It’s challenging to find the appropriate information. We’re here to offer straightforward, honest advice as well as informative content.
Get product reviews and expert comments on the newest and best monitors and TVs.
Finding the ideal display for you can be made simpler, and we’re here to assist you in doing so.
What We Do
Reviewing monitors and TVs and making recommendations for the finest models based on various use cases and financial restrictions are our key responsibilities.
To review & recommend the best products for you, we significantly rely on appropriate research methodologies.
Additionally, we create a ton of informative articles that are helpful and based on themes that have repeatedly come up in our study and professional experience.
Our Mission
We work hard to produce the most current, straightforward, and helpful reviews of monitors and TVs so that you may find, investigate, and choose the display that is best for you.
What Products Do We Test?
While we currently only assess monitors, we do have future plans to also review TVs, Soundbar, Home Theater, Software, And Many More.
We also review additional, albeit very restricted, gear or components in related domains. To recommend you the best products in these additional areas, we solely curate shopping guides based on extensive research. Although this is relatively restricted, as we have the most in-depth expertise of display technology and can make far more reliable display recommendations.
Please let us know here if there is a specific monitor or TV you would want us to review.
Who We Are
We first conduct research on the products that need reviews. We choose well-liked and contemporary displays, but we also give equal weight to TVs and monitors that, while perhaps less well-known, provide great value and quality.
By doing so, you can compare the newest displays to well-known ones and see how they differ from them. Additionally, you might come across some TVs and monitors that you haven’t heard of but that give just what you need.
We make our reviews succinct and straightforward without omitting crucial information; we’ll go over everything you should consider before choosing a new monitor or TV. We provide links to our knowledge-base pages where you can learn more about a topic if it isn’t fully described.
In case another brand makes a similar display or if a different kind of display is offered in the same price range, we always offer a few options in our reviews. As old reviews are updated whenever a better option becomes available, they are also constantly current.
How We Review Products
Design
When evaluating a display’s design, we primarily pay attention to its stability, build quality, and ergonomic features. A few words will also be said concerning the display’s design and screen surface treatment.
Connectivity
Manufacturers don’t always disclose this, which frequently leads to misunderstanding, so we make care to indicate all connectivity options as well as what their maximum supported refresh rate and resolutions are.
Image Quality & Performance
We don’t use metrics that differ between each individual display in our reviews because every monitor or TV unit is at least marginally unique (even if they are the same model).
These consist of:
- Ratio of measured contrast
- Maximum brightness as measured
- Panel consistency
Let’s imagine, for example, that we discovered a display with a 1100:1 contrast ratio. Your particular model of the monitor you would purchase might have a maximum contrast ratio of 900:1 or 1000:1 if you were to do so. Although this distinction isn’t crucial, you should be aware of it. Thus, you should only expect approximations from these measures.
This holds true for panel flaws with variable strength between units, such as backlight leaking and IPS/VA glow.
The same holds true for factory calibration, G-SYNC compatibility, and overclocking.
Refresh Rate
Remember that a 75Hz monitor, for instance, can have one unit overclocked to over 85Hz, but another unit of the same monitor won’t go even one hertz past 75Hz.
Additionally, FreeSync may or may not function correctly with compatible NVIDIA cards on uncertified displays unless the gaming monitor has been approved by NVIDIA as G-SYNC compatible. If there are any problems with the performance in this area, we always include them.
A FreeSync monitor is labeled as G-SYNC compatible if it performs consistently with G-SYNC in testing conducted by us and/or other dependable and respected sources.
Calibration
On various units of the same monitor, image quality, colors, and contrast will appear differently right out of the box. This does not include factory-calibrated displays that are more accurately calibrated (Delta E 2, Delta E 3, etc.) and designed for color-critical applications.
It won’t produce the same results to simply duplicate the brightness, contrast, and color temperature (red, green, and blue color values) settings of one monitor on another.
For the best picture quality from your display, use this website if you don’t have a hardware colorimeter. Though it does require some effort and patience, the results are rewarding.
Input Lag
The length of time it takes for your graphics card, monitor, or TV to respond to and display your commands is known as input lag.
In general, you won’t be able to tell there is a delay as long as the input lag is less than the refresh rate cycle of a monitor (1000 milliseconds divided by the maximum refresh rate, i.e. 1000/60 = 16.67ms, 1000/144 = 6.94ms).
In fact, input lag that is less than two refresh rate cycles of a monitor (32 ms at 60 Hz, 14 ms at 144 Hz, etc.) is actually too high for many gamers to detect.
Fortunately, input lag on most contemporary displays is very low—far below the suggested minimum.
Don’t base your choice purely on that performance if you’re comparing two 144Hz displays, one of which has a 3ms input latency and the other a 5ms one.
In this situation, anything under 7ms is more than acceptable, therefore it makes sense to get a monitor with more features, a better look, better image quality, etc.
High-end professional/hardcore gamers will, of course, seek out whatever advantage they can get, thus they might not be affected by this.
Check out our reviews to be sure you’re receiving a quick display because monitor and TV manufacturers don’t indicate the input lag performance of their displays.
