4K vs 1440p vs 1080p - What Monitor Resolution Should You Buy?

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00:00 - Welcome Back to Hardware Unboxed
00:55 - When to Buy a 1080p Monitor?
04:06 - When to Buy a 1440p Monitor?
09:52 - When to Buy a 4K Monitor?
14:39 - When to Buy an Ultrawide Monitor?
17:09 - Final Thoughts

4K vs 1440p vs 1080p - What Monitor Resolution to Buy?

Disclaimer: Any pricing information shown or mentioned in this video was accurate at the time of video production, and may have since changed

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[ehfoiwehfowjedioheoih]

An update to this would be great!
Thank you

[atulful]

720p because you only have integrated graphics

[SirChocula]

Went from a 27' 1440p to the Gigabyte M32Q 32' 1440p. I definitely notice the pixels, while not bad, my 27 I replaced was much more beautiful in terms of picture quality. I'd probably go 4k 32' in a few years when the GPU's can actually run it super well.

[Krenisphia]

Going from a 1080p 17" laptop to a 27" 1440p desktop it is absolutely amazing in terms of experience. I have no desire to go to 4K for a long time.

[shadow]

I went from 24" 1080p to 27" 1440p and I don't think I'll ever go bigger, personally I find 27" to be almost too big but also kinda perfect size, I feel 32" would just be too big for me, I think I'll be running 1440 for the foreseeable future, the only upgrade ill do in the future is going from 180hz to 360hz+ when the tech is there and graphics cards can actually make those numbers at 1440p

[tuurekeranen]

1080p 24" 120-144hz can happily be recommended for budget! If you plan on upgrading later, you're basically shopping for your second monitor first. :D

[jodk]

When i bought my 1060 6GB three or four years ago, i remember thinking i'd buy a 1440P monitor with the next GPU i'd buy. Still running that 1060 for reason we all know. ..and: The way things are going now we'll likely be running 4K before i'm able to buy a GPU again, so i'll wait and see. Not the best of times for PC-gamers.. Do agree with your thoughts on the matter. For people with the GPU to run 1440P, it is the sweetspot atm.

[Celis.C]

I've been very happy with my 1080p60Hz -> 1440p144Hz upgrade that I made a few years back.
My next monitor upgrade will very likely be based on pixel tech rather than resolution. OLED looks really sweet, so I'm keeping an eye out for the day that such monitors - or with equivalent to better tech - become affordable

[erwinmulder]

Ultra wide fills your entire view exactly. It's s great experience. I don't really need very high refresh rates as I mostly just play MMO's. I also do some programming and then the extra real estate is nice for the extra consoles, editors and tools, which often has people use a second monitor instead, but is not really needed with an UW.

[attilapuskas]

In my opinion, you missed the distinction between ultrawide 21:9 and super-ultrawide 32:9. There is a big difference in terms of "usable desktop space" and graphics power required, the latter at a resolution of 5120x1440 requiring almost a "4k level" of GPU.

[caspermadsen]

Ultrawide all the way. Once I tried it, I could never go back. Love it for both gaming and productivity. And my Lenovo G34W-10 was very affordable, for what it is. Might not be the best display, but I love it.

[rafael]

I really want to go 1440p but the lack of a graphics card is making me delay the upgrade

[Fhyrne]

Answer: All for them, one for each kind of game you play.

[mrthesquid]

I went from a 32" 1080p to a 34" 1440p ultrawide. Overall I am happy with the change. It was a massive upgrade and actually leveraged my GPU. Now the only thing I don't like with the ultrawide format is the dodgy support for ultrawide in some titles and the unacceptable letterboxing that happens on some streaming services, looking at you Disney. Although watching 21:9 content on netflix or iTunes is really nice and drives home why I purchased the monitor. I will not be going back down to 1080p ever again. But I am still a few years away from getting hardware that could not get choked down on 4k gaming.

[ram]

Great video! Nice breakdown. This info woulda been golden when I first started looking at monitors two years ago, but your videos back then still helped alot. This vid is next level helpful and really puts the current monitor offerings in a nice perspective even for those like me that follow the channel regularly. You’re a gem!

[Ian-zbrp]

That's the most straight forward clearest video on monitors I have seen, it answered lots of questions I had been thinking about, thanks

[GlutenFreeSteve]

I'm using a Xbox Series X on a Gigabyte 32" 1440p monitor and everything looks great, it's a shame my PS5 doesn't look as good, I wish Sony would update the PS5 to 1440

[PixelShade]

Awesome video Tim! Basically covers everything one might think of when getting a monitor. I personally really enjoy 27" 1440p. It offers a lot of desktop real estate. It is fairly performant in gaming, and the size doesn't feel overwhelming at a typical desk distance. I couldn't actually fit anything larger comfortably and the pixel density of 4K at 27"is unnecessary high and the options extremely expensive (2x) in comparison.

[lvmarv]

3080ti user here. I recently purchased a Asus XG349C as I wanted the best of all worlds. Stunning visuals, high framerates, massive screen real estate. Ultrawide has me hooked!

[TheDean]

The AOC CU34G2X, there 21:9 1440p @144hz, is what I went with as my first monitor getting back into PC gaming after playing on nothing but big flat screen TV's. I totally agree that playing games is super immersive in ultrawide but you have to have the hardware to run it