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About 10 months ago I did a monitor guide which has gained almost half a million views.
Since then I got a ton of questions that led me to believe I should do an updated version.
So in this video, I’ll cover the monitor basics because the standards have shifted
a bit since last time and I’ll also dive into more details as well as what to look
for and what to avoid when looking for a decent productivity monitor. I’ll end the video
with my personal recommendations for specific models and setup scenarios for optimal productivity
results. I’ll leave a link to the previous guide at the end of this video for reference
and with that out of the way Let’s get started with aspect ratio.
Aside from the popular 16:9, 21:9, and super ultra-wides we now have a new, never before
seen aspect ratio of 16:18. This latest LG Ergo monitor broke the standards the last
month and we’ll talk about it in a second. In terms of sizes, the most popular 16:9 ratios
come in 24”, 27”, 32, and quite a few options are now available in about 43”.
Ultra-wides are usually 29, 34, and 38 but we often begin to encounter new choices of
40”, as the latest 5k2k display from LG. Super Ultrawides are 43 or 49-inch behemoths
and are very niche. I know people that use them for productivity, who don’t usually
take advantage of the extra width for the most part. Where you’ll find more application
for those super ultrawides however is when it comes to gaming simulators where you can
take full advantage of the curvature and that extra real estate for the ultimate immersive
experience. 16:18 is a new ratio that I am very eager
to try myself and I will, so stay tuned and subscribe for that. Think of 16:18 as having
a vertical dual monitor setup - which to be honest is the more productive way. Instead
of taking too much space, however, 16:18 will give you a much smaller footprint on the desk
with no horizontal bezel in the middle. If we talk about curvature, that is to be
expected from ultra-wides, although not all of them have it. I find it a must for anything
wider than 16:9 since at certain point toolbar items and UI elements around the edges of
the display becomes too off-center and hard to focus on when the display is flat. On the
other side, if you get used to using curved ultra wides, you’ll definitely need some
time to adjust to a flat display that will look like a fish-eye lens.
Let’s talk sizes. Some of the most popular sizes are 27, 32, 34, and 38, the last two
being ultrawides. There are few monitors in the 43-inch size, which I’ve talked about
in the past, but honestly, that’s too big for any desk and deserves to exist only on
a wall. By far, the most popular size among all displays is 27”. It is ideal for any
type of work and entertainment. It is not too small, nor too big for any desk. I find
32 inches to be much better, however. Working on a 32-inch monitor with great scaling and
proper resolution is bliss and reduces eye strain a lot. When using 32 inches, it will
be best to think of a monitor arm, however, because most stands are bigger and might take
up too much desk space. You can go smaller in size of course - like 24 inches, but honestly,
when it comes to a decent resolution, the choices are slim in that size.
Which brings me to resolution and PPI. The monitor you choose can be as big as the distance
you keep from your face. What I mean by that is that you can keep a 24-inch iMac a lot
closer to your face, while feeling perfectly immersed because it has a fantastic 4.5K resolution.
On the other hand, you can install a lower resolution 43-inch monitor further away and
still have a great experience because it’s not too close to count the pixels. This is
where PPI or pixel per inch comes into play. Ideally, you’d want to have a display with
a PPI above 110, preferably close to 200. To give you a perspective, the iPhone 13 Pro
has 450 PPI. The higher the PPI, the crisper the picture. As another reference, a 27-inch
4k display has a PPI close to 160. Unless you are into a very specific feature like
high-refresh-rate for gaming, for example, anything below 110 PPI will feel ugly and
outdated for a productive workflow. If you have doubts, there are online PPI calculators
or you can just ask Google to see if your shortlisted monitor is sharp enough. In simple
terms, if you are looking for a 27 or 32-inch monitor, look for a 4K display. If you are
into ultrawides, 5K2K resolution will be optimal. 5K2k means that the ultrawide is 5k horizontally
and 2k vertically, like a stretched-out 4k 16:9. 6K and 8K displays are still too niche
and expensive to talk about at this time. In terms of panel types, there are 4 to keep
in mind - TN, VA, IPS, and OLED. TN, or Twisted Nematic panels, are the oldest variety of
LCD panels, which are still common these days. They're cheap to produce, and they have very
low input lag, which makes them appealing to gamers. However, in terms of viewing angles
and image quality, they are disappointing. The most sought-after panel is the IPS. It
stands for in-plane switching, which is a type of LED (a form of LCD) display panel
technology. IPS panels are characterized as having the best color and viewing angles and
produce much higher display quality, with better colors and much better viewing angles.
Between the IPS and TN, there is the VA panel. VA stands for vertical alignment and some
companies like Samsung are embracing this panel to deliver great products at affordable
prices, like the recently released 4K 32-inch Samsung M8. I am planning or releasing a dedicated
review on it soon BTW, so subscribe to the channel if you are interested to watch it.
VA panels are an excellent compromise to IPS because they have great contrast and vibrant
colors for a reasonable price but are not as good in terms of viewing angles. Finally,
there are the OLED panels which are the most expensive ones. OLED or Organic Light-Emitting
Diode panels enjoy excellent viewing angles because the technology is very thin, and the
pixels are extremely close to the surface. OLEDs are lighter and thinner too and use
less energy while boasting extremely low input lag with an incredible response time. Depending
on your budget, I’d suggest you start from VA and go up to IPS. If the budget allows
it, OLED is awesome. While on the subject of panel types, let’s
talk about Color Gamut. A monitor's color gamut describes a specific range of colors
that it can produce. A wider color gamut means that the monitor can display colors
more accurately within that color space or in other words a more true-to-life image.
