With many businesses embracing the remote and hybrid workplace, it’s important to use the best tools possible to ensure you’re maximizing productivity and efficiency when working from your home office. While you may be interested in adopting ViewSonic ViewBoard software across your company, starting with a new computer monitor may be more feasible. We’re breaking down the top features to look for when choosing a home office monitor, the various types of monitors available, and our picks for the best monitor for your home office.
Top Features to Look for in a Home Office Monitor
When it comes to your home office, one important thing to ask yourself before you start working is “What are you using your home office for?” If you’re a video editor that needs more screen space to edit 4K resolution videos, your needs will be vastly different than an accountant that works with spreadsheets all day.
Regardless of profession, most home offices have a few key similarities. People use their home offices to do work, present information, and collaborate with their teammates. It’s important to find a home office monitor that empowers you to work productively for extended periods of time, put on effective presentations, and collaborate easily with your teammates.
1. Ergonomic Design
2. USB-C
USB-C monitors are a next-generation standard of monitors that utilize a single high-speed USB-C cable to provide high speed data, video, audio and power. When you consider the four to eight cables needed to connect and run an average monitor versus the one cable you need for a USB-C monitor, it’s easy to see the appeal. With its wide range of functions, a USB-C monitor essentially acts as a docking station for your home office and can help drastically simplify setup. With USB-C monitors there’s no more cables to fuss around with. A single USB-C cable gives you everything you need to be at your most productive.
3. Blue Light Filter
Whether it’s phones, tablets or monitors, all screens emit a type of blue light that can interfere with sleep and tire out your eyes more quickly. Monitors with blue light filters can reduce up to 87% of blue light emissions without disrupting the color balance. Since most workers working from home are staring at a screen for eight hours a day, getting a monitor with a blue light filter is one of the most crucial features to look for when purchasing a monitor.
4. VESA-Compatible (Bonus Feature!)
If you’re trying to save space on your desktop or want to position your monitors up higher, try getting a monitor that’s VESA-compatible. With specially designed holes in the back panel, VESA-compatible monitors can be placed on VESA mounts that extend from the table or line up against the wall, freeing up an enormous amount of space on your workstation.
Types of Home Office Monitors
When it comes to home office monitors, there are a wide variety of styles and choices to choose from:
USB-C Monitors
With fast data, power, audio, video, and charging provided by a single USB-C cable, USB-C monitors can help improve your connection, cut down on clutter and streamline your setup. USB-C monitors have seen an explosion of interest from companies recently due to their simple setup and significant cost savings.
Ergonomic Monitors
Just like we mentioned above, ergonomic monitors are monitors that are designed to give you the flexibility to use your monitor comfortably for extended periods of time and reduces the risk of straining or causing injury to yourself. Purchasing an ergonomic monitor is the single most important step you can take to protect your health while you work from home.
Curved Monitors
Curved monitors are monitors that are well … curved. In contrast with flat monitors, curved monitors provide a greater sense of immersion, eliminate distortion, cover a wider field of view, and are more comfortable for your eyes. According to an independent Harvard Medical School study by Ophthalmology professor Dr. Gang Luo, eyestrain was 4x more prevalent among users of flat monitors than curved monitors.
Different curved monitors have varying amounts of curvature expressed in terms of a millimeter radius. Ratings typically go from 1800R to 4000R. For example, a monitor with a rating of 3000R has a radius curvature of 3000mm or 3 meters. The curvature radius also serves as a rough guideline for the maximum distance you can comfortably view a curved monitor (in this case, up to 3 meters away). In general, curved monitors are recommended for graphic designers, photo editors, video creators, and other creatives.
Dual Monitors
Dual monitors are useful because they extend the amount of screen real estate that you can work with. Rather than using one cramped screen to reference an excel sheet and switching back and forth between tabs to create a PowerPoint, you can simply spread your different tabs out over two screens, saving you both time and energy. You wouldn’t limit yourself by working on a desk the size of a piece of paper, so why do the same with your monitors?
Ultrawide Monitors
When it comes to monitors, there are big advantages to going with an ultrawide monitor. In contrast with regular monitors that use a 16:9 aspect ratio, ultrawide monitors utilize a 21:9 aspect ratio (similar to the ratio of movie theater screens). Ultrawide monitors are also a lot larger – whereas traditional monitors are roughly 24” to 27” inches, ultrawide monitors can go as big as 38” inches. In essence, ultrawide monitors provide you with a single screen to give you all the real estate you need to do your work efficiently.
In this sense, ultrawide monitors provide much of the same function as dual monitors. However, ultrawide monitors do offer some key advantages as well as drawbacks. For movie editors, ultrawide monitors provide a single unbroken screen to edit movies and see more of the timeline. For movie watchers who enjoy watching movies in a widescreen format, ultrawide monitors provide the opportunity to watch films without the letterboxing that appears in traditional screens. Many ultrawide monitors are also curved, providing a greater sense of immersion for viewers and workers. However, in contrast to dual monitors, ultrawide monitors take up more real estate on your desk.
