What you need to know when choosing a good console-gaming monitor?

If you’re a gamer, a bigger monitor is not necessarily better. Finding a monitor of the right size, with a suitable resolution, and within your budget is much more important. A 28-inch monitor offering enough screen real estate is essential, with a resolution of at least 1920 by 1080 pixels. If you have enough budget, a 4K monitor with an amazing 3,840 x 2,160 resolution (four times the resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels), will definitely give you a much better viewing/gaming experience. And, if you have ample budget, you can go for a larger curved monitor; that is a standard wide-screen monitor (the usual 16: 9 aspect ratio) which might take up a lot of room. Different from a flat panel, a curved monitor has a curve to make you feel a bit closer to the action, and make you more immersed in the game.

Every type of display technology has its advantages and disadvantages. Twisted Nematic (TN) panels are the most affordable panel type. Gamers love to use it because of the fast response time and refresh rates. But when you look at the monitor from a different angle, you’ll discover some color shifting. The best way to use this monitor is to sit in the front of the monitor when playing a game. Vertical Alignment (VA) panels have high contrast ratio, solid colors, and the ability to display deep blacks, but with one weakness: they might produce noticeable ghosting effects. Therefore, when choosing the VA panel, consumers need to make sure that their monitor is FreeSync- or Freesync 2-compatible to eliminate these ghosting effects. (*FreeSync and FreeSync 2 can only be supported by a FreeSync-compatible AMD Radeon GPU.) In-Plane Switching (IPS) panels have the best encompassing color quality, robust gray-scale performance, and wide viewing angles. They just cannot match the response time a TN monitor can provide and are prone to motion artifacts. Therefore, besides panel types, gamers also need to figure out what other specs they need to enjoy games to the fullest.

For gamers who value picture quality and smoothness, response time is the top priority. However, gamers who pay attention to an immersive gaming experience, may find color performance more essential. Color performance refers to a wider color space and the best visualization of dark areas. If a monitor has a wider color space, with at least 100% sRGB coverage, it can reproduce richer colors on the screen. If monitors can offer a wider color gamut, such as at least 90% of DCI-P3, games like the Last of Us will be much more enjoyable for its cinematic visual effect. Vibrant colors will render a more real gaming world and guarantees better immersion into the game. One more factor which may affect gaming is darker areas. VA panels are recommended for their great ability to display deep blacks; whether gaming under ambient light or in a dimly lit room, gaming will be more enjoyable with a VA panel.

A gaming monitor should be equipped with a variety of digital video inputs, so you can get connected to your PC and gaming consoles: the PS4 and Xbox. It’s ideal for a monitor to provide the below features:

It’s also important to choose a gaming monitor with a stand; such a design will offer ergonomic comfort with height, tilt, and swivel adjustments for gamers pulling all-nighters. If you’re not one of those, at least find a monitor with tilt adjustment; tilting your monitor from -5 to 15 degree will guarantee better viewing comfort.

After reviewing the basic specs a console gaming monitor requires: response time, refresh rate, color performance and also connectivity, you, as a gamer, must know how to pick your dream monitor to obtain an optimal gaming experience. If further features are required to enjoy console games, be sure to buy one with eye protection features. These will bring you excellent viewing comfort, free from digital eye strain.