PC Pro - UK 2021-12)

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willprimarilybeworkingina word
processororspreadsheetthenyou
willappreciatethis. If,ontheother
hand,youleantowardsdark
backgrounds,thenitwon’t affect you.

Howimportantiscontrast
andbrightnessuniformity?
Toanextent,brightnessuniformity
goeshandinhandwithcolour
accuracy.Ingeneraluse,wedoubt
mostpeoplewouldnoticea15%
drop-offinbrightnessatthecorners;
you’remorelikelytonoticeapanel
withpoorviewingangles,asthe
perceiveddrop-offismorevisibleto
thehumaneye(wepointoutmonitors
thatsufferfromthisinthereviews).
Wealsorecommendyoudon’tbase
buyingyourdecisiononcontrast
ratings.Forexample,bytheirnature
VApanelshavemuchgreatercontrast
thanIPSpanelsbut–asaruleof
thumbandcertainlynotallthetime

• anIPSpanellooks

Coulddaisych
workforyou?
A surprisingnumber
monitorsinclude
supportfor“daisy
chaining”,which
simplymeanshaving
videooutputfrom
monitortoa second
Mostmonitorsdo this
usinga DisplayPort
butitcanworkviaa s
USB-Cporttoo.For
reasons,daisychainin
cablemanagementso
choicefordualmonitorsetups.

Whatlevelofsupport
doyouneed?
Monitorstendtobeoneofthemost
reliableproductsaround:takea look
atourExcellenceAwardsfromp26
andyoucanseethatpeople’slevel of
satisfactionwiththereliabilityof
theirmonitorsissignificantly higher
thanmostothercategoriesof
hardware.Still,failuresdo happen,
andifyou’re buyingfora business in
particularthenitmakes senseto
carefullycheckwhatis andisn’t
coveredinthewarranty,whetherit’s
advancedreplacement– whereyou
willbe sent a neworrefurbished
screenpromptlyonthebasisthatyou
willsendthebrokenoneback– ora
slowerpolicywhereyouneedtosend
themonitorback beforeit’sreplaced.
Manyyears ago, we wouldalso
advisepeopletocheckforguarantees
againstbrightsub-pixels,butthisis

ABOVEAcurved

screenhelps

makegaming

moreimmersive

nolongerthebigproblemitused to

be.It’sstillworthhavingthecover,

justnota reasontorejecta monitor.

Areyouagamer?

Noneofthemonitorsontestthis

monthisspecificallytargetedat

gamers– wherehighrefreshrates,

1msresponsetimesandsupportfor

adaptive-sync

technologiesarethe

orderoftheday –

althougha couple will

dothe jobquitehappily.

Ifgamingisyourpriority,

thenlookoutfornext

month’sLabswhenwe’ll

beputting a bunch of suchscreens

throughtheirpaces.

Anyoneforextras?

We’reusedtotheideaofspeakers

beingintegratedintomonitors– and

weshould emphasisethatthequality

variesfromgoodto absolutelyawful

facturersarenow

amsintotheir

. We commenton
h one’squalityin
review,butthey
endtobea fraction
thantheaverage
top’s webcam.
don’tthinkyou
akethisa key
r buyingdecision.
itorincludesa
henitwillalso
t whereyou can
iorwebcam,andif
youtuck thecablestidilyawaythen
yougetalltheconvenienceandcan
picka webcamofyourchoice.
Somemanufacturersalsomake
muchofpicture-by-picture(PBP)or
picture-in-picture(PIP)support.This
canbeusefulforsuper-widescreen
displays,butunlessyouhavea
particular use-case,wethinkit’sa
tickboxyoucanignore.Likewise,
featuressuchas“flickerfree”and“low
bluelight”arealmostubiquitous.

Whereshouldyou

buyfrom?

Ifyou’rebuyingfora smallbusiness,

andyoulikethe cutofDell’sor HP’s

jib,thentherearegoodreasonsto

buystraightfromthe company.Not

onlymight it makedealingwith

replacementseasier,buttheyalsosell

usefulextendedwarranties (bothin

termsoftimeandwhat’scovered).

Forindividuals, we suggeststeering

clearofAmazon simply duetothe

wayitbundlesmonitorsontoone

pageandit’snotalwaysclearwhat

you’rebuying.Weincludepartcodes

foreachmonitor,andsuggestyou

searchbythose viayourfavoured

retailerorsearchengine.

Manyyearsago,wewould

advisepeopletocheckfor

guaranteesagainstbright

sub-pixels,butthisisno

longertheproblemitwas

Whatarecolourspaces?

Colourspacesareawayto

makesenseofthecolours

capturedbydevices(suchas

camerasinalltheirforms)

andthosethatdisplaythem.

Suchspacesalsoneedto

workonprintouts,sothat

thereisn’tahugedisparity

betweenwhat’sshownon

yourscreenandwhat

emergesfromaprinter.

Inthebeginning,the

industrygottogetherto

definethesRGBgamut.For

example,thetrianglewithin

thegraphicontherightshows

thesRGBcolourspacewithinallthecoloursour

eyescansee.IfweweretoshowDCI-P3inthe

sameimage,itwouldextendfurther.DCI-P3isthe

colourspaceusedbydigitalprojectorsincinemas,

andthuscreatorsoffilms.Amonitorthatcovers

almost100%oftheDCI-P3

gamutwillgiveyouthe

closestmatchtothe

director’svision.

Whileit’sobviouswhatit

meansforamonitorto

cover99%ofacolourspace,

wealsoquotea“volume”.

That’showmanycoloursit

showsbeyondthatcolour

space,andinmarketing

you’lloftenseefiguressuch

as“125%sRGB”.However,

it’smoreusefulforamonitortohaveansRGB

profilethatshows99%ofthesRGBspace,andthe

samevolume,buttothenswitchto99%ofthe

DCI-P3spacewhenyouchangeprofiles.Thatway,

youknowyou’reseeingcoloursascaptured.

LEFTThesRGBcolourspaceis

showninthetriangle

BELOW6500Kisthe

closestcolour

temperaturetowhat

oureyesseeaswhite

2000K 3000K 5500K 6500K 9300K 12000K

WARM COOL