Your one-stop monitor size guide
* Screen image simulated for illustrative purposes.
What size monitor is best for gaming? or work?
Best monitor size for gaming
The right monitor size for gaming depends on the type of games you play and how immersive you want the experience to be.
• 24 to 27 inches: Good for gamers who want to see the entire screen to make quick, strategic decisions.
• 32 to 34 inches: Offers a more expansive view, which is good for genres like action-adventure games and RPGs, enhancing the sense of depth and detail.
• 43 to 57 inches: Great for games where peripheral vision is important, like racing games and first-person shooters, which benefit from wide screens, or even ultrawide screens and screens that curve around your field of view.
Best monitor size for work
For productivity tasks like video editing, coding, or even multitasking with several projects at once, the ideal monitor size may vary based on your needs and how much space you have.
• 27 to 32 inches: Provides ample screen real estate for multitasking and working with multiple windows open, without taking up too much space on a desk.
• 34 to 49 inches: Particularly useful for graphic design or video editing, since it offers more horizontal space while elminateing the need for multiple displays.
Is wider better? Do I need an ultrawide?
Ultrawide monitors have grown in popularity, offering a wider field of view compared to traditional 16:9 displays. The ultrawide aspect ratio (typically 21:9 or 32:9) provides more horizontal space, which is beneficial for tasks like video editing, where you need to see more of the timeline at once.
* Screen image simulated for illustrative purposes.
For gaming, an ultrawide monitor can offer a more immersive experience by expanding your peripheral vision. Their broader workspace can be hugely beneficial to see more at once on one screen, with less scrolling. Multiple screens can achieve the same effect, but will come with breaks in the visual experience and can be complicated to set up.
What’s better—a larger ultrawide monitor or a dual monitor setup?
When considering the best monitor size for your needs, you might be thinking about a dual monitor setup. Afterall, bigger screen real estate can lead to greatly enhanced productivity or immersion—especially for professionals and gamers. However, while dual monitor setups have been a popular solution, ultrawide monitors takes the experience to new level with a more seamless, efficient setup.
With an ultrawide monitor, you get the benefit of expansive screen real estate without the interruptions of bezels splitting your view. The smooth, continuous workspace of ultrawide monitors is perfect for managing multiple applications and projects simultaneously, improving productivity. The single monitor setup even simplifies cable management, creating a cleaner, more organized desk environment.
For gamers, an ultrawide monitor offers a more immersive experience by extending the field of view and enhancing peripheral vision in games, creating a more engaging environment. This wider perspective can give gamers a competitive edge and improve the overall experience.
Choose the right size monitor for your needs
20"-29"
30"-39"
40"-49"
50" or larger
How to measure monitor size
When it comes to measuring monitor sizes, the key aspect to know is the diagonal measurement of the screen. Monitor sizes are typically listed in inches, and it refers to the diagonal length from one corner of the display to the opposite corner. This is the standard measurement method across all monitor manufacturers, is the standard method across the industry, just like how TV sizes are measured. This measurement tells you how large the monitor’s viewing area is, but it does not account for the monitor's bezel (the frame surrounding the screen), which can vary across models.
To get the actual size of the monitor, you’ll need to consider the bezel, and may also need to consider the monitor aspect ratio, which determines the height and width of the screen. We’ll talk more about those in the next section. Most modern monitors have a 16:9 aspect ratio, but ultra-wide monitors might have 21:9 or 32:9 ratios, which provide a very different visual experience.
Understanding monitor dimensions
The monitor length and height are important characteristics of the monitor’s overall size. The actual monitor height and width are determined by the aspect ratio. Aspect ratio is typically described as the width of the screen by the height of the screen, shown as width:height. You’re probably familiar with the standard widescreen ratio, 16:9.
Just like the monitor size, this does not typically account for the bezel or full size of the monitor. For instance, a 27-inch monitor with a 16:9 aspect ratio is typically 23.5 inches wide and 13.2 inches tall. While the diagonal measurement gives you the overall size, it’s essential to know the actual dimensions, especially when trying to fit the monitor on a desk or a mount.
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