This video is brought to you by Brilliant! 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 logical. Talking about logic or using limited
information to make predictions and choices brings me to Brilliant. Brilliant's Logic
course helps spot logical fallacies, eliminating the impossible to uncover the truth. For example,
using Brillaint's fantastic interactive ways of learning, one can use the 3 key concepts
of the process of elimination (adjacency, eliminating extremes, and using contradictions)
to find the right answer. Just like when shopping for a monitor, you can use the same concepts
to identify helpful information, starting from very little. Brilliant is a fantastic
tool for learning STEM interactively. It has an ever-growing catalog of math, science,
and computer science courses that help you learn concepts by working through them interactively
and at your own pace. To get started for free, visit brilliant.org/thisise or click on the
first link in the description below, and the first 200 people will get 20% off Brilliant's
annual premium subscription. 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