How to choose the Best Monitor

Since the invention of the computer the average adult spends around 9 hours a day in front of a screen – whether it be a PC, laptop or the phone.

As you can guess that’s a lot of screen time given that we are awake for about 12-14 hours a day.

A lot of people are forced to this due to their office work, others have jobs like graphic design and programming that are impossible without a digital device.

It’s been researched time and time again how digital devices and staring at screens affects our health, but what is absolutely clear is that they do – and not in the best way.

This is why if we can’t avoid staying away from screens we should do our best to make our digital devices healthy enough for prolonged use.

If you’re using a PC you can’t go without a monitor, obviously, but in this day and age you’ll go to a store and there will be thousands of different types to choose from.

How do you know which one is the best one?

Well here are some tips on how to choose the best monitor for your health.

Beginner mistakes

When you go to look around you’ll find there are various specifications that discern the different types of monitors like screen size, screen type, contrast ratio, update frequency, color depth, power usage, response time, etc.

Most of these, however, means nothing to the average user.

Here are some frequent mistakes you might want to avoid when first looking for a monitor:

• Buying the cheapest one
• Buying the most expensive one
• Buying a tiny one
• Buying a monitor that’s too huge
• Buying from a sketchy place
• Buying an incompatible monitor to the rest of your PC
• Not knowing what you’re gonna use the PC for
• Not shopping in person and only looking online

Tips for picking out the best monitor

Use

First, you should decide what you’ll be using your PC for in order to pick out the right monitor for you.

Will it be a home PC for general use, are you an avid gamer or a professional graphic designer or architect?

Will you be using it to work from home?

This is very important not only to the specifics we’ll mention later but for size and placement as well.

If you have a tiny desk or table and won’t be using the PC a lot then don’t buy a huge monitor that will take up all your space and just have an empty desktop blaring light at you.

Budget

Next thing you should pay attention to is your budget.

How much are you willing to spend overall on the PC and separately on the monitor.

Don’t have a specific price set, but a range. For example – I’ll look for a monitor between 100-200$.

Also, be prepared if you have a lot of preferences and need a really good monitor for constant use that it won’t come cheap.

Specifics

Now for the more precise things. If you want a fairly good picture, vivid colors and overall good look get a monitor with a higher resolution.

For refresh rate remember – the higher it is the better.

Also, this reduces the flicker rate and makes for a smoother picture.

Why reducing the flicker rate is important – learn here: What I need to know about PWM flicker.

Should you buy a curved monitor – depends, they’re usually very big and very expensive, so if you’re looking for something simple, avoid them.

Look at the LCD panel – for gaming monitors, it’s best to get a TN panel monitor. VA and IPS are best for general use. Check out the differences in this article.

Consider getting a flicker-free monitor to reduce eye strain and pain. You can also read our article “14 tips to make your monitor healthier for your eyes“

If you don’t need to work with exact and vivid colors consider blue light filtering. There are different blue light filters and you can try ours for FREE – download Iris.

Follow these tips when looking out for a monitor in order to get the best for your needs.

Check out this article for the best 2019 computer monitors.

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