6 Reasons It

The word “4K” has long been a buzzword in the gaming industry, but consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X are trying to make it the resolution standard. While 4K TVs have become pretty incredible in the past few years, monitors are not too far behind. With OLED monitors gaining attention quickly, you might be tempted to grab a new monitor yourself.

With the current shift in the entertainment space, it makes sense. Pretty much everything is now available in 4K, be it your favorite YouTube videos, Netflix, or video games. All of that great content deserves a good display, and with monitors dropping in price, 4K is more accessible than ever. If you’re still on the fence, here are a few reasons why now is a great time to upgrade.

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6 4K monitors are much more affordable lately

More pixels at a lower price

When 4K gaming monitors initially started gaining popularity, a good display would cost you an arm and a leg. Some of them would cost well over $1000, putting these monitors well beyond the reach of the average person. However, in recent times, 4K monitors have become incredibly economical.

Due to their exponential price decline, these monitors have taken the market by storm. You can easily find a good 4K monitor for just a few hundred bucks (this 144Hz 4K Acer monitor, for example). If you time it right and wait for sales, you can get them for even cheaper. Even if you’re not necessarily going to play all your games in 4K, having the luxury to enjoy at least a few titles as well as the plethora of 4K content is awesome.

Whether your primary need is for work or gaming, 4K is just better in every way. You get more screen real estate, with better sharpness and detail. Of course, OLED Ultra-HD monitors are still a bit out of reach, but we’ll touch on that later.

5 They are great for single-player games

Not everyone needs a high refresh rate

As someone who plays a lot of single-player, narrative-driven games, I often find that 60fps is more than enough. Sure, Red Dead Redemption might feel smoother with a higher refresh rate, but you can definitely still enjoy that masterpiece at 60Hz. Textures, lighting, and overall visual fidelity are improving a lot in games, and having a 4K monitor really brings all that detail to life.

Even the next-gen consoles, such as the PS5 and Xbox Series X, run most games at 4K 60fps. Games look and play great on those machines, so there’s no reason why you absolutely need a high refresh rate for PC gaming. I say this because if you’re mainly into single-player games, you can get a 60Hz 4K monitor for dirt cheap.

But, you do need a powerful graphics card to run modern titles at a higher resolution. With that being said, you can always revisit your favorite classics from the Xbox 360, PS3, or even older in 4K.

4 Video and photo editing in 4K

This profession is more accessible than ever

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Games aren’t the only place where high-resolution monitors shine. If you are a photo or video editor, a 4K monitor could be your next best friend. The higher resolution allows you to more accurately deal with higher quality photos and videos, and the sharpness helps with getting the minute details right. When you’re looking for a monitor for video editing, the color accuracy, sharpness, and screen size are all important considerations. A decent 4K monitor will give you all of that, and it doesn’t even have to break the bank. This cheap Dell monitor is a great choice, for example.

If you opt for a high-end OLED monitor, the photo and video editing experience will be even better. You get deeper blacks, better contrast, higher brightness, and an all-around better display. Having a high refresh rate would help make things even smoother, but it’s not a necessity. Either way, top-of-the-line OLED 4K monitors would have all of these features, but even the affordable options would get the job done.

With 4K content becoming more accessible and mainstream, it’s important for you to have a display that matches your requirements as a professional.

2 OLED 4K monitors are the ultimate experience

An exciting time for high-end displays

Earlier this year, at CES 2024, we saw a variety of exciting OLED monitors hitting the scene. Samsung’s QD-OLED and LG’s WOLED panels are seriously impressive, and it’s a shift in the industry that we’ve patiently been waiting for. Right now, an OLED monitor is the most premium experience for gaming that money can buy. OLED panels have been popular for smartphones and TVs, and they have the same benefits here: inky blacks, high contrast and brightness, and fantastic color panels.

However, companies have taken it a step further. Thanks to the ability of these monitors to switch pixels on and off quickly, the response times are much lower. For example, your usual 4K IPS monitor will have a gray-to-gray response time of around 1ms. On the other hand, a lot of these OLED monitors have a response time of 0.03ms — near instantaneous. But what does that mean? Mainly, you’ll get reduced motion blur and improved ghosting. For fast-paced games (especially competitive shooters), this creates a sharper and more responsive visual experience.

Sure enough, that bleeding-edge performance does come at a cost. You’ll also need a beastly setup to justify such a top-end monitor. However, if you’re looking for a gaming experience like no other, this is it.

1 Gaming at 4K has gotten easier

No, I’m not talking about native 4K

I’m saving this point for the end because it’s the most controversial one. The current state of budget GPUs is pretty bad, and there’s no denying that fact. I’m not going to sit here and say that your GTX 1660 is going to run games at 4K, because it’s not. However, if you have an RTX 3070 or better, it’s definitely possible with upscaling technologies like DLSS and FSR. Now, I know that a lot of people are passionate about gaming at native resolutions, I get that. But the honest truth is, most people will be fine with turning these features on.

DLSS and FSR are both great, and Intel XeSS is also surprisingly decent. The fact of the matter is that these features make certain unplayable titles actually enjoyable. It doesn’t work everywhere, and it isn’t perfect. You also don’t need to play every game at Ultra settings. I’ve often found that a balance of medium and high settings works best at 4K for the right blend of performance and image quality.

With all that said, I will admit that both AMD and Nvidia need to step it up in the hardware department. This last generation of graphics cards has been particularly disappointing. It’s awesome that we have upscaling technologies that make gaming at 4K easier, but we’d all love to see more powerful hardware at affordable prices. Sadly, that might just be a pipe dream.

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It’s a good time to upgrade

If you haven’t bought a 4K monitor yet, now is the time to do so. Whether you’re a video editor, designer, or gamer, a 4K monitor will improve your experience — as long as you have the hardware to back it. I think these monitors have hit an excellent sweet spot in price, and the only reason most people aren’t buying them is because of budget GPUs holding them back. I hope things change soon, so we can all experience 4K in all its glory.