The Gamer's Monitor Dilemma: TN or IPS
When choosing a monitor, gamers rarely take the type of panel it has into account. Technical specifications the likes of refresh rate, response times and contrast ratio are more often than not overestimated. In reality, the choice of panel is very important, as it determines whether the monitor is responsive enough for your first person shooters, good at reproducing colors if you work with design or photography, or in some cases both.
Flat screen monitors usually use three different panel types, TN, IPS and VA. Since VA panels are usually very diverse and hard to find in our country, we'll be emphasizing on TN and IPS panels only.
TN (Twisted Nematic) Panel:
The most commonly used monitor technology. The market is basically flooded with TN panels. The main advantage of such panels is that they have very short response times, which makes them an excellent choice for fast paced gamers. These panels are very cheap to manufacture which is why they are priced very low.
Pros:
* Fast response times.
* Cheap.
* Decent for gamers who game who sit straight in front of their monitors.
Cons:
* Washed out, inaccurate colors.
* Color shift occurs at even moderate angle changes.
* Low end variants exhibit picture distortions when viewed from above or sides.
IPS (In Plane Switching) Panel:
IPS panels were developed to improve on the poor viewing angle and poor color reproduction of TN panels. IPS panels are considered the best overall LCD technology for image quality, color accuracy and viewing angles, but this too comes at a price. Cheap IPS panels generally have very slow response times, whilst the problem doesn't quite exist in expensive variants but still IPS panels are not meant for the budget user. Long story short, you (assuming you are a gamer) are going to suffer if you buy those <14k IPS monitors that are often showcased in IDB.
Pros:
Excellent color reproduction.
* Improved viewing angles over TN panels.
* Moderately priced IPS panels are an excellent choice for gamers and photo/video editors alike.
Cons:
* Low end variants come with slow response times.
So, basically, if you don't care about color accuracy and viewing angles too much, then you'd be fine off with a TN panel.
But if you desire something more, then you will have to spend more as well. The market is crowded with cheap IPS panels; these monitors are not recommended as they have very slow response times, that is where the problem of "Ghosting" arises. It means due to the nature of the panel and its slow response time you exhibit shadow trails on almost everything that moves fast. Trailing the original image as it moves by, ghosting is caused by slow pixel transition times. It's going to ruin your gaming experience.
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