ips led lcd panel review quotation

Contrary to what you may think, not all LCD TVs are built around the same core panel technology. They can actually have at their hearts one of two really quite different technologies: VA or IPS.

Each, as we’ll see, has its own distinct advantages and disadvantages – so much so that we personally think the type of panel a particular TV uses should be presented right at the top of its specifications list, rather than typically left off altogether. Especially as some brands have been known to actually mix and match VA and IPS panels at different screen sizes within the same TV series.

The VA initialism stands for Vertical Alignment. This name is derived from the way VA panels apply voltage to vertically aligned liquid crystals that have been mounted perpendicularly to the panel’s glass substrate, making them tilt as required to let the necessary amount of light through for each image frame.

The main advantage of VA panels is contrast. Their perpendicular crystal alignment provides greater control over the light passing through each pixel, meaning dark scenes and dark areas look less grey / enjoy better black levels.

The extent to which this strength is exploited can vary greatly between different manufacturers, and depends on any number of secondary factors. The type and position of LED lighting a particular VA screen might be using can have an impact, for instance. There are multiple variations on the VA theme available from different manufacturers, too. As a basic principle, though, black levels and contrast are consistently and often considerably better on LCD TVs that use VA panels.

Because of their ability to control light better, high-end VA panels generally deliver more brightness in real world conditions than IPS ones do. This further enhances their contrast capabilities, and arguably makes them more consistently able to do fuller justice to the wider light range associated with high dynamic range technology.

Being able to deliver dark scenes with relatively little overlying low-contrast greyness additionally means that VA panels tend to achieve more consistent colour vibrancy and toning.

VA panels for use in LCD TVs come from a number of panel manufacturers, including Samsung Display (which makes a so-called SVA variant) and AU Optronics (which makes an AMVA variant). TV brands are able to buy in panels from these and other VA panel manufacturers as they see fit.

Samsung Electronics is the most consistent user of VA panels in its LCD TVs. In fact, until recently pretty much every Samsung TV at every price level used a VA panel. For the past couple of years, though, IPS panels have unexpectedly cropped up in one or two parts of Samsung’s TV range, including 2021’s high-end QN85 series.

Sony predominantly uses VA panels on its most premium TVs, but it also habitually mixes IPS and VA panels across its wider mid-range and entry level LCD ranges. The same goes for most of the other big brands, too, including Panasonic and Philips.

IPS stands for In-Plane Switching. Like VA panels, IPS panels work by manipulating voltage to adjust how liquid crystals are aligned. Unlike VA, though, IPS panels orient their crystals in parallel with (rather than perpendicular too) the glass substrates present in every LCD panel, and rotate their crystals around to let the desired amount of light through rather than tilting them.

By far the biggest and most talked about advantage of IPS technology is its support for wider viewing angles. In fact, one way of identifying IPS panels has traditionally been to look for quoted viewing angles of 178 degrees.

When we talk about wide viewing angle support in relation to LCD TVs, we’re talking about how much of an angle from directly opposite the screen you can go before the picture starts to lose contrast, colour saturation and, sometimes, brightness.

With VA panels the angle you can watch them before the picture starts to deteriorate sharply can be really quite limited – as little as 20 degrees off axis. While we’d say the 178-degree claims for regular IPS panels are rather exaggerated, you can typically sit at a significantly wider angle than you can with VA and still enjoy a watchable picture.

We’ve even seen occasional evidence of the edges of really big (75-inch plus) VA screens suffering from the technology’s viewing angle limitations when viewed straight on, whereas this never happens with IPS technology.

The VA/IPS viewing angle situation is muddied a little by the introduction into a few high-end VA TVs of wide angle technologies based around filters or sub pixel manipulation. These technologies can be associated with other problems, though, such as reduced resolution, and can still struggle to suppress backlight blooming around stand-out bright objects with LCD TVs that use local dimming backlight systems.

Traditionally IPS panels have been associated with – on high-end screens, at least – wider colour gamuts than VA panels can readily manage. They retain this colour gamut better, too, when viewing the screen from an angle. This is why many professional designers, for instance, have tended to prefer IPS technology to VA. There can be some pretty extreme variance in the range of colour supported across different IPS price points, though, and improvements in premium VA solutions – especially the widespread use of Quantum Dot technologies – have largely evened things up, at least at the premium end of the VA market. In fact, with dark scenes, at least, IPS’s issues with black levels and ‘grey wash’ effect can give good VA panels a colour advantage.

There was a time when IPS technology was considered to have an edge over VA when it comes to response time, leading to less motion blur and improved gaming reaction times. These days, though, we’re seeing pretty much identically low input lag measurements (between 9.4 and 10.4ms) from both VA and IPS TVs.

As with VA, there are different variations on the basic IPS theme made by different panel manufacturers. LG Display is by far the biggest manufacturer of IPS LCD panels for TVs, but AU Optronics also makes them, as well as, more surprisingly, Samsung – though some of the non-LG Display IPS products seem to be more focused on PC monitors than TVs.

Given how dominant LG Display is in manufacturing IPS LCD panels, it’s not surprising to find that pretty much every LCD TV LG Electronics makes features an IPS panel at its heart. Other TV brands that use IPS panels on at least a few of their TVs each year include Panasonic, Philips, Sony and Hisense. In fact, the only big brand that has tended to shun IPS is Samsung (perhaps because of arch rival LG Display’s dominance of the IPS market).

As noted earlier, it can be frustratingly difficult to determine whether a TV is using VA or IPS technology. Sometimes it is mentioned in the specifications list on a manufacturer’s website – but more often it is not.

