Some have said that this part can be the most difficult when you’ve bought or built a PC.
Whether you're using your monitor for working at home or simply trying to spruce up your home-gaming set-up, this screen will be a major component in your PC.
All the hardware, all the peripherals, they are going to reflect in some way into how they show on a monitor.
But it also depends on what desk you’re going to be gaming on. If it’s a wide desk, there’s a chance two or three monitors could be a good scenario, but if it’s a smaller desk, then maybe just one large monitor.
It can be a minefield in deciding just what monitor you want for your desk so we’ve picked out five monitors that could do you well when editing, streaming, gaming, or word-processing.
The best monitor for working from home
If you need something that does the job for a cheap price at £109.99, then this monitor is the one to get. It’s a great budget option as you’ll be able to play most games at its native resolution of 1920 x 1080 at a high quality, along with editing HD video in Premiere Pro.
It comes with two HDMI ports so there’s always opportunity for a second monitor in case you want to spread out your apps even more.
The best monitor on a mid-range budget
This is nicely placed as a mid-range monitor, before it goes into 4K territory. Firstly, the design is gorgeous, with a razor-thin display and the bulk of it going towards the stand to prop it up, it’s simply a great design for any game room or office.
At £115 it’s a fantastic price, and if you had a budget for a 4K one at £250, you may as well look into two of these instead; get a 4K monitor when you need one and when your PC can handle the load of one.
This Acer monitor has fantastic colour-range, with everything popping out as best as a monitor can. This would be great for games with the ultra-quality settings usually switched on, and games that have colours pop out such as Tetris Effect will really shine on this monitor.
The best monitor for 4K Gaming
If you’re getting a new PC in 2020, you may well have 4K as a minimum on a monitor, and the BenQ is a wise purchase. At 28 inches of screen with HDR support, the image is guaranteed to look crisp at a 4K resolution while you’re on Call of Duty: Warzone.
There’s even a brightness sensor, so it adjusts the screen's brightness depending on how much light is coming into the room, which can be really handy when gaming in the late-evening and the eyes are starting to strain.
At a price of approximately £240 it’s a great value for what the monitor offers, and will keep you in good stead until 8K Monitors start appearing at the same price range.
The best monitor for video editing
If you’re looking at a PC mainly to edit video, then this is the one to buy.
First of all, it comes with a pop-out headphone hanger, so that could seal the deal for you here and now. But there is more.
It boasts an SRGB colour ratio with a 144Mhz refresh rate, so videos in varying frame rates will look to the best of its quality on this monitor. At 27 inches there’s plenty of space to go round, so editing video or even podcasts will be ideal with this.
It’s also curved, which differs from the other four here. A curved monitor has been received like marmite; either you love it or you hate it, and depending on the application used, your experience may vary. But it gives off a sense of immersion, more-so than a regular monitor, as it gives an impression of any outputted video or images in a way that its meant to be seen like this. It can give you a more close-up experience with the content, and when it comes to video, it can be ideal for this use-case.
At £240 it hovers around the same price as the 4K monitor, but it depends on the use-case. Us the 4K monitor for gaming and some casual editing, but perhaps this for longer, more in-depth videos.
The best monitor for wide-screen PC gaming
There’s wide and then there’s WIDE. If you want a monitor the size of a pilot’s window when he’s flying a Boeing 747, then this is the one for you.
First of all; it’s gorgeous. There's a thin black bezel across the whole monitor, so you’re not going to be distracted by that, it’s all screen, and then some.
Having a brightness of 1,000 nits and supporting an SRGB coverage at 125%, this all essentially translates to; this is a bright, crisp, sharp screen.
It also has a smart feature where it can mimic two displays at once, so you could have Microsoft Edge showing your Twitch Channel or OBS setup with your widgets, and the other with your game in the resolution it’s been designed to run at. Very useful and it shows that Samsung have put in a lot of thought to this, rather it just being an ultra-wide display.
Some games won’t support running at its native 5120 x 1440 resolution, but when others like Sonic Mania are modded to work on a monitor like this, you get tempted, regardless of its £899 price tag.
Overall, a monitor needs to do what it can do for you; at its best. Whether it's for video editing, gaming, streaming, or just WFH with Office 365, getting the right monitor will be very important.
Otherwise, the CRT monitor from the attic may need to be revived. And you don’t want to insult your setup with that.
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