The Great Monitor Debate: 1080p vs 4k

There's been a lot of discussion lately about the merits of different monitor resolutions, with many gamers and tech enthusiasts debating whether 1080p or 4k is the better choice. As someone who has recently found themselves in the market for a new studio space, I've had to weigh up the pros and cons of going for either of these options. In reality, lowering the resolution actually increases frame rates, which means that you're not only paying more money, but you're also actively losing FPS (frames per second) - making your game less responsive than it would be at a lower resolution.

Of course, there are still some very legitimate reasons why someone might want to go for 4k. One of the main advantages is that 60Hz 4k screens make a lot of sense if you're watching movies or playing on a next-generation console like a PS4 Pro, Xbox One X, or even a gaming PC with a high-end graphics card. Many games are mastered for new HD screens via native rendering or upscaling, and the extra resolution can really enhance the visual experience.

However, for most people, 1440p or quad HD is probably the better bet. Not only is it far cheaper than 4k, but it also offers a much smoother gaming experience at higher refresh rates - such as 144Hz or even 240Hz. This is particularly important for gamers who play FPS titles competitively with a mouse and keyboard, as increased reaction times can make all the difference in split-second decisions. In fact, I think many of us fall into camps that almost merge these things together, without really considering what they each bring to the table.

For example, I'm someone who watches a lot of YouTube and does a lot of color-accurate work for my job, so I'd love to be able to see all those pixels when I'm putting out content. However, as a gamer, I can appreciate that an ultra-wide monitor might not be the best choice - with huge black bars on either side making it feel a bit off-putting. On the other hand, for productivity and gaming, an acht wide monitor is great - offering high refresh rates, ease of use, and a large screen real estate.

Ultimately, the decision comes down to what you'll be using your monitor for. If you're a console gamer or just someone who plays games in their free time, 4k might make sense. But if you're on the PC and want to watch YouTube, Netflix, play RTS and strategy games, or do some photography work, then quad HD is probably the way to go.

One of my favorite monitors is the Asus Nitro 4k 144Hz - this ludicrously expensive HDR backlight monitor is definitely worth considering. At just under £899, it's still a bit pricey, but it's very suitable for all types of gaming, productivity, and pretty much anything you can throw at it.