If you’re able to actually get your hands on an LCD TV, try knocking gently on its screen. If it’s an IPS panel it will feel solid and the picture will only be slightly affected – or completely unaffected – by the impact of your knocks. If it’s a VA panel, the picture will distort quite noticeably around points of impact.

It’s tempting to assume that any TVs with obviously low contrast are IPS while any screen with a narrow viewing angle is VA. As well as depending on having a wide experience of lots of panels, though, there’s just too much variation in the high and low-end fringes of each technology for this approach to be reliable.

Arguably your best bet is to check out a TV model you’re interested in on an industry website called Displayspecifications.com(opens in new tab), which includes usually reliable information on the core panel of pretty much every TV released.

You might want to consider IPS TV if your room layout means one or more viewers regularly find themselves having to watch the screen from a wide angle (though don’t forget that a small number of high-end VA TVs feature wide viewing angle technology). IPS’s black level limitations tend to be less obvious in bright rooms too, if that fits with the sort of environment your TV is likely to be used in for the majority of the time.

Our long experience of testing VA and IPS TVs, though, has led us to conclude that in general, the sort of person most likely to be turning to us for buying advice will be happier with an LCD TV based on VA technology.

I’ve reviewed monitors and laptop displays for over a decade. While different monitors suit different owners, I believe the idealhome office monitor has a 27-inch screen and 4K resolution. It uses an IPS panel, reaches a brightness of at least 250 nits, and can display 99 percent of the sRGB color gamut. Around back you’ll find a USB-C port that can deliver enough power to charge a laptop, along with HDMI and DisplayPort, plus an ergonomic stand that can adjust for height and attaches to a VESA mount.

Want a 34-inch ultrawide? Look for 3,440 x 1,440 resolution. This leads to a pixel density nearly identical to a 27-inch 1440p monitor (about 109 pixels per inch). A handful of super-budget ultrawides use 2,560 x 1,080 resolution which, like 1080p on a large monitor, isn’t pleasant. LG’s 5K Ultrawide line is the sole option if you want 4K-equivalent pixel density in a 34-inch ultrawide, but you’ll typically pay $1,500 or more. LG’s well-reviewed 38-inch with 3,840 x 1,600 resolution costs even more at $1,600 and, though it might offer more screen, is equal in pixel density to a 3,440 x 1,440 ultrawide.

Many monitors also adjust for tilt and swivel, and some pivot 90 degrees into portrait orientation. That can be particularly handy when a monitor is used as a second display. For example, you could swivel a monitor to directly face you while doing detailed work, like editing a photo, and swing it away when it’s just displaying Slack or Discord. Tilt is similar but on the vertical axis, and especially handy if you have a standing desk, as you may need to tilt the monitor up while the desk is standing.

Still, there is a difference between midrange and premium monitors. Those who want great color accuracy should look for a “factory calibrated” monitor, which typically includes a calibration report in the box. This doesn’t guarantee color accuracy is perfect, but it at least shows the company put the monitor through an extra layer of quality assurance. Also check reviewers to see if the monitor lives up to its claims.

Color gamut, which describes the spectrum of colors a monitor can display, is also good enough on most monitors. The majority of content on a computer targets a color gamut called sRGB. Modern monitors display at least 95 percent of this gamut, and many display it all. Other gamuts also exist. DCI-P3 is the most advertised, though you may see Rec.709 or Adobe RGB as well. These gamuts are important if your work requires them, though if that’s the case, I’m guessing you know that. As with color accuracy, buyers concerned about gamut should read reviews to verify a monitor lives up to its claims.

Nearly all monitors sold today use an LCD panel based on one of three technologies: twisted nematic (TN), in-plane switching (IPS), and vertical alignment (VA).

The least expensive monitors often use a TN panel. Avoid them. TN panel monitors will display an image, but that’s about it. They look achingly dull next to IPS and have astoundingly bad viewing angles.

Here’s a rough sense of how colors can shift off-angle with a TN panel,from an earlier Verge review. Photo by James Bareham / The Verge and Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

A majority of monitors use IPS. Monitors based on IPS have very accurate color and can support a wide color gamut at a reasonable price. IPS struggles with dark scenes, however, because it can’t achieve a convincing shade of black. This is the dreaded “IPS glow” you may have heard of, which can look unappealing when watching movies or playing games. However, gamers still enjoy IPS monitors because some IPS panels have low response times and very high refresh rates.

What about VA? This panel type has the best contrast ratio and dark scene performance of the three, which makes VA a great go-to choice for entertainment and gaming. This is especially true of high-quality, modern VA panels, which have mostly solved the color accuracy and motion smearing issues of some past VA monitors.

The choice between IPS and VA has no clear answer, as both have their perks. When it comes to work, though, you may find the choice is made for you. A huge majority of productivity monitors use an IPS panel. VA is an option, but you’ll want to lean your search toward gaming monitors if you crave the high contrast a quality VA panel can provide.

High-refresh gaming displays aren’t especially expensive, with 24-inch, 144Hz models sold for as little as $200. But you’ll typically trade something away for refresh rate: that $200 monitor might use an iffy TN panel (rather than IPS or VA) or feature a low resolution. It’s possible to snag a 4K display for a reasonable sum, or one with a high refresh rate, but going for 4K at 144Hz means looking at monitors that cost as much as big televisions.

Mini LED adds a twist. The fundamentals remain similar, but the backlight is divided into hundreds of zones that can turn on and off independently. This allows extra brightness but also convincing contrast in shadowy scenes. Mini LED is also outstanding for HDR movies and games, where its class-leading brightness provides an edge.

