In this article, I want to go over some of the most common types of monitor display in detail, so the next time you go out to buy a new computer monitor display, you'll probably be able to understand the different types of computer monitor panel that you'll come across.
Specifically, I'm going to go over **TN**, **VA**, **IPS** and **OLED** type of computer monitor display panels.
<sub>[[1]](pixabay.com)</sub>
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### TN Monitor Panels
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TN panels that stands for **“Twisted Nematic”** and TN panels are generally the cheapest to manufacture, most low end monitors are going to be TN panels. However, there are some advantages for where they can be used in higher-end monitors for certain applications usually specifically gaming and that's because TN panels are usually the fastest types that have the lowest response time and they often have very high refresh rates.
If you're gaming and you need really fast reaction times and you don't want a lot of input lag, a TN panel is usually the way to go. The main disadvantages of TN panels is that they have a really bad color representation and they also have pretty bad viewing angles. If you're using a TN panel for a professional application like photo editing, it's really not going to be that good because what you're seeing is not really going to be representative of the color that the video or photo actually is.
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### VA Monitor Panels
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This means **“Vertical Alignment”**, it is kind of like the middle of the road type panel, it's a little bit more expensive than TN. The main advantage of this over TN is that you have better viewing angles and color representation but they're a little bit slower in terms of response time than TN and not quite as good at the color representation as IPs. For general use I would probably say that VA is probably the best monitor you can get because it's not exactly the cheapest but it's also not super premium, you can kind of have a really good balance budget and performance with that.
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### IPS Monitor Panels
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<sub>[[2]](https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjPsKz9mYzYAhUSnRQKHZ4ICesQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.laptopscreen-tech.com%2Findex.php%2FArticle%2Flist%2F53.html&psig=AOvVaw08zIqlUE_uoa_Sni7j4aeR&ust=1513433284161983)</sub>
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This means **“In-Plane Switching”,** these are pretty much understood to be the premium quality, you're typically going to get very good color representation especially if the monitor is specifically designed to be a really good reference monitor for professional applications if you get a hundred percent SRGB coverage space or a hundred percent Adobe RGB, it's probably going to be an IPS panel.
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They also have very good viewing angles which is why they're often used in tablets and phones because obviously, you're not always looking directly face on to the screen of your phone or tablet so that's an advantage there as well.
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The disadvantage of IPS is that they're typically slower in terms of response time than a TN or even VA, a lot of gamers might not find it to be sufficient for professional gaming applications or a competitive level although most people probably wouldn't care too much about that but if you're really into gaming especially fps, then you probably do want a really fast response time monitor that is not going to have any input lag which is going to feel weird when you're trying to control your character.
However, that being said, there are some upcoming monitors that are IPS and are pretty competitive in terms of the refresh rates and response time, I think there are some IPS panels that might even be able to compete with TN panels especially considering the other advantages IPS panels have.
Another main disadvantage of IPS is that they're usually more expensive because they are kind of seen as the premium monitors with really good color representation for all the professional applications. In addition to IPS, you might actually come across some IPS type panels namely **“PLS** and **AHVA”,** all you have to know about these is that they're kind of similar to IPS but can have some other advantages, for example **PLS** can have even better viewing angles than **IPS** so if you see a **AHVA** which is not to be confused with **VA** or a **PLS** then you can probably expect it to be at the same range as an **IPS** in terms of quality.
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### OLED Monitor Panels
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This means **“Organic Light-Emitting Diode”** also known as **AMOLED.** There are a lot of monitors and TV’s this days that do take advantage of this technology, the main advantage of OLED is that you get much deeper blacks and shadows with this type of panel. The reason for that is because the LEDs when it's black they just turn off completely and each individual pixel controls the brightness, whereas for something like an IPS or regular LCD monitor, you're going to have a LED backlight so even if the pixel is black, the LED backlight is still going to be shining light through and you're going to get a little bit of light bleed possibly or the shadows aren't going to be completely black.
Whereas with an LED and OLED TV, the pixel is just going to be off and there's not going to be any light coming from that pixel so if there's a completely black screen, it's going to look completely black.
That means it's going to have much better quality in terms of contrast especially for watching movies, it's a great application which is why we're seeing it a lot in TVs and monitors.
Another advantage is they have excellent viewing angles and also they have better potential for color range, that's going to depend on the specific panel and how the technology is implemented but OLED has the potential to be better at color representation than IPS.
<sub>[[3]](https://www.144hzmonitors.com/knowledge-base/panel-type-tn-vs-va-vs-ips-vs-oled/)</sub>
At the moment, the best monitor for you is definitely going to depend on the application for which you're going to use it. If you're going to be doing a lot of competitive gaming and you're really serious about it and you don't do a lot of video editing or anything like that, a TN panel is probably going to be your best bet because they're typically not that expensive but you're also going to get that really high refresh rate and the really low response time which is especially good for gaming but not much else.
If you're going to be doing professional applications like photo or video editing, IPS panels are definitely going to be the way to go, you're going to be able to easily find a really good quality monitor although you're probably gonna have to pay up for it so IPS is definitely the way to go for premium quality.
For general use, if you don't really need professional applications or you're not gaming, I would probably say a VA panel is a good middle-of-the-road because you can get a decent quality at a really reasonable price whereas you don't really need the top-tier but you don't want to go with the lower quality TN, I would say VA is great for general purpose use.
>You guys can let me know what you think, share your thoughts by replying this post and don’t forget to give an upvote.
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### References: [1 - ](https://www.144hzmonitors.com/knowledge-base/panel-type-tn-vs-va-vs-ips-vs-oled/)[2](https://www.custompcreview.com/articles/display-technologies-explained-lcd-tn-vs-ips-vs-va-oled-quantum-dot/)
### Image sources: [1 - ](pixabay.com)[2 - ](https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjPsKz9mYzYAhUSnRQKHZ4ICesQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.laptopscreen-tech.com%2Findex.php%2FArticle%2Flist%2F53.html&psig=AOvVaw08zIqlUE_uoa_Sni7j4aeR&ust=1513433284161983)[3](https://www.144hzmonitors.com/knowledge-base/panel-type-tn-vs-va-vs-ips-vs-oled/)
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##### Thanks to @camzy & @samstickkz for this amazing toon.
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