64 OCTOBER2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE392
HOWTOSET UP
YOURMONITOR
INANIDEALworld you’dchoose your new
monitor, unpack it,hookituptoyourPCor
laptop and that would be it –nothing to
configure,tweakorcustomise.Don’t be put
off by afew minutesofprep work,however.
Taking thetimetoset up your newmonitor
properly will ensure better image quality,better
sound, andmaybe even better personal health.
STANDPROUD
It’s well knownthatpoor ergonomic use of a
desktopmonitor can contributetopoor
posture or eyestrain, so your first orderof
business should be getting acquaintedwith
the monitor’s stand. Unfortunately,not every
stand is fully adjustable,soaslong as youcan
afford it, it’sbest to go forsomethingwith
height, tilt andpossiblypivotadjustment.
The ideal viewingangleisstraight on, with
the topofthe screenlevel with your eye.
Make sure you’re comfortableinyourchair
first, thenuse height adjustment –which is
usuallyjust acase of grabbing theedges of
the screenand pulling it up or down–to get
the topofthe panel levelwith your eyeline.
Assuming the panel is completely vertical,
this will leavethe bottomofthe screenfurther
awayfromyour eyes thanthe top. This isn’t
much of ahealth risk, butonsome monitors
–especially TN panels–different parts of the
screen can look differentifviewed from
different angles. To even things out, astand
with tilt adjustment will let youbring the
bottom upwardsslightly,sothe topisstill level
with your eyes but you won’t have to move
them as fartofocus on the lower corners.
Pivot adjustment isn’tsoimportant if you
have asingle monitorstraight in front of you,
but it canbeusefulifyou’d prefertoposition
yourmonitor to the side of your desk or if
you have twomonitorsnext to eachother. It
would meanyou couldsit them so their bases
are aligned,but with the screenturned to face
yourcentralseatingposition, again ensuring
an optimalstraight-on viewing angle.
PORT CIRCUIT
All but the very cheapestmonitors providea
choiceofvideo input ports, and will include
all therequisitecables in the box, so as long
as you know what you’re gettingbefore
buying, you shouldn’t needtospend extra
on additional cables or adaptors.
There’s still the matterofwhich arethe
‘best’ ports to use.HDMIisarguablythe
most versatile, as it cancarry both video
and audio in one,and supports both high
resolutions and high refreshrates. That’s
not whatmakes it so flexible,however,as
all of these qualities are also shared by
DisplayPort. HDMI,however,isfar more
commonly featuredasthe output port on
laptops, games consolesand mediastreaming
boxes, so should youwant to connect
something other than adesktop PC, HDMI is
often the best waytogo.
DisplayPortisalsoahigher-spec
connection than DVIorVGA, andis
particularly well suited to gaming setup,as
it canhandle144Hz and avastrange of
resolutions with ease.Infact, it’s essential
if you want to use Nvidia’sG-Sync tech;
some monitors will supportFreeSync over
HDMI as well as DisplayPort,but G-Sync will
only work with the latter.
DVIand VGAwill do the job forFull HD,
60Hz monitors, but for
anything higherwe’dsuggest
sticking with HDMI or
DisplayPort.Unless,that is,
you wanttoconnect to a
slimline laptop that onlyhas
USBType-C outputs. These
don’tstrictly needtoplug
into aType-Cinput at the
other end –ifyou’re usinga
Type-Co-DisplayPort cable or
adaptor,for instance –but
this wouldbethe easiest
wayofgoing about things.
Monitors with Type-C inputs
⬆Adjust the brightness to combat bright lights or direct sunshine can power and transfer data