OLED? It flips the table, using an array of organic elements that create their own light. This provides pixel-level lighting control for truly unparalleled contrast you have to see to believe. OLED is also susceptible to burn-in, though there are ways to mitigate it from affecting a display prematurely.

Neither of these are necessary for working from home, and you’ll likely have to spend thousands to snag a monitor with either tech. Alternatively, you could buy a television with Mini LED or OLED technology, but televisions still have their downsides as monitors.

If you demand the very best from a monitor, however, I recommend Mini LED. OLED’s burn-in worries are legitimate on the PC which, compared to a television, will display static images more frequently. Mini LED can’t match OLED’s contrast, but it’s still a major upgrade over a backlit LCD screen. There’s also the emerging category of quantum dot OLED (QD-OLED) screens, but manufacturers haven’t announced prices for those yet.

Designed to make desk space neater, the Lenovo ThinkVision LT1913p features a 19-inch LCD in 1280 x 1024 resolution. The tool-less stand offers lift, tilt, pivot, and swivel options, so you can make the display as comfortable as possible. These are 19" compact square displays with full-function ergonomic stands and VGA + DVI Connectivity. These monitors are environment and budget friendly; a great choice for a business or home office that won"t break the bank!

Style meets substance in a strikingly modern business display crafted for optimal viewing, productivity, and ergonomics. Expand your productivity with uninterrupted views of one screen or many with a 3-sided micro-edge bezel that supports virtually seamless arrays. Get crisp visuals from any angle on the 1920x1080 Full HD resolution, 21.5” diagonal IPS screen. Work with your most frequently-used devices with VGA, HDMI, and DisplayPort. Connect your USB accessories right at the display with two USB 3.0 ports!

Designed for the modern day office, the ViewSonic® VG2748 monitor delivers an efficient end-to-end enterprise experience. Featuring SuperClear® IPS panel technology and 1080p resolution, this 27" monitor delivers crisp and clear images from nearly any viewing angle. For enhanced productivity, an advanced ergonomic design offers a wide range of customizable adjustments for maximum comfort including pivot, swivel, height adjustment, and tilt. With the ability to tilt an impressive 40-degrees, the VG2748 is ideal for users who prefer to work while standing up, as well as for those who like to use their screen for group discussions. Versatile connectivity options include HDMI, DisplayPort, VGA, and USB. This monitor is also shipped in eco-friendly biodegradable packaging, along with an easy-to-install quick release stand that makes for simple out-of-the box setup. The quick release stand also includes an integrated client mount and cable management features, making this monitor perfect for deployment in cloud-based environments.

Enjoy accurate and vivid colors with consistent levels of brightness no matter the vantage point. With SuperClear IPS panel technology, this monitor delivers the same image quality whether you are looking at the screen from above, below, the front, or the sides.

Experience full brilliance in precise detail with S61B.Experience full brilliance in precise detail with the ViewFinity S6. QHD resolution provides 1.7 times more pixels than FHD. See everything in stunning detail. With the IPS panel, colors remain vivid and clear across every inch of the screen.

Optimized for professional work environments. Samsung high-resolution monitors feature an IPS panel delivering crystal clear color quality and a wide viewing angle of 178°. Every user can expect a great viewing experience from any angle, in vivid and vibrant color without washing or fading.

In one corner is LED (light-emitting diode). It’s the most common type of display on the market, however, it might be unfamiliar because there’s slight labelling confusion with LCD (liquid crystal display).

For display purposes the two are the same, and if you see a TV or smartphone that states it has an ‘LED’ screen, it’s an LCD. The LED part just refers to the lighting source, not the display itself.

In a nutshell, LED LCD screens use a backlight to illuminate their pixels, while OLED’s pixels produce their own light. You might hear OLED’s pixels called ‘self-emissive’, while LCD tech is ‘transmissive’.

The light of an OLED display can be controlled on a pixel-by-pixel basis. This sort of dexterity isn’t possible with an LED LCD – but there are drawbacks to this approach, which we’ll come to later.

In cheaper TVs and LCD-screen phones, LED LCD displays tend to use ‘edge lighting’, where LEDs sit to the side of the display, not behind it. The light from these LEDs is fired through a matrix that feeds it through the red, green and blue pixels and into our eyes.

LED LCD screens can go brighter than OLED. That’s a big deal in the TV world, but even more so for smartphones, which are often used outdoors and in bright sunlight.

Take an LCD screen into a darkened room and you may notice that parts of a purely black image aren’t black, because you can still see the backlighting (or edge lighting) showing through.

You’ll often see a contrast ratio quoted in a product’s specification, particularly when it comes to TVs and monitors. This tells you how much brighter a display’s whites are compared to its blacks. A decent LCD screen might have a contrast ratio of 1,000:1, which means the whites are a thousand times brighter than the blacks.

Contrast on an OLED display is far higher. When an OLED screen goes black, its pixels produce no light whatsoever. That means an infinite contrast ratio, although how great it looks will depend on how bright the screen can go. In general, OLED screens are best suited for use in darker rooms, and this is certainly the case where TVs are concerned.

OLED panels enjoy excellent viewing angles, primarily because the technology is so thin, and the pixels are so close to the surface. You can walk around an OLED TV or spread out in different spots in your living room, and you won’t lose out on contrast. For phones, viewing angles are extra important because you don’t tend to hold your hand perfectly parallel to your face.

Viewing angles are generally worse in LCDs, but this varies hugely depending on the display technology used. And there are lots of different kinds of LCD panel.

