How to buy a monitor: resolution, refresh rate and panel type

Monitor listings bury the decision under a wall of specifications. Here is what changes what you see.

Size and resolution together

Resolution only makes sense against size. 1080p is sharp at 24 inches and soft at 27. 1440p is the sweet spot at 27. 4K needs 32 inches to justify itself, and needs a graphics card that can drive it. Buying 4K at 27 inches means running Windows at 150 percent scaling and a GPU working four times as hard for a difference you'll struggle to see.

Refresh rate

60 Hz is fine for work. 144 Hz is the point where gaming feels different, and it's now cheap. Above 240 Hz is for competitive shooters and nobody else. A 27-inch 1440p 144 Hz panel is the value choice for a gaming PC in 2026.

Panel type

IPS: accurate colour, wide viewing angles, the default for most people. VA: deeper blacks, better contrast, slightly slower response; good for films and dark rooms. OLED: perfect blacks and instant response, expensive, and a burn-in risk if you leave a static desktop on it all day. TN: fast and cheap, poor colour; only for competitive gaming on a budget.

The rest

HDR on a monitor under £500 is mostly a sticker; real HDR needs a bright panel with local dimming. Adaptive sync (G-Sync/FreeSync) is on almost everything now and worth having. USB-C with power delivery lets a laptop connect with one cable, which is worth £50 if you'll use it. A stand that adjusts height matters more than it sounds.

Price and timing

Monitors discount around Prime Day and Black Friday, and the previous year's models drop when new ones launch in spring. Office-supply retailers sometimes list business monitors at trade prices that beat the consumer channel — that's where several of the gaps on this site have come from.