A wider gamut such as DCI-P3 or Adobe RGB delivers an extra vibrancy look. On the other
side, the sRGB gamut will deliver a more faithful representation of shades. When looking at
the specs of a display, look for sRGB accuracy above 90%. If it supports above 90% DCI-P3,
even better. In terms of refresh rate, most of the productivity
monitors come standard with 60HZ. Even the expensive Apple Pro Display XDR comes with
60HZ. Things are shifting however and the influence and need of the gaming community
for higher refresh rate and response time is blending with the productivity sector as
time goes by. Now more than ever, you can find an ultrawide, color-accurate productivity
monitor that boasts a 75 or 144 Hz refresh rate. But what does that mean? It means smoother
performance and overall experience of the monitor itself. Anything above 60Hz will give
you the feeling of working on a faster machine where even the gentlest mouse move will be
silky smooth. It is very pleasing to the eye and it’s definitely noticeable. Also, a
higher refresh rate means a smoother-looking screen that’s easier on the eyes - great
for people who spend a lot of time in front of a screen. If you’re trying to ease your
eyestrain, a refresh rate of 120 Hz or above is optimal - a trend that we see more and
more in smartphones as well. When we talk about connectivity, this is one
place to invest in. A monitor with decent IO will save you cash from having to buy external
docks. Look for a monitor that can charge your laptop (if you are a laptop user) with
a power delivery of at least 60W. Even if you use a larger laptop, you can still charge
it via USB-C, yet a bit slower. If you do the heavy lifting, there are monitor choices
that can power a laptop close to 100 watts. USB-C ports and USB-A ports are always welcome,
especially if some of the ports are easily accessible, like on the side. If they are
not, however, that’s not a problem, because you always run a hub that you can stick on
the side. I’ve done this plenty of times. Don’t compromise on a stereo jack too, since
you’d want to run decent speakers off of it. If it supports thunderbolt 3 or 4 even
better, since it will most likely be able to daisy chain (connect another monitor to
it) or simply hook up a hard drive on the back and enjoy speeds of let’s say 3,000
megabytes per second. So when choosing a monitor try to avoid spending
extra on features that cannot possibly be good enough. A great example would be built-in
speakers. I have tried a plethora of monitors almost none of which can be recommended for
their sound. Unless it’s a very expensive Apple Studio display that is famous for its
sound, everything average on the market sounds weird, tiny, and laptopie-like. When shopping,
don’t fall for the marketing lingo of monitors coming with speakers that were tuned by an
in-house tuning company. Instead, make sure the monitor has a stereo jack on the back
to connect a decent set of speakers. Also, avoid having built-in RGB. RGB advertising
on a monitor is not a feature that you’ll care about and it is something that you can
achieve with a greater result on your own. It usually adds to the price or hides a flaw
that you wouldn’t want to invest in. Hardcore gaming monitors are the exception of course
since it’s in their DNA 🙂 Picking and choosing the right monitor could
be intimidating, but once you understand the fundamentals, the choice suddenly becomes
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Additional feature that you might benefit from is an ambient sensor for automatic brightness.
Adjusting the brightness automatically will reduce the stress on your eyes at night or
as the sun goes down since one might easily get carried away in the work. Built-in power
supplies are also something to benefit from since it will reduce the clutter underneath
the desk and make things a lot cleaner. Smart features are optional but welcome as well.
I’ve had a few monitors with remote controls that can be used for entertainment, even if
the computer is not connected to it. The way I see it (and it might be different
for you of course) is that a single 32-inch monitor is more than enough to crush the daily
tasks. If it’s a 16:9 and you are using a laptop for a computer when in need, you
can always use the laptop as a secondary display. If it’s a single monitor setup with an ultrawide,
most likely you won’t resort to the laptop since you’ll have plenty of real estate
to work with. If it’s a dedicated dual monitor setup, I find the vertical stacking the best.
Side-by-side dual setups are a bit distracting for me since one of the monitors will always
be considered primary, and since they are side by side you’ll end up working at a
weird angle. If it’s a vertical stack, you’ll have the primary display front and center
and the sidekick on the top where you can throw things in, depending on the workflow
- much better if you ask me. Tripple monitor setups are too much brokerie-like, although
you might be an Excel guru that might require it - at least you’ll have a dominant display
in the middle. To me, the best investment would be a 27-inch or 32-inch 4k IPS monitor
with a color gamut of 100% sRGB and above 95% DCI-P3. If it has a 75, 120, or 144 Hz
refresh rate, it would be fantastic and don’t forget the ports. A curved ultrawide with
the same specs would be great too. Throw that monitor on a decent monitor arm to clear up
the desk and you’ll be good to go - which reminds me - look for a VESA mount option
when shopping. So as for my personal recommendations for
monitor models, I have 6 categories - best 16:9, best 21:9, most feature-packed, best
for color accuracy, best overall, and best budget. I was going to talk about them in
the video, but since tech changes so quickly, I decided to link them in the description
below and update them as time passes. This way, no matter when you stumble upon this
video, you'll be able to see the more accurate suggestions below.
If you enjoyed this video, check out my monitor playlist and subscribe to the channel.
It's been an absolute pleasure, This is E
Over & Out