Perhaps the most basic is twisted nematic (TN). This is the type used in budget computer monitors, cheaper laptops, and very low-cost phones, and it offers poor angled viewing. If you’ve ever noticed that your computer screen looks all shadowy from a certain angle, it’s more than likely it uses a twisted nematic panel.

Thankfully, a lot of LCD devices use IPS panels these days. This stands for ‘in-plane switching’ and it generally provides better colour performance and dramatically improved viewing angles.

IPS is used in most smartphones and tablets, plenty of computer monitors and lots of TVs. It’s important to note that IPS and LED LCD aren’t mutually exclusive; it’s just another bit of jargon to tack on. Beware of the marketing blurb and head straight to the spec sheet.

The latest LCD screens can produce fantastic natural-looking colours. However, as is the case with viewing angles, it depends on the specific technology used.

OLED’s colours have fewer issues with pop and vibrancy, but early OLED TVs and phones had problems reining in colours and keeping them realistic. These days, the situation is better, Panasonic’s flagship OLEDs are used in the grading of Hollywood films.

Where OLED struggles is in colour volume. That is, bright scenes may challenge an OLED panel’s ability to maintain levels of colour saturation. It’s a weakness that LCD-favouring manufacturers enjoy pointing out.

Both have been the subject of further advancements in recent years. For LCD there’s Quantum Dot and Mini LED. The former uses a quantum-dot screen with blue LEDs rather than white LEDs and ‘nanocrystals’ of various sizes to convert light into different colours by altering its wavelength. Several TV manufacturers have jumped onboard Quantum Dot technology, but the most popular has been Samsung’s QLED branded TVs.

Mini LED is another derivation of LED LCD panels, employing smaller-sized LEDs that can emit more light than standard versions, increasing brightness output of the TV. And as they are smaller, more can be fitted into a screen, leading to greater control over brightness and contrast. This type of TV is becoming more popular, though in the UK and Europe it’s still relatively expensive. You can read more about Mini LED and its advantages in our explainer.

OLED, meanwhile, hasn’t stood still either. LG is the biggest manufacturer of large-sized OLED panels and has produced panels branded as evo OLED that are brighter than older versions. It uses a different material for its blue OLED material layer within the panel (deuterium), which can last for longer and can have more electrical current passed through it, increasing the brightness of the screen, and elevating the colour volume (range of colours it can display).

Another development is the eagerly anticipated QD-OLED. This display technology merges Quantum Dot backlights with an OLED panel, increasing the brightness, colour accuracy and volume, while retaining OLED’s perfect blacks, infinite contrast and potentially even wider viewing angles, so viewers can spread out anywhere in a room and see pretty much the same image. Samsung and Sonyare the two companies launching QD-OLED TVs in 2022.

And for smartphones there’s been a move towards AMOLED (Active-Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode) screens for Android screens, while Apple has moved towards OLED for its smartphones and tried Mini LED with its iPad Pro. Technologies are consistently evolving with Superand Dynamic AMOLED versions available, more performance is being eked out.

While LED LCD has been around for much longer and is cheaper to make, manufacturers are beginning to move away from it, at least in the sense of the ‘standard’ LCD LED displays, opting to explore the likes of Mini LED and Quantum Dot variations.

OLED has gained momentum and become cheaper, with prices dipping well below the £1000 price point. OLED is much better than LED LCD at handling darkness and lighting precision, and offers much wider viewing angles, which is great for when large groups of people are watching TV. Refresh rates and motion processing are also better with OLED though there is the spectre of image retention.

If you’re dealing with a limited budget, whether you’re buying a phone, a monitor, a laptop or a TV, you’ll almost certainly end up with an LCD-based screen. OLED, meanwhile, incurs more of a premium but is getting cheaper, appearing in handheld gaming devices, laptops, some of the best smartphones as well as TVs

Which is better? Even if you eliminate money from the equation, it really comes down to personal taste. Neither OLED nor LCD LED is perfect. Some extol OLED’s skill in handling darkness, and its lighting precision. Others prefer LCD’s ability to go brighter and maintain colours at bright levels.

How do you decide? Stop reading this and go to a shop to check it out for yourself. While a shop floor isn’t the best environment in which to evaluate ultimate picture quality, it will at least provide an opportunity for you to realise your priorities. Whether you choose to side with LCD or OLED, you can take comfort in the fact that both technologies have matured considerably, making this is a safe time to invest.

The display driver IC datasheet provides detailed LVDS timings to set up your hardware. We do not have example code for this display as this is customer hardware specific.

LCD: LCD stands for liquid crystal display, and it’s the most common kind of television besides OLED (defined below). LCD TVs shine an LED backlight through a panel of liquid crystal, a malleable substance that reacts to electricity, opening or closing when jolted. In LCD TVs, the liquid crystal opens to allow the backlight through or closes to block it. The specific details of the opening/closing are dependent upon the arrangement of the pixels: The most common LCD arrangements are Vertical Alignment (VA) and In-Plane Switching (IPS), with the former tending to produce higher contrast and the latter tending to produce wider viewing angles. All so-called “LED” TVs are really LCD TVs, as are all current QLED and ULED TVs.

OLED: An organic light-emitting diode, or OLED, TV creates light inside each individual pixel without using a backlight and can dim each pixel individually all the way down to black, which LCD TVs can’t do. This tech gives an OLED TV an infinite contrast ratio and other benefits to help create an overall better-looking image, although at considerable additional cost. You can read more about OLED technology in this article.

