I'm thinking about getting a new monitor, because my Acer AL1916W has a maximum resolution of 1440 × 900 whereas my notebook has 2560 × 1440 (check yours). This means when I connect the two, windows I drag to my external monitor are always super big.
Attributes ¶
- Screen size: How far away from the monitor are you? How big much space do you have?
- Resolution: The higher, the smaller contents can be distinguished - but when it gets higher, your PC has to compute more and thus might become slower
- Brightness in cd/m2: The brighter, the easier you can see things at sunlight
- Connectors: HDMI should be available today
- Reaction time: Advertised a lot, but I guess irrelevant for most people.
- USB-Hub: Useful, if you want to power other USB devices nearby.
Personal preferences ¶
- Screen size: I would not buy a monitor which is smaller than 19" (then I could use my laptop directly), but also not one which is bigger than 27". Everything else I'm not sure about.
- Connectors: I expect HDMI. The rest is a plus. See my post on Video display interfaces.
- Power: I would prefer a new monitor to have Power via USB-C and an external power adapter for it. Not too important, though.
Things I ignore:
- Reaction time: When I go to humanbenchmark.com, my reaction time seems to be roughly 300ms. So I guess I notice probably 100ms in difference in reaction time. Everything below just feels instantaneous. No need to go below 10ms.
Comparison ¶
Just as an example, here is my current external monitor and two more:
| General Information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Model | Acer AL1916W | Asus MG278Q | ThinkVision P27h |
| Specs | cnet.com | asus.com | lenovo.com |
| Price in 2019 | 50 EUR | 480 EUR | 312 EUR |
| Available Date | 04/2006 | 09/2015 | 04/2017 |
| Panel | TN | TN | TFT-LCD, IPS, White LED backlight |
| Diagonal | 19" | 27" | 27" |
| Dimensions in mm (W x H x D) | 462 × 385 × 180 | 625 × 563 × 233 | 612 × 513 × 270 |
| Aspect ratio | 16:10 | 16:9 | 16:9 |
| Power consumption (avg / max) | 60 W | 38.7 W / 45 W | 38 W / 140 W |
| Power supply unit | Built-in, C13 | ||
| Weight | 4 kg | 7.3 kg | 7.0 kg |
| Image quality | |||
| Resolution | 1440 × 900 (WXGA+) | 2560 × 1440 (WQHD) | 2560 × 1440 (WQHD) |
| Viewing angle 10:1 (v) | 130° | 160° | 178° |
| Viewing angle 10:1 (h) | 150° | 170° | 178° |
| Pixel pitch | 0.290 mm | 0.230 mm | 0.230 mm |
| Contrast ratio (static) | 500 : 1 | 1000:1 | 1000:1 |
| Contrast ratio (dynamic) | 700 : 1 | 100 000 000:1 | 3 000 000:1 |
| Colors | 16.2 Mio. | 16.7 Millionen | 1073 Mio. |
| Working | |||
| non-glare | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Brightness | 300 cd/m² | 350 cd/m² | 350 cd/m² |
| Gaming | |||
| Pixel response time | 8ms | 1ms | 4ms (extreme) / 6ms (typical) |
| Refresh Rate | 60Hz | 144Hz | 60Hz |
| Variable Synchronisierung | Adaptive Sync/AMD FreeSync, 40-144Hz (DisplayPort), mit LFC-Support, ohne HDR, NVIDIA G-Sync Compatible (Quelle: NVIDIA) | ||
| Ergonomics | |||
| Foot (Lift) | ✗ | 150mm | 110mm |
| 90° Rotating screen (pivoting) | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Tilt | ✗ | 20° back, ~-5° forward | 30° back, -5° forward |
| Swivel | ✗ | +/-60° | +/-45° |
| Connection | |||
| VGA | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| HDMI | ✗ | 2 | 2× HDMI (1.4) |
| DVI | ✗ | 1× DVI-D (digital & dual link) | 0 |
| USB-3 | ✗ | 2 | |
| USB-C | ✗ | ✗ | USB 3.1 Type-C |
| Display Port | ✗ | ✓ | DisplayPort (1.2) + DisplayPort-out |
| Extras | |||
| Speakers | ✗ | 2-Watt-Stereo | ✗ |
| Flat (non-curved) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| USB Hub | one USB 3.1 Type-C upstream port, four USB 3.0 Type-A downstream ports | ||
Panels ¶
| Panel Type | TN | IPS | VA | OLED |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pro |
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| Con |
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TL;DR: IPS for work, TN for gaming, VN if you like Samsung and are willing to pay more.
Ergonomics ¶
Best explained in the Lenovo ThinkVision P27H Monitor video.
Brands ¶
Lenovo ThinkVision ¶
- P27u-10: 27 inch, Ultra HD resolution of 3840 x 2160,
- P27h-10: 27 inch, QHD resolution of 2560 x 1440, black
- P27q-10: 27 inch, QHD resolution of 2560 x 1440, silver (I think black looks better)
- L27q-10: 27 inch, QHD resolution of 2560 x 1440, silver, Less connectivity than the P-Version
- L27m-28: 27 inch, HD resolution of 1920 x 1080, black
Too Expensive ¶
- ThinkVision X1: 30 Bit colors, resolution of 3840 x 2160, 766 EUR
Honorable Mentions ¶
- AOC AGON AG241QX: Similar to ThinkVision P27h, but smaller and worse viewing angles. Better contrast and has speakers, though (comparison)
- BenQ PD2500Q: Similar to ThinkVision P27h, but smaller, worse colors. Does have speakers, though (comparison)
- Asus PB277Q: Similar to ThinkVision P27h, but worse viewing angles and doesn't have USB ports. Way better contrast and has speakers, though (comparison)
- HP 27XQ: Similar to ThinkVision P27h, but worse colors and viewing angles (comparison)
See also ¶
- pcpartpicker.com is nice to get a reasonable list
- displayspecifications.com is nice to look specs up