So, what do you think? Is 4k worth it? Would you buy one if given the chance? Leave your thoughts in the comments below - or cast your vote in our poll card.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en4k is regarded as the pinnacle of modern-day gaming whether it's on consoles PCs or even the upcoming streaming services from stadia or GeForce now it is absolutely nothing new but in 2019 deciding whether to commit to 4k is still a very big decision and it's something a lot of people disagree about because not only are you going to need a very expensive new TV or monitor but to be able to actually drive all of these games at this resolution you're gonna need some really powerful hardware to boot starting at the beginning the benefits of 4k resolution are actually really easy to understand because as you'd expect more pixels are always better well from a quality perspective anyway but more on that later rocking a resolution of three eight forty by two and sixty we have almost 4,000 lines of horizontal pixels for a total count that exceeds eight million this gives us jaw-dropping levels of visual detail but I really thought I would almost sort of get used to but you can whack any triple-a title up to this resolution and it's really mind-blowing just how real these images can be you're often hear that 4k resolution is pointless and on a small screen size you just can't notice a difference but let me assure you that no matter what your take on whether it's worth it or not is there's a clear difference between even quad HD and UHD 4k that really has to be seen to be believed but if this is the case then why aren't all gamers gaming at 4k and in particular why am I not using one behind me well unfortunately it's almost a bit like buying an expensive car there's just a lot more to think about than how it looks alone 4k has definitely been coming along in great strengths over the last few years but there's just too many stumbling blocks for most gamers to really access it the ps4 pro and Xbox 1x definitely have helped quite a lot in this regard and when you combine that with the cost of 4k TVs coming down sharply is actually almost easier to get into 4k gaming by buying a ps4 pro or xbox 1x but of course the problem is they sort of do 4k gaming the Xbox one X is definitely the better option as you're getting 4k 60 yes and a fair few titles but it's definitely not all of them and some of them don't even render in 4k in the first place they may be used something like check abort to output 4k but it's not always real 4k the reason for all of this is purely down to the horsepower requirements of 4k resolution you need some serious silicon to drive all of those pixels and doing so while rendering all of these fancy shadows and reflections is really hard work the fact of the matter is that even the r-tx 20/80 TI a GPU that cost over 1,000 pounds alone can't drive every single title at 4k 60fps as some games are just too demanding take the game control for instance this is what I've been playing quite a lot in my bedroom recently and even on that very GPU you turn on the new ray-tracing effects and you actually struggle to get 1440p 60 FPS with all of the settings turned on and this is something that is almost a little bit concerning maybe when you're spending such ridiculous amounts of money on all of your graphics horsepower or the whole setup and it sort of goes to show that this there's sort of no one-size-fits-all solution at the moment for 4k gaming you're always going to be compromising somewhere don't get me wrong though this situation is actually quite rare and we're now actually seeing a fair few high refresh rate 4k panels that can not only supply all of the visuals that you've been dreaming of but the fluidity as well Asus Acer and Philips all have screens that can fully take advantage of the huge amounts of graphics horsepower with my most recent trip to Aoife showing us the future of living room gaming there aren't many games that will actually be able to run this fast without toning down some of the settings but if you find something that does you honestly be thunderstruck with just how sharp and fluid the game works become and you'll lose yourself in something that really is truly magical but all of this really won't come cheap though as the screens alone for 4k 60fps will cost you at least four five hundred pounds and when you're looking at something that can do high refresh rate we're frankly getting into silly numbers for the highest end gaming setup you're probably looking over 3,000 pounds when you factor in all of the diff components peripherals parts everything and while this is no doubt going to produce something truly special is it really worth this sort of money some may say yes some may say no but realistically when you factor in all of the costs it really is pretty ridiculous and the funny thing is that all of this is without talking about the latest buzzword HDR which is actually a lot more complicated to explain and some of it is very good some of it is terrible and not worth having if you do want to learn a little bit more about HDR then feel free to find my is it worth it video in the top right hand corner of the screen they'll explain everything in great detail but when you factor in 4k and HDR and you bring them together we're talking even more money hooray my 800-pound samsung TV actually offers a fairly solid HDR experience but on the monitor side it really is only the g-sync ultimate displays that have currently convinced me in this technology the problem is that these displays cost over two thousand pounds at our RP so that three thousand pounds so some that we just talked about just gets even more expensive what is happening and the thing is the main argument that people actually have against 4k isn't even the great expense to get all of this equipment it's actually that you can get a better gaming experience without using it let me explain gaming is always about the feel how smooth it is how good is the gameplay and are there any sudden jolt or maybe some artifacts that will pull you out the experience at a fixed 60 FPS lock 4k is going to be better than Q HD and 1080p hands down but in reality lowering the resolution increases frame rates so you're not only going to be paying more money but you're actively going to lose FPS to boot so unless you're already at your displays maximum refresh rate limit your game is actually going to be less responsive than it would be at that lower resolution so at this point is probably all sounding a little bit doom and gloom and realistically there are a lot of downsides for going for 4k however there are still some very legitimate and very good reasons why you might want to go for 4k in fact I'm actually in the market for a new monitor for the new studio space and I am actually strongly considering going for 4k realistically it's all about what you are going to use your screen for as after all there are different apps and games they all need different sorts of displays so if you're a console gamer and