Mini-LEDs: Every LCD TV made today currently uses LEDs to produce the light that shines through the LCD panel. Most TVs use LED lights that pass through a diffuser to light up the entire LCD screen. Mini-LEDs, which some TVs use, are much smaller than traditional LEDs, so TV makers can install more of them and thus create more zones of local dimming, which means less blooming or halos around bright objects. Mini-LEDs are completely different from micro-LEDs, an available (though very expensive) technology that employs individual red, green, and blue LEDs to produce an image without needing an LCD panel at all.

Nits: Also called candelas per square meter (cd/m²), this unit of luminance measures how much light a TV can produce. Previously, TVs could output 200 to 300 nits, and standard dynamic range (SDR) content was graded and mastered with 100 nits as the standard. With high dynamic range (HDR), content is mastered with 1,000, 4,000, or 10,000 nits as the standard; so, the more nits an HDR TV can display, the more accurately it can display the highlights in HDR material without having to reduce the brightness of the highlights or clip them.

Quantum dots: Quantum dots are a color-enhancing technology primarily found in LCD TVs (though some 2022 OLED TVs now have them as well). Chiefly employed as a filter that’s painted onto a substrate, quantum dots are microscopic nano-crystals that, when struck with blue light, produce very vivid red or green light (depending upon the size of the crystal). Quantum dots are the primary technology that allows LCD TVs to produce the wide color gamut required to display HDR content properly, as they greatly increase the color saturation of red and green.

Refresh rate: All digital displays (including TVs) have what’s called a refresh rate, measured in hertz (Hz), shorthand for cycles per second. A TV’s refresh rate refers to how quickly it displays new incoming video information on a nanosecond-to-nanosecond basis. While there are many possible refresh rates, most TVs come with either a 60 Hz refresh rate (meaning 60 screen refreshes per second) or a 120 Hz refresh rate (120 screen refreshes per second). Ideally, a TV will have the highest refresh rate possible, but there are diminishing returns for higher refresh rates during many types of content. A 120 Hz TV has advantages when watching 24p content or mitigating judder (definitions below), and tends to produce less input lag when playing video games, but it won’t provide advantages for most forms of cable TV or streaming content. In 2022, some manufacturers introduced 144 Hz TVs meant to appeal specifically to gamers, but the majority of TVs still have 60 or 120 Hz refresh rates.

Judder: This term refers to a slightly jerky motion that can occur when 24p film content appears on a TV with a 60 Hz refresh rate. In such situations, to make 24 frames match up to the 60 Hz display, half of the frames appear two times and the other half appear three times. This display technique causes judder, which is most noticeable on panning shots. Some 120 Hz displays avoid this effect by repeating each film frame five times, while some 60 Hz panels run at 48 Hz to show each frame twice.

Motion smoothing: Motion smoothing, sometimes called MEMC (Motion Estimation/Motion Compensation), refers to a TV’s ability to intelligently create new frames to create smoother-looking or less juddery motion. Most modern TVs can artificially increase their refresh rates to smooth out fast or difficult sequences, but the efficacy of this motion smoothing is often dependent upon the TV’s native refresh rate. Motion smoothing is also the cause of the “soap opera effect,” where cinematic/24p content looks more like a daytime soap opera due to the insertion of unnecessary frames. The best TVs come with multiple motion smoothing presets, and some even allow the user to fine-tune the degree of judder reduction and frame interpolation employed. When used correctly, motion smoothing can make content like sports and nature documentaries look more realistic, but we prefer it be turned off for content like premium TV, movies, and video games.

Two years ago Apple introduced its first LED backlit Cinema Display. The 24-inch model updated the styling of Apple’s displays to match the unibody MacBook Pro’s ID. It also added features like a built-in MagSafe power supply and mini DisplayPort input, both targeted at owners of new Macs. Unlike most 24-inch displays however, the LED Cinema Display carried an $899 price tag at launch. Even today they are selling for over $600 used. By comparison, Dell will sell you a brand new 24-inch display for $259 or $539 if you want one with an IPS panel. Needless to say, Apple discontinuing the 24-inch LED Cinema Display makes sense. The company is generally uninterested in playing in value segments and I’m not sure there’s a huge market for $900 24-inch displays, regardless of what logo is on the back.

What is a lot more interesting however is the panel used in Apple’s 27-inch iMac. A 16:9 2560 x 1440 LED backlit LCD measuring 27” along the diagonal. Giving you 90% of the resolution of a 30” panel but in a more compact space. If you need more real estate than a standard 1920 x 1200 panel can give you and don’t want to resort to a multi-monitor setup, the 27-inch iMac was very appealing. There’s just one problem: it comes with a built in Mac.

What Apple has done in the 12 months since the release of the 27-inch iMac is separate the Mac from the display, leaving us with a 27-inch LED Cinema Display priced at $999.

Both the 24-inch LED and 30-inch panels are gone, the 27 takes their place in Apple’s display lineup. The new model is really an amalgamation of its predecessors. You get nearly the resolution of the 30-inch Cinema Display with the features of the 24-inch model.

Those features start with the styling. The 27 has a glass front, reminiscent of the unibody MacBook Pro, complete with its overly reflective glory. Unlike the Macbook Pro however, the 27-inch LED Cinema Display will almost exclusively used indoors. Most rooms/offices having some degree of light control (hooray for blinds) and the display is bright enough to make glare from other lights sources a non-issue. The glossy front does pose a problem while watching videos full screen however. If you ever had dreams of being an actor, expect them to be somewhat fulfilled as you find your face in any dark scenes or objects (e.g. black shirt).

The 27 uses an IPS panel paired with an LED backlight. You lose some color gamut since Apple continues to use white LEDs vs. RGB LEDs, but you gain a more compact package and lower power consumption.

