PC Pro - UK 2021-12)

Y

ouhavetotryhardtobuya bad

screenthesedays.Ifyoupicka

reputablenameandlookfor

IPSasthepaneltechnology,thenit’s a

safebetthatyou’llbuysomething

pleasingtotheeye.However,itstill

helpstoknowexactlywhatyou’re

lookingfor:whatspecsmatter,what

specs don’t,andwhetheryou’llreally

benefitfromspendinganother£100

onthe monitoroneupintherange.

Whatsizeandresolution

doyouneed?

Wedon’tthinkanyoneneedsa34in

widescreenmonitor,butthereare

manyoccasionswhenithelps.Ifyou

frequentlyviewtwowindowssideby

side,oryourwork(orfun)involves

spreadsheetsor games, a widevista

comesinhandy.Intruth,onlyyou

willknowifa 24inscreenwillbe

plenty; after all, youcanalwaysbuya

secondscreenlaterand viewthem

sideby side(seep 97 ).

Onceyou’vepickeda screensize,

youneedtothinkaboutsharpness

ratherthanresolution.Werecommend

a pixel densityofabove 90ppiifyou

canaffordit,althoughhumaneyesare

surprisingly adaptable.Ofallthe

screenswetestedthismonth,weonly

cursedthelackofsharpnesswhen

usinga 27inpanelwitha FullHD

(1,920x 1,080)resolution.

IsUSB-Cdocking

worthpayingfor?

WeloveUSB-Cdocking:with onefell

swoop,youcan cuttwo,threeor

possiblyevenfourcablesfromyour

desk.Andwhenit’stimetogetupand

takeyourlaptopwithyou,youonly

needtodisconnectonecable,with

USB-Aportsbuiltinto themonitorif

youneedthem. Somemonitorseven

includeRJ-45portsforwired

networking, KVM

switchessoyoucanhook

upmorethanonePCand

sharethekeyboardand

mouse,anddaisychaining

support(seeopposite).

Therearecaveats.If

youhavea powerful

laptopthenitmayneedmorethan

the 6 5Wpowerdeliveryweoften

seewithUSB-Cdockingmonitors,so

ifindoubtcheckyourlaptop’spower

supplytofindoutexactlywhatit

needs(itcouldbethat65Wisfine,but

yourlaptopwillchargemoreslowly).

Curvedornot?

Ifyouwanta screenthat stretches

widerthan 30 inches,youshouldgive

seriousconsideration to a curved

display.That’s particularly truefor

playinggames,wherecurvature

makesfastgameplayfeelmore

immersive. It’s no coincidencethat

manymoderngamingdisplaysare

curved.Notethatthenumberinthe

curvaturefigurereferstotheradiusof

thecirclethatwould be created,so

1500Requals 1 ,500mm or 1.5m.

Howimportantis

colouraccuracy?

Fewpeopleneedthelastwordin

colouraccuracy,and forthosewhodo

we’llcovermonitorsforcreative

professionalsinnextmonth’sLabs.

However,youshould expecta decent

average Delta E (the measureofcolour

accuracy)froma modernmonitor,

andideallyitshouldcovercloseto

90%of thesRGBgamut(see“Whatare

colourspaces?”,opposite).

Wealsotalka lotabout“pure

whites” in ourreviews,asthatcan

makeworkingona monitor much

morepleasant.Lookatthegraphic

opposite showingcolourtemperature.

Asyoucansee, 6500 K is closestto

whatoureyesseeaswhite,andifyou

ABOVEUSB-C

dockingallowsyouto

hookupyourlaptop

toabigscreen

WeloveUSB-Cdocking:

withonefellswoop,you

cancuttwo,threeor

possiblyevenfourcables

fromyourdesk

10 keyquestionstoask

beforebuyingamonitor

Howdoyoudecidebetween 29 monitors?Byaskingafewpertinentquestions

(andsettingabudgetthatcan’tbebroken)

Howwetest

Alongwithusingthescreenstotestfor“real-world

performance”,weruna selectionoftechnicaltests

thatcheckeachpanel’scolourperformance

acrossthesRGB,AdobeRGBand

colourspaces.Otherchecksinclude

brightnessuniformityacross 25

areasonthepanel,gammatracking

andhowcloseeachpanelgetsto

thetarget6500Kcolourspace.

Toperformthesetests,weuse

anx-ritei1DisplayPluscolorimeter

inconjunctionwiththeopen-sourcedisplay

calibrationandprofilingsoftware,DisplayCal.

Wealsotesteachmonitor’scolouraccuracy

pointonthescreen.The

ncebetweentheintendedand

colourismeasuredintheunit

lourdifference,DeltaE;the

thefigure,thepoorerthe

A DeltaE of lessthan1 is

consideredperfect.

Seethereviewsfora

summaryofeachmonitor’s

andthegraphsonp98fora

by-sidecomparison.

RIGHTWetestadisplay’stechnical

performanceusingacolorimeter