Tips for Buying the Best LCD Monitor

This post was actually written by Jeroen De Mol, another intelligent community member-at-large. If you have any further tips about hardware or software, feel free to send ‘em in!

After looking at some of your videos on YouTube, I came across: “I want to buy a monitor. This video has some great tips, but it was missing something that might be important to the people who are considering buying a new monitor.

The only real tip missing in the video is the one about different LCD Panel Technology. At the moment there are 3 different technologies used in LCD displays: (1) TN Panel; (2) VA Panel; (3) IPS Panel. When buying a monitor, it is pretty important to know what technology you want, and what is the best for you.

TN (Twisted Nematic) is the technology that is used the most. Monitors using this technology are cheap and have a great response time. The low response time is great for gamers. However, they do have a downside. Color reproduction, viewing angles, and contrast ratios on these panels are the worst of all the LCD panel technology. They are unable to display the full 16.7 million colors that 24-bit has to offer. They can gimmick it, but the result is not the same when you use an 8-bit VA or IPS. TN only offers 6-bit. Pro: cheap. Con: lesser-quality display.

VA (Vertical Alignment) is better than TN, but not as good as IPS. They have beter color reproduction and better viewing angles than TN panels, but the response time is often terrible. They are almost the same as IPS, but the response time is holding them back. The contrast ratios are better than any other panel technology, and because
of that, they are the leaders when it comes down to levels of black. The biggest problem these panels have is color shifting. When you view from an angle, the image looks to have different brightness levels across the screen. Cheaper than IPS, more expensive than TN.

IPS (In Plane Switching) are considered to be the best of the best when it comes down to image quality, color accuracy, and viewing angles. However, all of this beauty comes with a price. These panels are the best for graphic designers. Gamers might not be so fond of them, since the response time is slower than TN panels.

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