Best Monitors for a PC Fall 2019 Review

Well, Mark (and everyone else who is going to get a Mac Pro, or an AMD Ryzen Threadripper) needs to get a great monitor to go with it, so what to get if you want the actual best display.

First of all there are threee big uses for this kind of monster computer:

  1. General computer use. Which means lots of windows everywhere. The biggest being writing software where you need lots of terminals open. Or just want your spreadsheet up while doing mail, etc. This is where bigger the better works. A 43” monitor is awesome, 49” better ;and if you have room for it a 55” monitor at 4K with movable stand literally makes it possible to have every application you’ve ever wanted open at once.
  2. Photographic or video editing. This is where true color really matters. Ideally you want something that support 10-bit color and HDR10 color.
  3. Gaming. Ok, gaming at this scale is super, but you need ultra high refresh rates where the maximum is 144Hz. The best is support for variable refresh rates via the new HDMI-VRR that gives you FreeSync for AMD or G-sync for NVIDIA cards.

Given all this, what are the best recommendations. Well Rtings.com remains a super good site for this and so here goes for the very best 4K televisions (at this level, PC monitors and TVs are basically identical in performance)

For casual gaming that work for XBox One X or PlayStation 4, See there is a new class of monitor that supports variable refresh rates and up to 120 Hz, so if you are not going to gaming at the bleeding edge 144 Hz, this is great because it means these monitors support all three uses pretty well (except for really, rally fast gaming):

  1. LG B9 OLED. This now supports GSync and FreeSync (see https://www.anandtech.com/show/15087/lg-unveils-43un700-monitor-425inch-4k-w-hdr10-for-work-gaming) so is not a bad gaming platform. It won’t run at 144Hz, but for more casual gaming is awesome. The big drawback is the screen size is 55”, so it is pretty big to use as a monitor when 2 feet away, you literally have to stand up to read the entire screen. The solution is to have a movable arm so you can move the screen as needed. But OLED has the absolute best blacks and image quality. Amazon has it for $1,300. LG OLED55B9PUA B9 Series 55″ 4K Ultra HD Smart OLED TV (2019)
  2. Sony X950G. If you want the truest colors for photography and video editing, you won’t the truest blacks and side viewing because this is a VA panel. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MVT8S92 for $900. Like the LG, the smallest size is 55”

This leaves two other choices. The first is if a 55” is too large, so you need a 32” at least or smaller.

  1. LG 32UD99. This is a 32” 4K monitor but isn’t so great at HDR. It is 60Hz, so not for gaming, but smaller.
  2. is for dark rooms and is a VA panel so has better contrast and blacks. It is also 60Hz.

Then the second use is for really, really fast gaming where you want to get to 144Hz and use GSync. These are typically 27” monitors so they are not big, but they are fast but typically not 4K, but 1440p monitors. Great for staring at close at hand for the very best gaming. https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/best/g-sync:

  1. ASUS ROG Swift PG279QZ which is an IPS panel that is 144Hz but 2560×1440 in resolution.

I’m Rich & Co.

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