Buying a monitor, whether “normal” or gaming, has become a nightmare. We can find many different parameters, whether they are “certifications” or the manufacturer’s own technologies. The number of stickers that we find on a monitor only increases, but do we really have to pay any kind of attention to them or are they just marketing?
It has happened to us and it has surely happened to you, that you have gone to buy a monitor and you have found that if HDR, that, if it has this or another technology, etc. In the end, what we end up caring about are a few parameters, giving a damn about the rest. Without a doubt, the parameter that matters most to us is the price and then other parameters.
What matters when choosing a monitor
Realistically, when we buy a component, be it a graphics card, processor, monitor or keyboard, we look at very few parameters. It seems that manufacturers have made it fashionable to add “extras” or features that do not matter to us . A fashion that has become absurd and that only serves to make the product more expensive.
Really, when we go to buy a monitor that we care about:
- Resolution: Without a doubt, it is the most important parameter and the one to which we pay the most attention. In the end, this parameter greatly influences the price and our demands.
- Price: Once we choose the resolution, we will look for a monitor that suits our budget and point
- Connectivity: Now that we have the resolution and several models chosen, we will look for them to have HDMI and DisplayPort video connections . If it has USB, then fine, but we really don’t care, since we will rarely use them
- Refresh rate: This parameter matters to those who are going to play , but it is not relevant for all users. If the monitor that meets the other requirements has 144 Hz instead of 120 Hz, then better, but in the end, it will not matter to us
- Panel type: We can say that this parameter is just right. We could care if it was IPS, TN or VA , but IPS Fast, micro LED and other strange stories have now become fashionable to sell us the bike
Marketing nonsense that makes the product more expensive
Something that we see more and more is a string of labels or stories that we don’t care about. In many cases, this “nonsense” only serves to sell you the most expensive product. These extras that we will rarely use are:
- HDR: It is a certification that nobody understands and nobody really knows what it indicates when buying a monitor. The truth is that for gaming it matters rather little
- Color coverage: Really, when you go to buy a gaming monitor and look at this parameter, do you know what it means? You intuit that the higher the percentage, the better , but little more. It has a relative importance and in many cases, it remains to be seen if it is so.
- FreeSync, G-Sync, VESA Sync: Sure this sounds crazy to you that it’s here, but it makes sense. In the end, they are all the same technology with a different collar and glitter. Theirs would be a unification of technology and reduction to one or two variants. That FreeSync has 3 versions, G-Sync has 3 versions and VESA Sync has 2 versions, it’s a lot of variants without much interest
- They are adjustable: The fact that it is indicated that it can be adjusted in height and in viewing angle is somewhat ridiculous, since it is something MANDATORY in all monitors
- Viewing angle: Let’s see, the monitors are designed to be viewed from the front, so what do I care if it has a viewing angle of 178º?
- Compatible with Windows: Of course, this is the stupidest label in the world. The monitor does not give a damn if you use Windows, Linux or PepitOS, since in the end what it does is reproduce the image sent by the graphics card. totally absurd
- No frames: This is another one of those absurd labels that makes no sense and has become fashionable. It is stated that the monitor has no side frames, which is false, since there is no such thing as a frameless monitor . Can you tell me it’s 3mm, but Marcos has
- What is thin: May has screwed us with flowers, of course it is thin, especially when compared to CRT monitors
VESA ClearMR, one more totally useless certification
This is the latest certification by VESA, who is responsible for the standardization of different technologies. They have created a certification on the clarity of a moving image on the screen. It is intended to determine if a screen is too blurry to play.
According to VESA, this new certification would replace the response time that, according to this certifier, is obsolete. Indicates that pixel response times displayed on actual gaming monitors are artificial. They have divided it into categories CMR 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000, 7000, 8000 and 9000.
They are not really wrong about the response time, but the reality will be that we will have another “sticker” that does not contribute anything. Also, this parameter measures how many bright pixels there are relative to blurry pixels. But, it is not measured in percentage, which would be easy to interpret, but rather a range of times is established that we have more clear pixels than blurred ones. For example, if we have 10 pixels of blur, we would need to have 650 pixels of light to receive a CMR 7000 certification.