you have a ps4 Pro Xbox one X well maybe you're watching this video in the future and a next-generation console then a 60 Hertz 4k screen actually makes quite a lot of sense as you're probably going to be watching 4k movies and all of the enhanced games are actually mastered for new HD screens anyway be it via native rendering or some form of upscaling if you're on the PC you don't use a console then it does get a little bit more tricky as if you're watching a lot of YouTube and Netflix maybe you play RTS and strategy games and the bit of odd care more photography work then all of these pixels are going to be put to great use you just need to make sure that your system is powerful enough to drive all of them if you primarily play FPS titles though or maybe you're playing competitively with a mouse and keyboard then 1440p or quad HD is probably actually a much better bet for you is it's not only far cheaper but if you grab yourself a 144 Hertz or higher screen you'll probably find that the extra smoothness is gonna be far more useful for you with increased reaction times paying dividends and the moments that really counts but realistically I think the problem is that a lot of us will fall into camps that almost merge these things together and thus there is no one single monitor that can do everything perfectly I think I'm quite a good example of this as I watch a lot of YouTube and doing so on an ultra-wide to me is a little bit off-putting because you have huge black bars on either side I'm making 4k content so I'd quite like to be able to actually see all of those pixels when I'm putting it out and doing a lot of color accurate stuff so I want to be able to see all of this and that's a gaming displays not quite such a good idea but then my job is actually quite a lot of gaming to it I do a lot of games it's what I like to do right and an acht wide monitor is great for productivity it's great for gaming it supports high refresh rate it's easier to drive than 4k do you sort of see what I mean you have all of these different factors playing against each other and to be honest I'm still undecided I definitely keep you updated and what I end up going for if you you want to follow along for the journey make sure you are subscribed to find the full moving vlogs and all the choices that I'd pick up along the way if you are in the market for some new monitors are also leave some Amazon affiliate links down below with my favorite displays to help you make the right choice in particular I really love Asus Nitro 4k 144 Hertz monitor therefore goes that ludicrously expensive HDR backlight in the favour of something that's just much more accessible this means that you don't need to worry about losing an arm and a leg as at just under 899 pounds it's definitely still a little bit expensive but it remains accessible and it's very suitable for all types of gamer productivity and pretty much anything that you can throw at it let me know your thoughts on what your favorite monitor is what are you using at the moment what are you going to upgrade to and if you can have any monitor in the world which one would you go for or also leave a poll card in the top right hand corner and I'll throw the question out to you guys is 4k worth it and would you buy one yes or no I really hope this video has been useful for you though if it has please hit the like button it really does help out so so much and I'd really appreciate if you could do that don't forget to check out my HDR is it worth it video which is hopefully just as useful for HDR I must of a thank you to you guys for watching and I'll see you in the next one4k is regarded as the pinnacle of modern-day gaming whether it's on consoles PCs or even the upcoming streaming services from stadia or GeForce now it is absolutely nothing new but in 2019 deciding whether to commit to 4k is still a very big decision and it's something a lot of people disagree about because not only are you going to need a very expensive new TV or monitor but to be able to actually drive all of these games at this resolution you're gonna need some really powerful hardware to boot starting at the beginning the benefits of 4k resolution are actually really easy to understand because as you'd expect more pixels are always better well from a quality perspective anyway but more on that later rocking a resolution of three eight forty by two and sixty we have almost 4,000 lines of horizontal pixels for a total count that exceeds eight million this gives us jaw-dropping levels of visual detail but I really thought I would almost sort of get used to but you can whack any triple-a title up to this resolution and it's really mind-blowing just how real these images can be you're often hear that 4k resolution is pointless and on a small screen size you just can't notice a difference but let me assure you that no matter what your take on whether it's worth it or not is there's a clear difference between even quad HD and UHD 4k that really has to be seen to be believed but if this is the case then why aren't all gamers gaming at 4k and in particular why am I not using one behind me well unfortunately it's almost a bit like buying an expensive car there's just a lot more to think about than how it looks alone 4k has definitely been coming along in great strengths over the last few years but there's just too many stumbling blocks for most gamers to really access it the ps4 pro and Xbox 1x definitely have helped quite a lot in this regard and when you combine that with the cost of 4k TVs coming down sharply is actually almost easier to get into 4k gaming by buying a ps4 pro or xbox 1x but of course the problem is they sort of do 4k gaming the Xbox one X is definitely the better option as you're getting 4k 60 yes and a fair few titles but it's definitely not all of them and some of them don't even render in 4k in the first place they may be used something like check abort to output 4k but it's not always real 4k the reason for all of this is purely down to the horsepower requirements of 4k resolution you need some serious silicon to drive all of those pixels and doing so while rendering all of these fancy shadows and reflections is really hard work the fact of the matter is that even the r-tx 20/80 TI a GPU that cost over 1,000 pounds alone can't drive every single title at 4k 60fps as some games are just too demanding take the game control for instance this is what I've been playing quite a lot in my bedroom recently and even on that very GPU you turn on the new ray-tracing effects and you actually struggle to get 1440p 60 FPS with all of the settings turned on and this is something that is almost a little bit concerning maybe when you're spending such ridiculous amounts of money on all of your graphics horsepower or the whole setup and it sort of goes to show that this there's sort of no one-size-fits-all solution at the moment for 4k gaming you're always going to be compromising somewhere don't get me wrong though this situation is actually quite rare and we're now actually seeing a