Choosing a good computer Monitor

I am often asked” which is the best monitor” or “Could you recommend a good monitor”.  This is very difficult as perception of “visual quality” of a monitor is a combination of many factors including Eyesight, expectations, and personal preferences.

One way of getting an objective view of the quality of a monitor is to run a series of calibration tests.  This requires some quite expensive hardware. Fortunately there is a “quick & dirty” method for doing this in software and many web sites will aid you.

One such site can be found here:-

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

Follow the instructions carefully and you will get a good idea of how good a monitor is.

I would stress this is a crude test and in no way matches the results from a good hardware calibrator.

One last thought. You get what you pay for.  Low cost monitors are cheap for a very good reason. Shortcuts have been made to save money.

Sadly this applies also to televisions but this is a different can of worms.

Jeff Friend