Portable Monitors
If you’re ever tired of being tied to your desk, a portable monitor is a great way to get work done whether you’re at the local coffee shop, your backyard or your living room. Most people use portable monitors with their laptops in order to create a portable dual monitor setup with extended screen space. Portable monitors can also be connected to phones or gaming consoles for on the go streaming or gaming.
Touchscreen Monitors
Whether it’s swiping, scrolling or annotating, touchscreen monitors provide a new and intuitive way for you to interact with your work. For example, when used with the ViewSonic® myViewBoardTM digital whiteboard, touchscreen monitors give you a greater degree of control over your presentations by enabling you to swipe through and annotate your slides in real-time.
Best Home Office Monitors
When it comes to monitors for your home office, you don’t want to limit yourself. Here are our top picks to help you be comfortable and more productive while you work.
The VG2456 USB-C monitor is designed to let you make the most out of your workday. This 24” docking monitor offers a best-in-class ergonomic design complete with 40-degree tilt and bi-directional pivot so you can set up your screen exactly the way you want it. With single cable USB-C functionality and a gigabit Ethernet port located directly on the monitor, connection and setup have never been simpler. For home office workers looking to add another monitor to their setup, adding an additional USB-C monitor to the VG2456 is as simple as connecting another USB-C cable.
The 24” VG2448 enterprise monitor is built to maximize efficiency while you work. SuperClear® IPS technology enables you to view this ergonomic monitor with crystal clarity at every angle. The VG2448 also offers customizable adjustments including pivot, swivel, height adjustment, and tilt. It is specially designed to accommodate users who prefer to work standing up. To cut down on waste, the VG2448 ships in environmentally friendly biodegradable packaging and features a streamlined opening process for faster setup.
Featuring a panoramic immersive curved screen and a 1440p resolution, the VP3481 monitor is sure to be the crown jewel of any home office setup. With its expansive 34” frameless screen, the VP3481 uses HDR10 content support to deliver deeper colors and richer contrasts. The VP3481 also features a 21:9 aspect ratio for easy widescreen presentations and a USB-C cable for faster connectivity. With an incredible 100Hz refresh rate and built-in AMD FreeSyncTM technology, the VP3481 delivers silky smooth playback that’s ideal for graphic designers, multimedia content creators, or gaming developers.
VP2768 ColorProTM Monitor
Part of the legendary ViewSonic ColorPro series, the 27” VP2768 ColorPro monitor is engineered to delivered unmatched color accuracy for use in professional applications. Its frameless borders make it especially suited for seamless multimonitor setups. For incredible color accuracy in every pixel, each monitor is calibrated to deliver a Delta E≤2 value. Graphic designers, illustrators, and movie editors can look through the built-in 14-bit 3D look-up table to select from a palette of more than 4.39 trillion colors in order to put out their best work yet.
VG1655 Portable Monitor
The VG1655 portable monitor empowers workers to be at their most productive no matter where they are. Featuring an ultra-slim 15.6” monitor that stows easily into bags, purses or laptop cases, the VG1655 offers USB-C connectivity to free you from having to always be near an electric outlet. The two USB-C ports also deliver two-way power so that the VG1655 can power your laptop via power bank. In addition to two USB-C ports, the VG1655 portable monitor also has a mini HDMI port as an alternative connectivity option and a 3.5mm headphone jack so you can focus and hold meetings even in mildly noisy environments. The VG1655 is great for business workers who are always traveling or home office workers who like to work at various spots throughout their house.
TD1655 Portable Touchscreen Monitor
The award-winning TD1655 portable touch display provides a 10-point projective capacitive touchscreen and a stylus pen to enable you to interact more deeply with your work. Featuring a 15.6” anti-glare screen and 1080p resolution, the TD1655 is built to deliver a crystal-clear viewing experience and an ultra-smooth writing experience that also recognizes taps, pinches, and swipes. Similar to the VG1655, the TD1655 also offers dual USB-C ports for two-way charging. The TD1655 comes with a built-in stand that lets you utilize your screen in both portrait or landscape mode. The TD1655 is especially suited for teachers who would like another screen to use as a digital whiteboard, business travelers who often give presentations on the road, and other digital nomads.
Summing It All Up
The best home office monitor for you is the one that best fits your use case. A variety of features – and the exact conformation of those features – all contribute to the specific device that works in your home office. Whether you’re looking for a second screen to better see a spreadsheet, create an original work of art, or anything in between, we’re here to help you find the right monitor for work or home! Give us a call at (800) 727-6383, send us an email at info@parmetech.com, or connect with us online to get started 😊
(From the editor: This article was originally published on ViewSonic Library.)
