Guide
What size monitor do I need?
Veven Naidoo · updated
Two measurements decide this, and neither of them is the monitor. The first is how wide your desk is. The second is how far your eyes end up from the glass once you are actually sitting at it. Everything else — resolution, aspect ratio, whether to have one screen or two — follows from those.
Skip to the calculator if you already have both numbers.
Start with the desk, not the monitor
The number that matters is the body width, not the screen width: the bezel is a centimetre or so each side and it is exactly what makes a pair not fit.
| Size | Active area | Active area (in) | Body, approx. | Height on its stand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24" 16:9 | 53.1 cm × 29.9 cm | 20.9 in × 11.8 in | 54.7 cm × 32.5 cm | 41.5 cm |
| 27" 16:9 | 59.8 cm × 33.6 cm | 23.5 in × 13.2 in | 61.4 cm × 36.2 cm | 45.2 cm |
| 32" 16:9 | 70.8 cm × 39.8 cm | 27.9 in × 15.7 in | 72.4 cm × 42.4 cm | 52.4 cm |
A single monitor of any of these sizes fits any desk from 100 cm up. The constraint only bites in pairs, and there it bites hard: two 24 inch panels need about 111.5 cm side by side, two 27s need 124.7 cm, and two 32s need 146.9 cm. A standard 120 cm desk takes the first comfortably and the second not at all — which is the single most useful fact on this page, and the one most often discovered after delivery.
How far back you sit decides the rest
A screen is comfortable when it fills the right share of your vision. Too narrow and you are squinting at a window in the middle of a desk; too wide and the edges are outside the arc your eyes sweep without your head following.
| Used for | Sit | In feet | Field of view |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work / productivity | 0.6 m – 0.8 m | 1 ft 10 in – 2 ft 7 in | 42–56° |
| Coding | 0.6 m – 0.8 m | 1 ft 11 in – 2 ft 7 in | 42–54° |
| Design | 0.5 m – 0.7 m | 1 ft 9 in – 2 ft 5 in | 44–58° |
| Gaming | 0.5 m – 0.7 m | 1 ft 7 in – 2 ft 2 in | 48–64° |
| Movies | 0.5 m – 0.6 m | 1 ft 6 in – 2 ft 1 in | 50–66° |
| Mixed | 0.5 m – 0.7 m | 1 ft 8 in – 2 ft 4 in | 45–61° |
The band moves with the size, not with the pixel count. A 24 inch is comfortable at 50–69 cm for work, a 27 inch at 56–78, a 32 inch at 67–92. Most desks are 60 to 80 cm deep and most people sit with their eyes 60 to 70 cm from the screen, which is why the 27 inch suits so many desks and the 32 inch suits fewer than its popularity suggests.
Resolution is a function of size
Pixel density is pixels divided by inches, so the same resolution gets softer as the panel grows. Below about 90 pixels per inch, text starts to look coarse at desk distance; above about 140, you will probably want display scaling.
- 24 inch — 1080p is 92 ppi and needs no scaling. This is the one size where the cheap option is also the right one.
- 27 inch — 1080p is 82 ppi and visibly soft. 1440p is 109 ppi and is what the size is for. 4K is 163 ppi and wants scaling.
- 32 inch — 1440p is 92 ppi, the same density as a 24 inch at 1080p. Fine for media and games; for text all day, 4K at 138 ppi is the version worth owning.
One screen or two, and the ultrawide question
An ultrawide replaces a pair without the bezel down the middle. A 34 inch 21:9 is 81.2 cm of body — narrower than two 24s, wider than one 32 — and wants 75–104 cm of viewing distance, which is more than most desks give you. It is the right answer on a deep desk and the wrong one on a 60 cm desk, whatever the review said.
If you do want two, put the smaller pair on the smaller desk. The arithmetic above is the whole argument.
Try it on your own desk
On a 120 cm × 60 cm desk at 65 cm, the strongest match is a 27 inch monitor. Open the calculator to use your own measurements.
Common questions
- What size monitor is best for most people?
- A 27 inch at 1440p, on a desk of 120 cm or more, sat 56 to 78 cm back. It is the size that suits the most desks without being a compromise on any of them.
- Is a 32 inch monitor too big?
- Only if the desk is shallow. A 32 inch wants 67 to 92 cm between your eyes and the glass, and a 60 cm desk puts you at roughly 65 cm — the near edge of that band.
- How much desk do two monitors need?
- Two 24 inch panels need about 111.5 cm with a 2 cm gap, two 27s about 124.7 cm, and two 32s about 146.9 cm. Those are body widths, not screen widths.
- Does a bigger monitor mean a sharper picture?
- No — the opposite, at a fixed resolution. The same 1920 by 1080 grid spread over a 27 inch panel is 82 pixels per inch against 92 on a 24 inch, so text is softer.