If you love playing video games but also have to do most of your work on your gaming pc, shifting to a gaming monitor can be challenging. With most gaming monitors worth around a couple of hundred dollars, you want your gaming monitor to offer a perfect balance between your work and games, but is it really possible to use a gaming monitor as a regular monitor?
To answer your question, yes! Gaming monitors can be used as regular monitors in most cases, but there is more to this answer. To better understand the topic, let’s first understand the pros and cons of using a gaming monitor as a regular monitor.
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Advantages of using a gaming monitor as a regular monitor
Gaming monitors offer exactly what they are marketed for, and that is a better gaming experience. This rules out the possibility of a gaming monitor being perfect for work-related purposes; however, there are still a bunch of things that make it well enough to offer a comfortable balance between gaming and work.
Features such as height adjustments, built-in speakers, USB ports, and customizations can massively increase productivity since they allow you to be at ease while working. Apart from these, most technical features, such as lower input lag and a responsive edge, makes everything a little smoother.
The increased abilities will make you love our gaming monitor for not just fulfilling your gaming needs but also offering a smooth experience while watching movies and youtube videos.
Disadvantages of using a gaming monitor as a regular monitor
No matter how balanced, a gaming monitor can never offer the work quality of a regular monitor. A significant reason behind it is the decreased color accuracy, which instantly makes it undesirable if you do color-focused jobs such as graphic designing, web designing, video rendering, editing, etc.
Apart from their decreased color accuracy, gaming monitors also have blue light filters and occasional flickers that can strain the eye, making them unsuited for jobs requiring your eyes to be on the screen for extended periods.
Lastly, gaming monitors are massive, making them unsuited for workplaces with a small amount of desk space as compared to a proper gaming setup.
So are gaming monitors suitable for everyday usage?
Regular monitors are great, sturdy, consume lesser power, and can get the work done. Offices all over the world use them as the standard monitors for every other job. But in a situation where work isn’t the only reason you would be using your monitor, sticking to a regular monitor doesn’t make sense.
In conclusion, it could be said that a gaming monitor, when bought for regular use, has both advantages and disadvantages. However, if you are someone that is ready to accept both the advantages and disadvantages, there is nothing that’s stopping you from using your gaming monitor as a regular monitor.
Can a gaming monitor affect my work productivity?
Features such as curved screens, RGB lighting, and responsive edge are fascinating and can help you play games a lot better. But can using a gaming monitor as a regular monitor affect your work productivity?
Yes, gaming monitors, apart from playing games, can also help you increase your productivity in many tasks. After conducting several experiments, researchers found that using a gaming monitor can massively affect your productivity and work speeds.
A primary reason behind this increased productivity is the features offered by a gaming monitor. Features such as built-in speakers, better frame rates, and higher resolutions directly affect workflow and help you get much more work done.
With the world shifting towards remote working, many office workers are buying high-performing gaming monitors. Many have also built themselves a dual monitor setup, which has provided even better productivity in tasks such as game development or research.
This is because a dual-screen gaming monitor setup allows you to look at two different pieces of information simultaneously. Doing this cancels out the time spent in closing or shuffling through tabs and applications, thus giving you a lot more time to focus on essential things.
What are the differences between regular and gaming monitors?
Despite being similar upfront, regular and gaming monitors have many differences in specifications and performance. Before you head out to search the markets for modern gaming monitors, it’s essential for you to understand the features of a gaming monitor vs. a regular monitor. Doing so will help you make a more informed buying decision and hopefully get you the best gaming monitor out there.
Refresh rate
Refresh rates are one of the most essential features to look out for in both regular and gaming monitors. In the most basic sense, a refresh rate is the number of times the image refreshes on the screen per second. It is measured in hertz (Hz); for example, a monitor with a 70Hz refresh rate will refresh an image on the screen about 70 times each second. A higher refresh rate means a higher image quality, making higher refresh rates a critical buying factor.
Built to run games smoothly, a gaming monitor generally has higher refresh rates that can go up to 240Hz, depending on the price range. On the other hand, regular monitors have a refresh rate of 60Hz or lower, which generally gives them a slower response time than gaming monitors.
Input lag
Input lag is another crucial factor in selecting a good monitor for yourself. The input lag measures the amount of time between your input and its occurrence on your screen.
