You Don't Need A New Monitor, Your Old TV Can Do The Job Just Fine

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There are instances when it might be time to replace your current computer monitor, but instead of rushing out to fork over money even for an Amazon Basics computer monitor, you might be able to get away without spending any money at all — at least in the short term. Computer users of all varieties, from business professionals to gamers, can get away with using a television they have lying around instead of replacing an old monitor with a new one. TVs can reach great resolutions, up to 8K, making them ideal for everything from watching videos to playing video games.

So, checking your e-mail, browsing the internet, watching videos, and even playing some of your favorite video games will be no problem for a TV. TVs tend to be cheaper when shopping by screen size, too. For instance, a 32-inch Insignia TV comes in at $80, while a computer monitor at the same size isn't less than $135.

However, if you use your old TV for your computer — and most people tend to buy larger TVs than they do monitors — you're likely to have a pretty good-sized computer TV.

While a TV will be able to handle most tasks you accomplish on a computer, there are really only two areas in which a TV is superior to a computer monitor: price and size. A TV won't look as good, and eventually you'll want to swap it out for an actual monitor. Nine times out of 10, the image on a computer monitor will be crisper because of the pixel density, or PPI (pixels per inch). Since TVs are typically larger, their pixels are spread out more compared to a monitor. Even at the same size as a monitor, though, pixels in a monitor are packed much closer together.

A 32-inch Samsung TV can have a PPI of 69, while a computer monitor of the same size can have 137 PPI. So even if the resolution is identical, the image on the monitor will be sharper. There's also the case of a display's refresh rate, where computer monitors will always come out on top. This isn't an issue if you only watch videos, since many smart TVs have a refresh rate up to 120 Hz, which is excellent for movies and TV shows. If you're a competitive gamer, however, you'll want something around 144 Hz or higher, as it displays a smoother image without screen tearing or blurring, and some monitors can go over 360 Hz.