If you’ve been to Best Buy lately, then you may have seen curved PC monitors. They undoubtedly look beautiful – but what’s the point of having a curved monitor?
Are curved monitors a niche tool? Or are they genuinely better for productivity and gaming? Let’s take a closer look today at everything you need to know about a curved ultrawide PC monitor.
Curved Monitors Provide a Better Image
Curved monitors will produce a better image in almost every case. This benefit is especially noticeable on widescreen monitors – like ultrawide monitors.
Ultrawide monitors, as the name suggests, are “ultra wide”. They’re longer than an ordinary PC monitor, horizontally speaking.
This produces a better image and allows for unique resolutions. Some people like ultrawides because they can more easily space documents or applications across the screen – say, if you’re copying information from a browser page to a Word document.
However, flat monitors – particularly ultrawide monitors – have a problem. When you view an ultrawide monitor head-on, the center of the screen is closer to you than the edges of the screen. This can lead to a distorted image, which means reduce color and image quality.
Engineers have come up with a way to solve this problem: add a curve to the display to prevent the distortion, allowing the viewer’s eyes to be equally close to every section of the display.
This is the first and most obvious benefit of a curved ultrawide monitor. However, researchers have started spotting other benefits as well.
Flat Panel Viewers Have Slower Saccade Peak Speed
One of the hidden benefits of a curved ultrawide is that you have a faster saccade peak speed than someone using a flat display.
What does that mean? It means people who view flat screens will find that their eyes become physically exhausted more quickly.
Curved monitor users can also finish route-tracing tasks and target-search tasks more quickly than when using curved displays, according to research published in August 2015.
Curved Monitors Are Less Likely to Produce Tired Eyes and Blurry Vision
Harvard did a study on curved monitors and found that they were capable of providing a significantly more comfortable viewing experience. That study shows that curved monitors were less likely to produce tired eyes, eye-strain, blurred vision, and difficulty focusing compared to flat screens.
During the Harvard study, participants used a flat or curved display for an extended period of time and then reported their discomfort. In every category, users reported less discomfort with curved monitors.
Curved Monitors Have Better Immersion
Do you want to immerse yourself into a game world? Do you feel like getting lost in your work? Curved monitors provide a more immersive experience. You can look left and right, and you’ll still see your screen. This benefit can be particularly enjoyable when playing games.
Overall, Curved Monitors Are Preferable for Gaming and Productivity
All of the above benefits make curved monitors the preferred choice for gaming and productivity. Nobody likes to experience blurred version of eye exhaustion while using the computer. Curved ultrawide monitors are a way to combat that phenomenon.
In fact, ultrawide displays – particularly curved ultrawide displays – and their resolutions are banned from PC gaming competitions. The 21:9 resolution is considered advantageous because it gives players a wider field of view.
What’s the Best Curvature?
So you’ve decided you want a curved monitor. You go shopping, only to find that there are a dozen different curvatures available.
What’s the best curve for you? Which curvature should you choose?
First, let’s talk about curvature measurements. 3000R is one popular measurement. With a 3000R curvature, it means that a series of curved monitors would need to have a radius of three meters to form a full circle.
If you’re viewing from about two feet away from the monitor, then a curvature of 3000R is ideal. It’s also ideal for displays around 29 to 32 inches in size.
Consider going to your local electronics store or Best Buy to test out a few curved monitors to see which curvature you like best. Everybody has different preferences. When in doubt, however, curvatures like 3000R are standard and popular.