Mini DisplayPort is the only way to get video into this monitor, which pretty much rules out any Mac made before late 2008. Even EVGA’s GeForce GTX 285 Mac Edition lacks a mini-DP port. I was forced to go back to my old GeForce GT 120 in my Nehalem Mac Pro to use the display (which works despite Apple listing it as compatible with only the 24-inch LED Cinema Display). Like many Apple products, if you have the right hardware the combination works flawlessly, if you don’t it’s just frustrating. Atlona is the only company I’m aware of that makes a dual-link DVI to mini-DP adapter. It sells for $149.95 if you desperately want the new Cinema Display and don’t have a video card with mini-DP out. I have yet to try it but customer reviews on Amazon indicate it works with the 27-inch iMac at least.

Again the speakers are a definite upgrade from what you’ll find in your MacBook Pro, but if you’re a desktop user with a decent sound setup they will go largely unused. While I used them over the past few days, I definitely missed my Klipsch Promedia 2.1s.

Webcams are ubiquitous in Apple"s notebook and desktop lineups, the 27 supports the family tradition with its VGA still/video camera complete with green LED to indicate when it"s active.

Also at the top of of the screen is an ambient light sensor. With the option enabled in software as ambient light increases, the screen’s brightness will decrease and vise versa. For the most part I found the feature worked ok but in my office I often found that the increase/decrease wasn’t significant enough to make a difference as the day turned into night. The sensor was never over active unless I was taking pictures of myself in Photo Booth. The flash before every photo bounced back, hit the light sensor and caused the display to dim significantly. Presumably you won’t be doing that all of the time and if you are, there’s always the option to turn it off.

Like all Apple displays there’s no OSD, everything is done in software. Under OS X this means you need to download the latest update for the 27-inch LED Cinema Display. Under Windows you need to download an update to Boot Camp 3.1. The good news is that the display works under Windows 7, the bad news is you need Boot Camp installed to get brightness control. The downloadable Windows drivers won’t work on a system without Boot Camp installed, in other words, on a normal PC you lose the ability to control brightness. Apple should make the 27-inch Windows control panel a standalone package and not tie it to Boot Camp. It seems as if Apple expects the only users interested in this panel will be those who already own an Intel based Mac. Self fulfilling prophecy much?

Picking the best gaming monitor is of the utmost importance for any PC builder. Why spend so much on your gaming PC if you"re not going to game on it with a quality screen? What constitutes a quality screen will vary from builder to build—some required a great high-fps 1080p panel, while others will want to push their graphics card to the max with a 4K or ultrawide option. Whatever you"re after, the gaming monitor you buy should be the best at it.

After all, it"s the window to your PC"s soul. Well, the window to your games anyways. And if you"ve spent a lot of money to make sure they play as well as they possibly can, the least you want is to have a screen that makes them look their best, too. There"s no point having an RTX 4090(opens in new tab) if you"re still rocking an old 60Hz 1080p panel. Nor is it worth buying a cheap 1440p display that suffers from horrific ghosting when the gaming gets tough.

To get the most for your money, you want to match your monitor choice with your PC specs. A 4K monitor with a high refresh rate would be overkill if your rig is only packing a GTX 1060. If you"ve had the cash to drop on an RTX 40-series or a high-end AMD RX 7900(opens in new tab) series GPU, you can take your pick of 4K panels. Those sitting somewhere in the mid-range of things—with, say, an old RTX 2070 Super—are better off looking at 1440p displays. Even high-end PC owners might consider skipping 4K, though: 1440p is the sweet spot right now.

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OLED has truly arrived on PC, and in ultrawide format no less. Alienware"s 34 QD-OLED is one of very few gaming monitors to receive such a stellar score from us, and it"s no surprise. Dell has nailed the OLED panel in this screen and it"s absolutely gorgeous for PC gaming. Although this monitor isn’t perfect, it is dramatically better than any LCD-based monitor by several gaming-critical metrics. And it’s a genuine thrill to use.

What that 34-inch, 21:9 panel can deliver in either of its HDR modes—HDR 400 True Black or HDR Peak 1000—is nothing short of exceptional. The 3440 x 1440 native resolution image it produces across that gentle 1800R curve is punchy and vibrant. With 99.3% coverage of the demanding DCI-P3 color space and fully 1,000 nits brightness, it makes a good go, though that brightness level can only be achieved on a small portion of the panel.

Still, there’s so much depth, saturation, and clarity to the in-game image thanks to that per-pixel lighting, but this OLED screen needs to be in HDR mode to do its thing. And that applies to SDR content, too. HDR Peak 1000 mode enables that maximum 1,000 nit performance in small areas of the panel but actually looks less vibrant and punchy most of the time.

Burn-in is the great fear and that leads to a few quirks. For starters, you’ll occasionally notice the entire image shifting by a pixel or two. The panel is actually overprovisioned with pixels by about 20 in both axes, providing plenty of leeway. It’s a little like the overprovisioning of memory cells in an SSD and it allows Alienware to prevent static elements from "burning" into the display over time.

While we didn’t sense any subjective issue with this 175Hz monitor, there’s little doubt that if your gaming fun and success hinges on having the lowest possible latency, there are faster screens available. You can only achieve the full 175Hz with the single DisplayPort input, too. The Alienware 34 QD-OLED"s response time is absurdly quick at 0.1ms, however, and it cruised through our monitor testing suite. You really notice that speed in-game, too.

There"s no HDMI 2.1 on this panel, however. So it"s probably not the best fit for console gaming as a result. But this is PC Gamer, and if you"re going to hook your PC up to a high-end gaming monitor, we recommend it be this one.

