When buying a PC monitor, it can be tricky to work out what is the perfect size for you.
You might be a gamer wanting to switch out from a digital television to a HDMI/VGA monitor, a graphic designer, or even a blogger - Whatever the case, here's a handy guide to ensure you make the right decision on what size monitor to choose.
The first question you have to ask is the main purpose of buying the monitor - Are you going to be spending the majority of your time gaming, or could it be typing out content? A monitor dedicated to gaming is generally going to work better with a higher frame rate, so you can do better with a screen that supports 60 fps or even 4K resolution. A bad frame rate will make game play sluggish, and up to 90 percent of multiplayer gamers who play action games experience worsened kill-to-death ratios when playing on comparatively lower frame rate displays.
If you're typing, the effects of a lower frame rate don't matter too much, in fact, having a lower screen size won't hinder you as much as if you are carrying out activities like video editing and gaming - With writing and typing, you don't see much of a difference at all.
We also recommend measuring or estimating how far your eyes sit from your current display, the guideline for determining monitor size is to follow the rule of 1 foot of distance for every 7 inches of monitor you have. That would mean a 21 inch display should have you placed 3 feet away from the screen. If you have a tendency to sit close to your display while carrying out whatever activity you do, it'll be better for you to opt for a smaller screen size, perhaps 21 inches and below, this will minimise the strain on your neck of having to turn your head to see each side of your display.
A couple of studies have shown that a 24 inch display is the most effective for getting work done quickly, followed by a dual setup of two 21 inch monitors, lagging behind though are 26 inch monitors (1 inch lower than the larger version of Apple's iMac). A dual setup is great obviously, you can do multiple things using different applications and tabs at one time.
The difference of 3 inches, from a 21 inch to a 24 inch display, has been seen to work just as, if not more effectively for productivity, it brings gamers the least strain of all monitor sizes, and it is perhaps the best size to utilise 1080p 60 fps on - Any resolution higher than that is going to cost you more money, and a screen larger than 24 inches may make it hard to focus, and force you to amend your setup so that you are sat further away.
Thank you for reading 'How Big Is Too Big? - The Guide To PC Monitor Sizes' by IT Block. IT Block is an IT support services provider based in Singapore and we love sharing our IT knowledge with the world.
