This is the year that — for the first time ever — the Super Bowl, the halftime show with Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, and all of those million-dollar ads were streamed in crystal clear 4K resolution and HDR (high dynamic range). The Fox Sports announcement caused scores of football fans to toss out their "old-school" 1080p (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) TVs and pick up flashy 4K upgrades.
Back in the 1950s, even my grandparents found themselves jumping on the color television trend, purchasing the first model in their neighborhood. (Yes, loads of kids asked my mom if they could come over to watch cartoons in color.) Later, television tech upgraded to various standards, from high-definition (HD) 720p (1,280 x 720), 1080p, and now, 4K. So, what's the wow-factor with 4K and why upgrade your computer monitor now?
For starters, a 4K display delivers an improved color space and a sharper picture quality, with a display resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 pixels. That's four times as many pixels as the current standard of 1,920 x 1,080. With more 4K content available than ever before, upgrading is a smart way to future-proof your desktop computer. Most operating systems, like Windows or Mac, can already output higher resolutions than 1080p. So, when you plug in a 4K display, as long as your computer's graphics card supports the resolution, you get an instant upgrade.
Plus, since we all sit much closer to our computer screens than we do our TVs, we're more likely to see the superb details of things like freshly mowed grass and the feathers on a bird's wings much clearer. Who doesn't want to count the individual blades of grass on a football field, or at least see the plays better?
Here are the best 4K computer monitors you can buy in 2019: