I like to think that I'm a fairly savvy consumer of home electronics. Plus, I've recently purchased a TV and thus am pretty up to date on current TV technology. Switching from the iMac required that I get a new computer monitor since the iMac has a built-in monitor. The last time I purchased a computer monitor was over 10 years ago, and at that time I bought a budget monitor for around $100 and I didn't put much thought or research into the decision. This time I really wanted to select a monitor that I liked, and a lot has changed in the computer monitor world since I last made a purchase. I had to learn a lot.
It turns out that computer monitors are a lot different than TVs, so my recent TV purchase and all of the research I did for it didn't really translate to useful knowledge in terms of purchasing a computer monitor. Generally speaking, TVs have one way to connect (HDMI) and have one resolution (4K). There are other factors that go into selecting the TV that will work best for you, but the connection and resolution is pretty much universal. This is not the case for computer monitors. There are several ways to connect a computer monitor and there are several resolutions to choose from. Computer monitors can connect to their computer via HDMI, USB-C, Thunderbolt, etc. A lot of computer monitors don't go up to 4K on the resolution, which on the surface is confusing. The screen sizes are much different as well. Both TVs and monitors are measured in inches, but whereas TVs have one dimension (16:9 or similar), monitors come in 16:9, wide screen, ultra wide screen, etc. As you can see, there's a lot to learn and think about when selecting a monitor. If you think about how a computer monitor is used, however, some of these differences between monitors and TVs start to make sense.
You don't just view what's on a computer monitor like you do on a TV. You interact with the content on the computer monitor. Additionally, you sit much closer to a computer monitor than you do to a TV. Those two differences are massive in terms of how you select a computer monitor. I have dual screens at my office and I've always wanted a dual screen setup at my house. The extra screen real estate is great for productivity, so that you can have more windows open at once without having to switch between them. However, I went to my local Micro Center store last summer and saw widescreen curved monitors for the first time and decided I wanted one of those instead of dual monitors. Having a widescreen monitor essentially simulates having dual monitors by having the same amount of screen real estate but is better than dual monitors because (A) you only have to hook up one monitor and don't have to worry about the logistics or cord clutter of two monitors, and (B) you don't have the frame of the two monitors splitting right down the middle of the screen. I remember when curved TVs were very briefly a thing but quickly went away because no one wanted their TV to be curved. However, they are very much helpful for a computer monitor because these widescreen monitors are so large that the curve helps reduce the amount of head turning that you have to do to see what is at the periphery of the monitor. With a curved monitor I can put what I am focusing on in the middle of the monitor, and other windows with less importance to the side. With dual monitors, I always found myself looking to the left or right because of the frames of the screens being right in the middle.
After deciding that I wanted a widescreen curved monitor, I needed to decide the connection that I wanted to use. I initially was going to go with HDMI because that is what I'm most familiar with and I know that it can pass 4K video. However, after doing some more research, I decided to go with a Thunderbolt connection. I use Apple computers, and Thunderbolt is an Apple connection standard that uses a connector that is compatible with USB-C, so it is versatile. Additionally, the Thunderbolt connection itself is much faster than standard USB-C. The main advantage of connecting a computer monitor with a Thunderbolt or USB-C cable over an HDMI cable is that it allows you to use the monitor as a hub to connect other devices or charge other devices. This is useful for ease of access to the ports as well as in cases where you are running out of ports. It's a feature I wasn't sure that I would use but almost immediately found it to be helpful.
The final component of my monitor was the resolution. This decision is easy for TVs because they are all 4K. There are some other nuances you can get into (refresh rates, etc.) but 4K is essentially your only choice. Because computer monitors have wonky screen dimensions, the resolutions are also a bit odd. The computer I was replacing, my 2019 iMac, had a 5K monitor, so I decided I did not want to downgrade and get a monitor with a lower resolution. With these parameters set, it really narrowed down my options. I ended up getting a Dell UltraSharp 40" 5K Widescreen Curved Thunderbolt monitor. Going up to 5K resolution added quite a bit to the cost, but overall I have been very happy with this monitor. As I've mentioned, I've used the hub functionality several times, and it has a 120 hz refresh rate so is a pretty decent gaming monitor in addition to being a great productivity monitor.
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