There are many reasons that people look into using their Television as a computer monitor. The first is that they may want to play videos or streaming content on a second monitor and space considerations of having both a television and a monitor come into play. The second is wanting to perform some work at home or have a second device for other family members. Whatever your reason for using your television as a computer monitor there are some things you need to consider before you jump in.
Input options are your first consideration. Your computer must be able to connect to your television and the way it does will reflect on the quality of the image. You may need to add a video card to your computer that has HDMI output but many televisions do have a VGA connector or a DVI connector to accept a PC Connection. You do want to match your computer’s resolution to the television’s for best results. There are different adapters to help you make this connection and even USB Video Adapters that can act like an internal video card.
Most operating systems today can support two displays and this will allow you to use your computer’s monitor for work and your television to watch some videos or whatever you might want.
If you are just going to be watching content from your favorite movie site or maybe online television then your television will work pretty well for watching this content. Sites like Youtube will stream in HD and they are now starting to offer 4k content that will work on your larger televisions.
If you are thinking about doing photo retouching or something that requires a lot of detail then a television just does not have the resolution that a dedicated monitor will have.
For general use you should look for a smaller television under 27″ that has 1080p or better. When you start trying to match the resolution of the television with higher resolutions found on monitors the pixel density is the property that you want to consider.
If you happen to have a better quality phone with a full HD screen resolution you know that the quality of video seems much sharper even at lower resolutions such as 720p. When you start increasing the size of the screen then the pixels that make up the image get farther apart.
Gaming is another reason you might want a larger screen but if you are a serious gamer you have to consider the response time of the Television vs that of a Monitor. Response time is the time it takes for data sent from your computer to the TV to be turned into an image. Where a Television can give you a large image it won’t be able to react like a computer monitor. If you understand this then you might do ok for some games but you should check reviews from people that are active in gaming to understand what you will be losing.
Some televisions actually have a game setting that might improve its performance slightly. This along with a large display in a big room will give you an experience you can enjoy.
Final Note
The cost of Televisions with high resolutions necessary for high quality images and fast response for gaming might have you turn back to dedicated monitors for your needs however for people that just want to watch movies and maybe check their mail and do a few other things you have two directions to go.
You can go with a high resolution smaller screen for general use or you can go with a large screen when you want to display movies or television.
Personally if television and extremely light use such as internet browsing was my need I would go with a basic television with at least 1080p and then match that with an affordable Android TV Box for about $50. Android has a lot of tools such as mail and social network apps in addition you can make use of a full keyboard and mouse to work with business apps to write documents. But where they are the best is streaming video either locally from attached network storage or remotely from internet providers. The cost is also much less than a dedicated computer.
Even if you aren’t considering your television for everyday use it is good to remember that it is an option if your computer’s monitor goes down and you need to order a new one over the internet with your computer that isn’t working. You should give your television a test when you have some spare time just to see what quality you will have but it should be enough to browse to an online store and make a purchase.