Response Time
The length of time it takes for a pixel to switch from one color to another is known as response time. However, it’s usually a good idea to take a monitor’s manufacturer-specified response time speed with a grain of salt.
How quickly a pixel may switch from one shade of gray to another depends on the testing settings and the monitor’s specified response time speed (1ms, 4ms, or 5ms GtG).
It also means that the monitor’s highest overdrive setting, which quickens response times, is in use. Overdrive that is excessively intense, however, can also cause pixel overshoot, or inverse ghosting.
It is important to keep in mind that GtG response time should not be confused with the 1ms MPRT (Moving Picture Response Time) speed, which is accomplished through backlight strobing.
While increasing fast-paced motion clarity, 1ms MPRT (also known as ULMB, MBR, Motion Blur Reduction, ELMB, etc.) also generates flicker, reduces brightness, and is incompatible with VRR (variable refresh rate, such as FreeSync/G-SYNC).
Remember that not everyone experiences ghosting (the trailing of fast-moving objects on monitors with sluggish response time) in the same way. Some people are more susceptible to it than others.
Although TN panel displays typically offer the quickest response times, their image quality and viewing angles are subpar.
On the other side, VA panels have a slower response time speed but a great contrast ratio and good viewing angles.
IPS panel displays, which are typically more expensive, provide a nice compromise between the two.
We always compare a monitor’s response time to those of its competitors who use different panels when writing our ratings.
While VA panel displays are popular with individuals who would prefer greater image quality for the same price but don’t mind a little bit of ghosting here and there, TN panels are typically chosen by competitive FPS gamers who prioritize performance over image quality.
IPS panels are a fantastic choice for individuals who prefer a compromise between performance and visual quality, but such displays have drawbacks of their own. Each review goes into greater information about this, including the alternatives, benefits, drawbacks, trade-offs, etc.
Features & On-Screen Display
Additionally, we discuss the characteristics that are included in all monitors and, more crucially, the functions that are not (if there are any).
In cases where a crucial functionality, like FreeSync, is absent or an inadequate overdrive implementation is used, we’ll discuss how this impacts performance.
For individuals working on color-critical projects, the absence of key picture modifications, such as gamma settings or a specialized sRGB color profile, can be fatal.
In addition, we’ll go through the OSD (On-Screen Display) menu structure, navigation, hotkeys, shortcuts, etc., and we’ll let you know if there are any other details you should be aware of.
HDR
Due to the recent popularity of HDR (High Dynamic Range), there has been a lot of deceptive and misleading advertising. The only thing an HDR monitor may be able to do to enhance the visual quality is accept the HDR10 signal. In reality, when HDR is turned on, some HDR monitors will have more washed-out colors.
While there are certifications that provide a broad notion of the monitor’s HDR capabilities (VESA’s HDR400, HDR600, etc.), these are very ambiguous.
A HDR monitor with an HDR400 certification can have a slightly better peak brightness but an inadequate color gamut and contrast ratio that prevent a notable HDR viewing experience.
These certifications also don’t go into great detail regarding whether the LED display is edge-lit or direct-lit, or whether the display employs any form of local dimming as opposed to just global dimming, all of which have a significant impact on how the HDR image will seem.
We always give all the information you need to know in our reviews for monitors that enable HDR.
As you can see, there are several considerations to weigh when purchasing a new monitor. You won’t have enough information to make a solid judgment if you only quickly scan the monitor’s specifications.
Because of this, our reviews are available to assist you in finding the ideal display.
How We Rate Products
On a scale of 1 to 5, we rate each of our items. We evaluate the product’s build quality, adaptability, display, functionality, price/value, and design.
Design
The design score of a monitor is determined by its overall construction quality, stability, and adaptability in our reviews (whether it can be tilted, swiveled, height-adjusted, rotated, and VESA mounted).
The grade also considers how simple or challenging it is to use a monitor’s hotkeys to access the OSD menu.
Additionally, a monitor earns bonus points for extras like a headphone hook, a shading cover, devices for remote OSD control, etc. and loses points for shortcomings like a shaky stand, inferior construction materials, and so forth.
Display
The image quality and overall viewing experience are determined by the display rating. However, keep in mind that just because a $200 monitor receives a Display rating of 4/5 but a $1,000 monitor receives a 3.5/5 does not necessarily indicate the $200 monitor has a higher image quality.
The display rating considers both the monitor’s price range and the display quality of monitors with comparable prices. Competitively priced monitors are always included in the section of our evaluations titled “Price & Similar Monitors,” and we always recommend that you check them out as well.
Performance
The performance rating, like the display rating, considers the price of the monitor as well as the performance other monitors with comparable prices. The display’s input lag, response time, use of overdrive, and availability (or absence) of performance-impacting features like VRR, backlight strobing, flicker-free technology, etc. are all taken into account when determining how well the display performs.
Price/Value
The price/value rating shows how good of a deal you’re receiving. Keep in mind that as new monitors are released, this ranking is frequently revised. Additionally, when new and comparable displays are launched with superior image quality, performance, and/or design for the money, we may update other ratings in our reviews.
