The Magical Everything Monitor

Squink · 24 Jan 2019 at 14:50

I work full time from home on a 40" Phillips 4k VA screen. I've never been quite happy with it - sometimes it feels too big, I would much prefer it to be 144hz, and occasionally I want it to have adaptive sync.

In Currys the other day, I caught sight of an Apple 27" 5k monitor. It probably had the brightness whacked right up and a carefully-chosen image to show it at its best, but I was massively impressed at the quality of the colours and the image. It made me wonder if I should look at replacing mine.

Does a monitor exist with this:

144hz (so probably a '2k' resolution). I don't want 100hz and I'm not vastly interested in ultrawide.
30-ish" in size.
Adaptive sync.
An appreciably better image quality than what's on my Phillips (I can't recall the exact model of it).

I did test a couple of 27" gsync monitors before buying this one 3½ years ago, including the TN ROG Swift and another with IPS, maybe an Acer. I don't recall being especially impressed with the quality of either.

I suspect the answer to all of this is 'no'.

Squink · 27 Jan 2019 at 21:24

I see that 32” 144hz VA monitors are now available which I don’t recall seeing before. These sound almost perfect except for the reviews which mention ghosting.

Is the motion blur really that bad? I tend to just use a monitor rather than scrutinise it closely in search of flaws. If the ghosting is terrible I’ll look elsewhere.

I was able to test a relative’s 27” IPS with gsync and found the glow really off-putting.

JediFragger · 28 Jan 2019 at 06:08

If you want absolute IQ (sacrificing 144hz) then not much will beat that 5k Apple/LG. If you can live with going to 27in it might be worth a go imo.

Other than that I think LG have a 32" IPS 144hz screen out soon, that should be Freesync.

Squink · 29 Jan 2019 at 10:28

I had all these problems 3½ years ago when I bought the Philips monitor. Everything requires a compromise and we're not just talking about a little compromise such as the thickness of the frame. IPS has glow and probably bleed (as far as I can tell the manufacturers are using the same panels from 4 years ago, with the same high prices and the same awful quality control). TN flat out isn't what I want. VA looks great and a 32" screen would suit me, but I can't be having prominent blur and ghosting on an 144hz monitor.

Oh for a realistically-priced monitor that's not flawed in some way!