Here's what to consider when buying an LCD computer monitor.

As a rule, don't buy any monitor without seeing it in action. Ask the retailer to adjust the settings and see if they offer running displays to show the monitor's capabilities. If possible look at a variety of images to check the quality of text, line art and colour accuracy. If you’re primarily focused on gaming, ask to run a demo.

Size

Monitor size is measured diagonally, usually in inches. Larger monitors provide a bigger working area for your desktop and make text easier to read. Moving from a 17-inch to a 24-inch monitor can make a great difference to your daily computing.

Resolution and aspect ratio

Resolution (native pixel array) is the number of vertical and horizontal pixels that make up the LCD panel. At low resolutions, pixels are larger and everything looks blocky. As resolution increases, the size of each pixel reduces, as do individual icons and characters. In theory, the higher the resolution, the finer the picture.

Many new LCD monitors are widescreen and have an aspect ratio of 16:9, similar to LCD and plasma televisions (non-widescreen models are 4:3). Many also have a full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080, while others have a lower resolution of, say, 1680 x 1050. This resolution and aspect ratio makes widescreen monitors easily compatible with DVD movies and other media.

Graphics cards and connections

Buying a high-resolution widescreen monitor is no good if your computer’s graphics card won’t support that resolution or aspect ratio. If you have an older computer, make sure your graphics card supports the native resolution of the monitor, otherwise the image will be scaled up and won’t look as good.

Make sure the connections match. Newer graphics cards have high definition DVI connectors and most monitors now have DVI inputs. Most laptops have a VGA connector and monitors have VGA inputs. You can buy VGA to DVI converters but these are not ideal.

If you have a Blu-ray drive in your computer and an HDMI output on your graphics card, look for a monitor with an HDMI input. Do the same if you want to use the monitor as a display for home theatre or a gaming console. If an HDMI connection isn’t available for external devices (like a console), some monitors have component connections (Y, Pb/Cb, Pr/Cr).

Adjustability

It’s important to be able to adjust the tilt and height, especially if the monitor will have multiple users. Monitors are particularly sensitive to changes in the vertical viewing angle. Swivel mounts should be smooth and easy to rotate. Look for a reasonably solid stand as well, something that can handle an occasional desk-bumping.

Adjusting the picture on your monitor for best effect requires controls able to fine-tune the settings. These are usually handled by an on-screen menu, and buttons on the face of the monitor.

A good monitor will allow you to adjust contrast, brightness, colour balance, and basic geometry, which changes the shape of the on-screen display.

Onboard features

Monitors may have audio speakers, a headset jack, and/or volume controls. Some have USB ports, memory card readers and webcams built in. These can be useful but don’t pay extra for them unless you think you’ll use them. In our experience, monitor speakers are rarely as good as stand-alone computer speakers, while a built-in webcam won’t be easy to replace if you want to upgrade.