The LG UltraGear is the first 4K, Nano IPS, gaming monitor with 1ms response times, that"ll properly show off your superpowered GPU. Coming in with Nvidia G-Sync and AMD’s FreeSync adaptive refresh compatibility, this slick slim-bezel design even offers LG’s Sphere Lighting 2.0 RGB visual theatrics.

While it does suffer from a little characteristic IPS glow, it appears mostly at the screen extremities when you’re spying darker game scenes. This isn"t an issue most of the time, but the HDR is a little disappointing as, frankly, 16 edge-lit local dimming zones do not a true HDR panel make.The color fidelity of the NanoIPS panel is outstanding.

What is most impressive, however, is the Nano IPS tech that offers a wider color gamut and stellar viewing angles. And the color fidelity of the NanoIPS panel is outstanding.

The LG UltraGear 27GN950-B bags you a terrific panel with exquisite IPS image quality. Despite the lesser HDR capabilities, it also nets beautiful colors and contrast for your games too. G-Sync offers stable pictures and smoothness, and the speedy refresh rate and response times back this up too.

At 2ms GtG response, it"s just a hair behind the 1ms and 0.5ms ratings of the best IPS panels, so you"re covered when it comes to speed. That said, you can find quicker panels if you really want to chase speed. This VA panel does have a high contrast ratio, at least, given the technology"s inherent strong contrast.This Dell monitor is most importantly available at a great price.

As for picture quality, the Dell S2722DGM is a reasonably punchy and vibrant monitor considering it"s a pure SDR panel. The strong inherent contrast certainly helps with that, ensuring you don"t feel short-changed running games like Cyberpunk 2077, which support HDR, in SDR mode.

We"d steer clear of MPRT mode, which hammers the panel"s brightness and vibrancy. "Extreme" mode, which is rated at 2ms, does suffer from a whiff of overshoot, but that"s only just visible in-game, while "Super fast" resolves the overshoot but allows just a little smearing of darker tones.

This Dell monitor is most importantly available at a great price. Dell delivers high-quality gaming panels, with all the features you need and a few extraneous ones to bump up the price. And that makes it one of the best gaming monitors for most PC gamers today.

High speed OLED gaming monitors are finally legit. That"s thanks in no small part to Alienware"s impressive AW324DW QD-OLED(opens in new tab), with plenty of other brands following suit. Among them, Asus has unleashed the ROG Swift PG42UQ OLED, a 41.5-inch behemoth that legitimately could be the only monitor you"ll ever need for the foreseeable future of gaming. Leveraging the same panel from the LG C2 OLED TV, the Swift PG42UQ adds on higher refresh rate, an anti-glare coating, DisplayPort 1.4 and more gaming monitor accoutrements.

The Swift brings all the best parts of the C2 into the gaming space, improving it in a host of ways that gamers will be better pleased with. Sure the adjustments are limited, but the ROG Swift PG42UQ is a gamers bestie where it matters, and certainly another champion for the OLED cause.

It"s a 32-inch beast with a VA panel running at up to 165Hz and delivering 2,560 by 1,440 pixels. Yup, the tried and tested 1440p resolution, the sweet spot for real-world gaming according to many, the perfect balance between performance and visual detail. The catch is all that normally applies to 27-inch models. 32 inches? That makes for a pretty big panel for 1440p in terms of pixel density.

Where the low pixel density hurts most is actually in Windows. If you like crisp fonts and lots of desktop real estate, this isn’t the monitor for you. For everyone else, well, it comes down to the value proposition. There are faster monitors. There are monitors with superior IPS-powered image quality. There are monitors with all kinds of HDR support not found here. And others with far more pixels or more dramatic aspect ratios.

This is a gaming-centric monitor without any HDR support but based on VA panel technology. So, the peak brightness is 350 nits, static contrast is about as good as it gets at 3,000:1, and there"s official AMD FreeSync Premium certification.Rounding out the basics is a gentle 1800R panel curve.

Rounding out the basics is a gentle 1800R panel curve. It"s a slightly odd, though not actually unique, feature for this class of display. Curvature is a more obvious and natural fit for ultrawide displays. On a conventional 16:9 panel? We still need a little convincing.

But add in the 165Hz refresh and you have a pretty convincing monitor for response-critical online shooters. To be sure, if that is your number one priority, you’d be better off with a higher-refresh 1080p IPS monitor with faster response. If you want a larger panel like this, 4K isn’t an all-around win. It comes with a huge additional GPU load and that in turn requires mega-investment levels in a good graphics card

It"s worth remembering that pricing for this class of display—a 32-inch 165Hz 1440p panel—extends all the way up to $800 in the Corsair Xeneon 32QHD165(opens in new tab). So, while the Dell S3222DGM isn"t all that exciting from a technical point of view, for the money, it"s pretty convincing.

Here, this 27-inch panel provides frames at a stable 165Hz refresh rate, not the speediest but certainly workable for competitive gaming. The 1ms grey-to-grey response time doesn"t hurt for gaming either. As a FreeSync certified monitor, AMD users can be sure of a tear-free gaming experience.

While the build quality isn"t as robust as a higher-spec screen, the Pixio panel is perfect for the budget gamer who doesn"t mind missing out on some of the bells and whistles of a higher-end monitor but is keen on top performance.

We"re finally in an era of gaming where an affordable 4K monitor and a fast 4K monitor are one and the same. You could still buy a lower resolution panel for a whole lot less, and there are less desirable 4K panels out there, but as the Gigabyte M32UC proves you can get a whole lot of screen for what feels like a fair price.

