Monitors

Full HD at 24 inches, QHD at 27, 4K at 32:

that pairing is the place to start, because a resolution stretched over too big a panel looks soft at desk distance. A 24-inch Full HD screen is still the everyday choice for office work, school and video calls. At 27 inches QHD keeps text sharp, and it is what listings here often call “2K”. 4K earns its price at 32 inches, or where photos and drawings get edited. The other split is speed. Office monitors refresh 60 to 100 times a second; gaming monitors run at 144 Hz and above, with FreeSync or G-Sync to smooth out dips in frame rate. Around them sit 34-inch ultrawides that hold two documents side by side, portable screens powered from one USB-C cable, and OLED gaming monitors with true blacks and the highest prices of the lot.

Ports, cables and the 165 Hz screen that runs at 60:

most disappointed buyers of a gaming monitor have a cable problem, not a faulty screen. High refresh rates usually need DisplayPort or a recent HDMI cable, and Windows often leaves a new screen at 60 Hz until someone changes it in the display settings. Check the outputs on your graphics card first; if the card is the next upgrade, the options are in computer components. A laptop drives a monitor over a single USB-C cable only when that port carries DisplayPort, so look for the DP or Thunderbolt symbol beside it; most machines in laptops have HDMI as a fallback.

A 32-inch TV against a 27-inch monitor:

the money is closer than people expect, since a basic 32-inch TV costs about the same as a 27-inch Full HD monitor. One on the desk works for films and relaxed console games, but most budget TVs stop at 60 Hz, have no DisplayPort, lag more than a monitor and blur small text at arm’s length. A monitor has no tuner, often no speakers and no remote. If the screen is mainly for watching, look in television and film. Everyday 22- and 24-inch monitors start around Q900 new, which leaves an old used one little room: a 60 Hz model with only VGA and HDMI has to be cheap to beat a new one in its box. A 27-inch QHD gaming monitor from LG, Samsung or Xiaomi runs about Q2,300 to Q3,500 new, and a used one should prove it still reaches its rated refresh rate. OLEDs cost more again, and a used one is worth what its burn-in check says.

Backlight bleed, OLED burn-in and the wrong power brick:

these are what a used monitor hides in a bright room. Ask for a dark grey full-screen image with the lights low. Bright patches fixed in the corners are backlight bleed; a glow that moves as you shift your head is the normal sheen of an IPS panel. On an OLED the same grey shows burn-in as faint ghosts of a taskbar or a game’s health bar, so ask how many hours it has run. Leave any monitor on while you talk: a failing power board shows as flicker, a buzz, or a screen that takes several presses to wake and cuts out once warm. Many slim monitors run off an external brick, and a generic one with the wrong voltage can finish them off, so match it to the label on the back.

The model sticker, the settings menu and the original foam:

are what a buyer wants to see before setting off. Photograph the label with the model and manufacture date, and the screen switched on with its menu showing the refresh rate, plus the hours on an OLED. Say which cables and power brick go with it, and mention any bleed or bright pixel before the buyer finds it. Wipe the panel with a dry microfibre cloth, since alcohol and glass cleaner mark the anti-glare coating. Keep the box and its foam: someone coming from Coatepeque or Salamá by bus or motorbike cannot carry a bare 27-inch panel safely, and pressure on the screen is how a working monitor arrives home cracked.