gaming PC, I'd have focused more on the refresh-rate and selected a Fast VA/IPS. If I had a burning hole in my pocket I'd have gone for an OLED :)

Lastly, I'd go over the internet and look for reviews for my monitor, just to see what others have experienced using the same model that I'm going to purchase.

You can also first map out your needs and make a decision based on the knowledge you've gained from this article but if you're still unsure, I'm leaving a general selection that you can consider or tune to your liking:

Casual office: IPS, 24″ 1080p, adjustable stand, eye-care mode.
Competitive gamer: Fast IPS/VA, 27″ 1440p 120 Hz and above
Creative pro: IPS/OLED, 32″ 4 K, 100 % P3, 10-bit, factory-calibrated.
Movie lover: VA/OLED, 34″ UWQHD, high contrast, HDR 600+

To summarize the decision checklist:

Start by picking the monitor size and resolution first
Map out your use-cases with the monitor
Weigh in on the different Panel types and your preferences
And Don't forget to check out reviews for the exact monitor model you chose

I hope this article helps you make a better decision when purchasing your next monitor.
Even if you're not purchasing one anytime soon, at-least now you know better!