The M32UC runs at a perfectly reasonable 144Hz out of the box—and you"ll need a powerful graphics card to make the most of that at 4K. However, if you hook this monitor up via DisplayPort 1.4 you can also overclock the panel via the OSD. That bumps the refresh rate up to 160Hz, and while that"s probably excessive for most, if you"re going big with the rest of your rig (or plan to pick up a powerful next-gen GPU sometime in the future) then it"s a decent option to have at the ready.Fine details are well preserved and this panel doesn"t struggle with saturation.

But something to consider with the M32UC"s blend of resolution and refresh rate is that even a high-end GPU won"t always make the most of it. That"s what makes the M32UC"s FreeSync capabilities so crucially important. Keeping this panel in sync with your graphics card when it"s underthe max refresh rate of the screen, as it is likely going to be at times, prevents a whole lot of screen tearing.

It should come as no surprise that the 32-inch panel running at 4K results in a stunningly crisp image while gaming. I"ve been playing arguably too much Destiny 2 right now and the M32UC is a stunning way to experience the game. Fine details are well preserved and this panel doesn"t struggle with saturation, which makes for a luscious and vibrant image.

If your mantra for displays is "go big or go home," Acer hears you, and its Predator X38 is a massive 38-inch curved screen that looks stunning. It features a not-quite-4K QHD ultrawide panel with a 3840x1600 resolution. With an aspect ratio of 24:9, the IPS panel looks great, and the size means you have a lot of screen real estate for gaming.

The display also features G-Sync technology with up to 175Hz variable refresh rates. That"s a huge boost over lower refresh rate curved gaming monitors, and Acer has overcome the big IPS downside of typically high response times, too. This beast has a 1ms GtG response, which is truly IPS coming of age and doing it all without the compromises of old.

Banding was pretty much non-existent and the backlighting was even, though with a faintly noticeable glow coming from the edges in dark scenes, but nothing to be troubled about and not noticeable at all while gaming.

It"s taller than the 27-inch 16:9 displays and nearly half again as wide, but the higher resolution means the dot pitch is slightly lower than, the lesser panels. And for games that properly support ultrawide resolutions, the surround effect of the XR382CQK is incredibly immersive—sitting at your desk, the 38-inch panel will fill your field of view.

The best just got a whole lot better. That’s surely a foregone conclusion for the new Samsung Odyssey Neo G9. After all, the original Odyssey G9 was already Samsung’s tip-top gaming monitor. Now it’s been given the one upgrade it really needed. Yup, the Neo G9 is packing a mini-LED backlight.

Out of the box, it looks identical to the old G9. Deep inside, however, the original G9’s single most obvious shortcoming has been addressed. And then some. The Neo G9 still has a fantastic VA panel. But its new backlight is what counts here—it offers far more than just edge-lit dimming.

It packs a cutting-edge mini-LED tech with no fewer than 2,048 zones. This thing is several orders of magnitude more sophisticated than before. As if that wasn’t enough, the Neo G9’s peak brightness has doubled to a retina-wrecking 2,000 nits. What a beast.

In practice, the Neo G9’s mini-LED creates as many problems as it solves. We also can’t help but observe that, at this price point, you have so many options. The most obvious alternative, perhaps, is a large-format 120Hz OLED TV with HDMI 2.1 connectivity.

Best gaming monitor FAQHow does PC Gamer test gaming monitors?Like everything else we test, we live with a gaming monitor in the same way you would at home. We also go through a series of experiential tests to highlight any ghosting, backlighting issues, or general smeariness or blurring of images. We find it too easy to get lost in the weeds of specific panel benchmarks and miss more obvious problems that might crop up during day-to-day gaming use.

So, we put more weight on what it"s like to actually use a gaming monitor than what the specs might say.Should I go for an IPS, TN or VA panel?We would always recommend an IPS panel over TN(opens in new tab). The clarity of image, viewing angle, and color reproduction are far superior to the cheaper technology, but you"ll often find a faster TN for cheaper. The other alternative, less expensive than IPS and better than TN, is VA tech. The colors aren"t quite so hot, but the contrast performance is impressive.Should I go for a FreeSync or G-Sync monitor?In general, FreeSync monitors will be cheaper. It used to be the case that they would only work in combination with an AMD GPU. The same went for G-Sync monitors and Nvidia GPUs. Nowadays, though, it is possible to find G-Sync compatible FreeSync monitors(opens in new tab) if you"re intent on spending less.Should I buy a HDR monitor?With a High Dynamic Range monitor, you can take advantage of the ever-growing list of games and apps that feature HDR support. It offers more vibrant colors and greater contrast but is going to drive up the price a little. Windows" native HDR function also leaves a lot to be desired, and you may find you have to fiddle in the settings to get HDR looking like it should.What aspect ratio should I go for?Today"s movies and games are best enjoyed in a widescreen format at a 16:9 aspect ratio or above. In 4:3, those cinematic moments will look stunted with black strips along the top and bottom. There are a host of minute variations on each ratio, but at the end of the day choosing between these depends entirely on your personal preference.

TN PanelsTwisted-nematic is the most common (and cheapest) gaming panel. TN panels tend to have poorer viewing angles and color reproduction but have higher refresh rates and response times.

IPSIn-plane switching, panels offer the best contrast and color despite having weaker blacks. IPS panels tend to be more expensive and have higher response times.

VAVertical Alignment panels provide good viewing angles and have better contrast than even IPS but are still slower than TN panels. They are often a compromise between a TN and IPS panel.

HDRHigh Dynamic Range. HDR provides a wider color range than normal SDR panels and offers increased brightness. The result is more vivid colors, deeper blacks, and a brighter picture.