Despite the fact that 2K is starting to standardize, 4K is starting to gain a lot of momentum thanks to advances from graphics card manufacturers. Therefore, you may consider buying a 4K monitor , but you do not know if it is a good investment if you do not use it to play . Do not worry, it is not an absurd prompt because there are many monitors with this resolution focused on other needs.
It seems that when we talk about monitors and resolutions we take it for granted that they will be used to play. However, we can give monitors many different uses, such as photo or video editing, multitasking or multimedia use. Fortunately, we found many 4K monitors that we can buy and use for purposes other than playing video games. Next, we answer this question.
Buying a 4K monitor, is it worth it if it is not for gaming?
As a short answer, we will say that yes , it is worth it . That said, we have to take into account many aspects to find out if a 4K monitor really interests us, since its price is much higher than we see in other resolutions.
Everything will depend on the model we are looking for, our needs and, of course, our budget. You already know that budget is a key metric when it comes to ruling out options that we cannot afford, something that you will realize by looking for 4K monitors.
Multimedia use
Most buyers use the monitor to view movies, photos, or for tasks that do not require a specialized panel. If we enter the 4K (2160p) field, we understand that you want a panel that offers an image quality superior to that of most monitors on the market.
Don’t get me wrong: a higher resolution is not enough to obtain brutal image quality per se, as you will have to pay attention to the technology of the panel, as well as its specifications.
If you have thought about buying a 4K monitor to watch movies and series , consider it a great option because it is a resolution that is being used more and more. For example, Netflix offers a lot of content in 4K, so if you are addicted to this platform, we recommend a good 4K monitor that allows us to enjoy our entertainment sessions.
In addition, we can buy 4K monitors that come with HDR technologies, which are ideal to enrich the color display and offer us a much more interesting experience.
Photography and video
Professionals who dedicate themselves fully to tasks such as photographic editing , graphic design or video editing , take into consideration more things than the resolution of the monitor itself. Obviously, the more sugar, the sweeter, and this happens by going up in resolution. However, it will be useless to have a panel with 4K resolution, if its color gamut is poor, if it does not have a great color depth or, among other things, if it does not have sufficient color precision.
Therefore, the 4K resolution will not make us buy the monitor automatically, but we must take into account specific aspects that help us work with greater precision. That said, resolution is one of the most important aspects in choosing a monitor, which is why it is very important for image and video professionals.
As long as they meet certain conditions, the purchase of 4K monitors will be very worthwhile in professional environments.
Multitask
With multitasking we refer to those people who work with many windows, or who need a large area of action. In this sense, it would be smart to take into account the ultra-panoramic monitors , which are the ones that offer the greatest range of action in a panel due to their width.
There are many users who work on several tasks at the same time, so they require a large resolution that allows several windows to coexist at the same time. So, the desktop management is more grateful and we will work more comfortable .
Therefore, this is one of the most logical arguments that we find to convince you that buying 4K monitors is a very good idea, even though we are not going to use them to play games. Although we are not in front of an ultra-wide monitor, the transition from 1080p to 2160p is impressive, especially when we work with several programs at the same time.
Price
In the gaming world, it happens as in professional environments: certain specifications are required to obtain a quality experience. As you may have imagined, we are talking about specific characteristics such as the refresh rate, the response time, the viewing angles or the G-SYNC or AMD FreeSync technologies.
If 4K monitors already have a price that is not very accessible , the idea of looking for a 4K gaming monitor dissipates quickly because our budget is usually far from the price of a product with these characteristics.
In my opinion, price is a key factor in choosing one product or another. You will see that a normal 4K monitor is much cheaper than a 4K gaming monitor, which tips the balance in favor of 4K monitors that are not used for gaming.
You mean if I buy a normal 4K monitor I won’t be able to play games? Not at all, we can play perfectly. It is true that we will not have the required 144 Hz, or 1 ms response time, which are ideal characteristics to enjoy a good gaming experience.
Normal 4K monitors start at € 200 , but a gaming with 144 Hz and 1 ms of response time would have a price that would be around € 1000 . In addition, to be able to enjoy 144 Hz in 4K, we would have to move our video game to 144 FPS in 4K, which is practically impossible in the most recent video games.
Not only that, our team would require abysmal graphics power, something that only an NVIDIA RTX 2080 Super or 2080 Ti can give us.
With all this, the price of a normal 4K monitor is attractive , accessible and is a product that can be used 100% with a normal equipment. For this reason, it is worth buying a 4K monitor if we are not going to play with it, as long as it does not have gaming features that we are going to waste.
Size
Finally, we would like to delve into an important aspect, which is the size of 4K monitors. It is true that we can monitor 27 inches with this resolution, but I would recommend this resolution for larger monitors: from 32 inches. It does not seem optimal to buy a 27-inch monitor with this resolution, since it is a size more associated with 2K .
So, if you were looking to buy a 32-inch or smaller 4K monitor, I would recommend that you opt for one that has 1440p resolution. On the contrary, if you are looking for a monitor of 32 inches or more , the 4K resolution is going to be great.
In conclusion, yes, a 4K monitor is worth buying if it is not for playing video games.