A monitor with 2K resolution, also known as Quad HD or 1440p, is the excellent compromise between Full HD and 4K image quality. Also, they can achieve higher refresh rates than on an Ultra HD monitor, which is a plus. For this reason, we tell you which are the best Quad HD (2K) monitors that you can find today, either to play or work.
We must start from the fact that the resolution monitors that we are going to deal with in this article is not a television standard, this is important to take into account because there are many devices that do not support 2K, 1440p or Quad HD resolution and although you can use lower resolutions, it is a waste of capabilities and a worsening of image quality.
We know that most of our readers are PC users and are considering buying a 2K monitor, whether for gaming or work, we have to highlight one thing, and that is that it is a resolution designed for computer monitors. Since it is not part of the television standard and, therefore, you may find yourself with video devices that will not support this resolution and you will have to opt for Full HD in those cases, being a waste of the quality of its image quality.
Criteria for choosing a 2K monitor
When we go to buy a new monitor, the large number of these that we can find on the market is enormous and they all come with different technical specifications. However, as everything is a question, it is enough to have a good criterion when choosing. Therefore, when faced with two monitors of a similar price, the best thing is to ask them a few questions and they will answer us with their characteristics.
What is the type of panel?
If we are going to choose an LCD panel, we must take into account that if we want a high refresh rate, then the best monitors in this regard are the TN type. The problem? Their level of contrast and color representation is poor, so if you are going to use them for image editing, then avoid them because they also have poor viewing angles.
So what is the best option? VA panels have worse response time and higher contrast, so if you are looking for image quality in order to work professionally, VA panels are the best. On the other hand, for games, IPS are the best as they have a higher refresh rate than VA and allow us to take more frames.
What is the refresh rate of the 2K monitor?
Another thing you have to look at is the refresh rate, this is the number of full images that the monitor can show us per second. When higher is better, although for this we need a graphics card with enough power to move our favorite games to that amount of Hertz. So our advice, and especially for competitive gaming, is to choose a monitor with the highest possible refresh rate, believe us, the difference is noticeable, but you have to experience it.
NVIDIA G-SYNC or AMD FreeSync
In order to take advantage of high refresh rates without image artifacts, both NVIDIA and AMD use totally different systems. It makes no sense to buy a monitor with G-SYNC support if we have a Radeon or one with FreeSync support if we use an NVIDIA. So it is an element that we will have to look at when buying a 2K monitor.
What is the best 2K monitor for your PC?
Once the selection criteria have been clarified, we are going to show you a series of monitors that we think are the best you can find at Quad HD resolution on the market. For this we have chosen a series of models for four different uses: gaming in NVIDIA, in AMD, an ultra-panoramic and to finish we have chosen one for designers.
Samsung Odyssey, the best for gaming NVIDIA
With its 27-inch Samsung curved panel, this Samsung Odyssey G7 is one of the best Quad HD monitors you can find on the market, not to mention the one that has caught our attention the most. In the first place, we have the use of Quantum LED technology from the South Korean company for great image quality and secondly, its 240 Hz refresh rate puts it at the top in this feature and makes it the best monitor for NVIDIA at have support for G-SYNC. And if that were not enough, it also has support for DisplayHDR 600.
And yes, for its price it is expensive, but investing in it is worth it in all aspects, not only will you get a monitor with a high refresh rate, but also with great image quality and ideal for getting the most out of your latest generation NVIDIA RTX.
GIGABYTE M27Q, ideal monitor for AMD Radeon
This GIGABYTE 27-inch gaming monitor with Nano SSIPS panel is ideal for AMD Radeon graphics card users thanks to its AMD FreeSync support, 170Hz refresh rate and 0.5ms response time. It has two HDMI 2.0 ports, a contrast of 1000:1 and a brightness capacity of 350 nits, which unfortunately means that the monitor does not support HDR.
It is a cheap option for gaming, which you can also use with NVIDIA if your GPU has support for VESA Adaptive Sync.
GIGABYTE G34WQC, the best ultrawide
Many of us work with dual monitors due to the fact that we need more screen space than with a normal monitor. One option to this is to make use of a monitor with a larger panorama and, therefore, with an aspect ratio that goes beyond the typical 16:9. This is the case of this 21:9 monitor that gives us a resolution of 3440 x 1440p on a VA panel with a refresh rate of 144 Hz. So in terms of gaming it is worse than the previous two, but it is ideal if we require a large workspace and cannot afford to place two monitors on our desk.
ASUS ProArt Display, ideal for professionals
If your interest, on the other hand, is not to play and what you are looking for is design, then this ASUS monitor is an excellent option. Its 75Hz refresh rate doesn’t make it ideal for competitive gaming, but its strong point is its fantastic color rendering with 100% sRGB support, making it ideal for imaging professionals.
This 2K monitor is also ideal if you don’t like having a big mess of cables, since it supports USB-C Alt DP, so with a simple cable you can connect the PC to the monitor as well as power it. The only negative point that we see? The fact that it does not have HDR support as standard, but we believe that the fact that it supports the entire color spectrum is a very important point for all those designers who read us.