If any monitor delays the occurrence of an action or input, you can say that the monitor has an input lag. It’s rare for most monitors to have a significant input lag problem, but some standard monitors are found to have a small amount of it.
Input lag in a gaming monitor is almost non-existent; this gives gaming monitors an excellent response time, thus giving pro gamers an edge while playing video games.
Response time
If you have been playing competitive games for a long time, then we are pretty sure that you are familiar with response time and its importance. Response time is the time it takes for a screen to shift from one color to another.
A faster response time means better screen color quality and overall clarity. Gaming monitors have a much higher response time compared to regular monitors.
Most gaming monitors these days have a response time of 1Ms. A regular monitor, on the other hand, has a response time of 5Ms.
Color accuracy and contrast
Equipped with the fastest response time and smoothness, gaming displays are not focused on color accuracy. This makes them unsuited for jobs such as video editing or graphic designing since you would not be able to identify colors correctly.
Regular monitors, on the other hand, are much more advanced when it comes to color accuracy. Most design-related workers around the world prefer using regular monitors with features such as advanced color correction.
Panel
What causes gaming monitors and regular monitors to differ from one another is the panel that’s used in them. The panel is what controls crucial features such as graphical fidelity and is the most critical part of both regular and gaming monitors.
Regular monitors are primarily built using Vertical Alignment (VA) or a Twisted Nematic (TN) panel. These panels are great for work purposes and can be trusted for many different purposes.
Unlike regular monitors, gaming monitors usually feature (In-Plane Switching) IPS panels. These panels have the highest color gamut games run much more smoothly on IPS panels than any other ones on the market, therefore, taking your PC or console gaming experience to the next level.
G Sync
G sync is a common feature in gaming monitors; what it does is that it syncs your screen’s display with that of the game you are playing. This synchronized motion decreases display problems like screen tearing, thus allowing you to have a lot more fun playing your favorite video game.
Most normal monitors, on the other hand, have a free sync feature that isn’t really focused on minimizing gaming problems such as screen tearing and stuttering.
Resolution
Resolution is an integral part of not just your gaming experience but also necessary during mundane tasks such as viewing a video or reading an online blog post such as this one. The resolution affects the way you consume any form of content.
In the most basic sense, the resolution is the dimensions of your display. The screen resolution should always be kept at a number that looks completely normal and synced. A high resolution is directly related to a more responsive gaming experience and makes all the difference in your gaming experience.
Both gaming and regular monitors have similar resolution settings varying from model to model. What’s important is to make sure that you use a setting and aspect ratio that is in sync with your graphics card display settings.
What should I look for in a gaming monitor?
Now that you know that it’s completely okay to use a gaming monitor as a regular monitor while also understanding the benefits of buying one, you might be thinking of making a purchase. But before you head out to spend your money, we recommend going through this checklist so that you end up buying a great gaming monitor for yourself.
Speed
A gaming monitor is all about speed since it separates it from a regular monitor. A higher speed means a better and more immersive gaming experience; thus, you should always look for a monitor that offers high speeds.
Speed is primarily dependent upon the frame rate and refresh rate of your monitor, keep in mind that your gaming monitor should have a refresh rate higher or equal to 75Hz, depending upon the amount you are willing to spend on the monitor.
Strong contrast
As technology advances, we are experiencing an increase in the number of colors and shades being used in games or even in the content we consume. With so many colors, it’s essential to buy a gaming monitor that offers strong contrast.
Contrast is essential if you work towards creating any media, such as graphics or videos since it will help you understand colors much better.
Motion Clarity
When playing a first-person shooter game, you must notify your enemy while moving and react before your enemy does. This is only possible when you have a monitor that offers excellent motion clarity, which is why we recommend you test the motion clarity before making a purchase decision.
Motion clarity will also protect your eyes since you will not have to struggle and constantly lean in on the screen.
Eye Comfort
If you are a hard-core gaming enthusiast or someone that sits long hours in front of their screen, then eye comfort is something you should look for in any monitor that you buy. When searching the market for a gaming monitor, we recommend you buy one that offers eye care features. Without proper eye care features, you will harm both your productivity and retinal health.
Conclusion
We know that after spending double the amount, you would on a regular monitor, you expect your gaming monitor to serve both purposes. Now that you know the answer to your questions, we expect you to purchase the best gaming monitor for yourself.