fair few high refresh rate 4k panels that can not only supply all of the visuals that you've been dreaming of but the fluidity as well Asus Acer and Philips all have screens that can fully take advantage of the huge amounts of graphics horsepower with my most recent trip to Aoife showing us the future of living room gaming there aren't many games that will actually be able to run this fast without toning down some of the settings but if you find something that does you honestly be thunderstruck with just how sharp and fluid the game works become and you'll lose yourself in something that really is truly magical but all of this really won't come cheap though as the screens alone for 4k 60fps will cost you at least four five hundred pounds and when you're looking at something that can do high refresh rate we're frankly getting into silly numbers for the highest end gaming setup you're probably looking over 3,000 pounds when you factor in all of the diff components peripherals parts everything and while this is no doubt going to produce something truly special is it really worth this sort of money some may say yes some may say no but realistically when you factor in all of the costs it really is pretty ridiculous and the funny thing is that all of this is without talking about the latest buzzword HDR which is actually a lot more complicated to explain and some of it is very good some of it is terrible and not worth having if you do want to learn a little bit more about HDR then feel free to find my is it worth it video in the top right hand corner of the screen they'll explain everything in great detail but when you factor in 4k and HDR and you bring them together we're talking even more money hooray my 800-pound samsung TV actually offers a fairly solid HDR experience but on the monitor side it really is only the g-sync ultimate displays that have currently convinced me in this technology the problem is that these displays cost over two thousand pounds at our RP so that three thousand pounds so some that we just talked about just gets even more expensive what is happening and the thing is the main argument that people actually have against 4k isn't even the great expense to get all of this equipment it's actually that you can get a better gaming experience without using it let me explain gaming is always about the feel how smooth it is how good is the gameplay and are there any sudden jolt or maybe some artifacts that will pull you out the experience at a fixed 60 FPS lock 4k is going to be better than Q HD and 1080p hands down but in reality lowering the resolution increases frame rates so you're not only going to be paying more money but you're actively going to lose FPS to boot so unless you're already at your displays maximum refresh rate limit your game is actually going to be less responsive than it would be at that lower resolution so at this point is probably all sounding a little bit doom and gloom and realistically there are a lot of downsides for going for 4k however there are still some very legitimate and very good reasons why you might want to go for 4k in fact I'm actually in the market for a new monitor for the new studio space and I am actually strongly considering going for 4k realistically it's all about what you are going to use your screen for as after all there are different apps and games they all need different sorts of displays so if you're a console gamer and you have a ps4 Pro Xbox one X well maybe you're watching this video in the future and a next-generation console then a 60 Hertz 4k screen actually makes quite a lot of sense as you're probably going to be watching 4k movies and all of the enhanced games are actually mastered for new HD screens anyway be it via native rendering or some form of upscaling if you're on the PC you don't use a console then it does get a little bit more tricky as if you're watching a lot of YouTube and Netflix maybe you play RTS and strategy games and the bit of odd care more photography work then all of these pixels are going to be put to great use you just need to make sure that your system is powerful enough to drive all of them if you primarily play FPS titles though or maybe you're playing competitively with a mouse and keyboard then 1440p or quad HD is probably actually a much better bet for you is it's not only far cheaper but if you grab yourself a 144 Hertz or higher screen you'll probably find that the extra smoothness is gonna be far more useful for you with increased reaction times paying dividends and the moments that really counts but realistically I think the problem is that a lot of us will fall into camps that almost merge these things together and thus there is no one single monitor that can do everything perfectly I think I'm quite a good example of this as I watch a lot of YouTube and doing so on an ultra-wide to me is a little bit off-putting because you have huge black bars on either side I'm making 4k content so I'd quite like to be able to actually see all of those pixels when I'm putting it out and doing a lot of color accurate stuff so I want to be able to see all of this and that's a gaming displays not quite such a good idea but then my job is actually quite a lot of gaming to it I do a lot of games it's what I like to do right and an acht wide monitor is great for productivity it's great for gaming it supports high refresh rate it's easier to drive than 4k do you sort of see what I mean you have all of these different factors playing against each other and to be honest I'm still undecided I definitely keep you updated and what I end up going for if you you want to follow along for the journey make sure you are subscribed to find the full moving vlogs and all the choices that I'd pick up along the way if you are in the market for some new monitors are also leave some Amazon affiliate links down below with my favorite displays to help you make the right choice in particular I really love Asus Nitro 4k 144 Hertz monitor therefore goes that ludicrously expensive HDR backlight in the favour of something that's just much more accessible this means that you don't need to worry about losing an arm and a leg as at just under 899 pounds it's definitely still a little bit expensive but it remains accessible and it's very suitable for all types of gamer productivity and pretty much anything that you can throw at it let me know your thoughts on what your favorite monitor is what are you using at the moment what are you going to upgrade to and if you can have any monitor in the world which one would you go for or also leave a poll card in the top right hand corner and I'll throw the question out to you guys is 4k worth it and would you buy one yes or no I really hope this video has been useful for you though if it has please hit the like button it really does help out so so much and I'd really appreciate if you could do that don't forget to check out my HDR is it worth it video which is hopefully just as useful for HDR I must of a thank you to you guys for watching and I'll see you in the next one\n"