Smart TVs and monitors look pretty much the same they are flat, most of them use LCD panels and you can watch videos on both without any issues.
There are a lot of folks who use their monitors as TV since there is an HDMI slot we can easily connect the DTH (Direct to Home) set-top box, and watch your favorite channels on a TV monitor.
But, at the same thing done with TVs, where HDMI is used to connect with the computers. Well, it very much can be. But there is a lot to monitor is then too just watching videos.
There is a lot of Technical information available if you Google it and the chances are you properly landed on this page looking for a satisfying answer.
So I am going to share my experience of using a 43 inch 4k TV as a primary monitor, and then I will be talking about some key things you should keep in mind to understand whether it will be suitable for you to use a TV as a monitor.
First Things First,
Why would anyone use TV as a monitor in the first place?
The first reason is to repurpose the thing you already have. Maybe you already have got a TV that is not hung on a wall and maybe you can put it on a table and use it as a monitor.
Plus, you will be able to save some money by not spending on Monitor.
Having said that if you have got a non 4K TV, which means it has got full HD resolution, then you are and going to save a lot of money since you can easily get a 22-inch to 24-inch full HD monitor in the range of $100-$150.
Using a smart TV as a monitor would make sense only if it’s a 4k TV where you get UHD resolution because your HD monitors are still not in the affordable range especially if you compare it with the prices of 4K smart TVs.
My Experience of using a 43-inch 4K Smart TV as Monitor
I got a 4K smart TV 2 years ago for around $300, and at that time the cheapest 4K monitor available was for around $700. I am still using my 43-inch 4k TV as my primary display with my MacBook Pro in closed-display mode. And the experience is pretty amazing.
4K, or Ultra HD resolution gives you 4 times the screen real estate you get on a Full HD monitor. So it feels like you are working on a 4 monitor setup stacked together and there isn’t any border between them.
The 43-inch screen in front of your face is quite are a lot bigger so you have to make sure that you 60CM to 80CM away from it so that you have a good experience.
If you are closer to it it will be difficult for you to take a look at the entire screen and it will also give you cramps in the neck because you will have to move it a lot.
But it takes a few work sessions to get used to the big screen and then you start realizing its effectiveness.
I can open multiple windows on my 4K resolution monitor and I don’t have to minimize any of them. It is also easier to drag and drop files from one window to another.
Or if you have a webpage opened for reference purposes you can have the entire page on display so you don’t even have to scroll a lot.
Earlier when I used 4k TV as an extended monitor, the Macbook Pro fans used to get super noisy, because the CPU had to run two displays, but after I switched to close the display mode it only has to run one UHD display and it is less strain on CPU.
Can Every 4K Smart TV be used as a Monitor?
Pretty much every Smart TV that has got an HDMI output, can be used with a computer. But here are some key tech information you should know to enhance your experience.
- Chroma 444 Support
- Response Time
- Refresh Rate
- Size and Resolution
Chroma 444 support
Using a 4K Smart TV as the PC monitor can be a little tricky because the text wouldn’t be as clear as it would be on a monitor specially designed to render web pages and other computer-related tasks.
This is because of the lack of support of Chroma 444 on some cheap Smart TVs, which won’t allow it to render text clearly. It is more complicated than that, but in Plain English, if a TV does not have Chrome 444 support, you won’t be able to view text clearly on it, making it unusable as a monitor.
For example, when I tried using an old Samsung Smart TV, which is full HD, the text wasn’t clear enough, because it does not support Chroma 444.
But since it was a 32-inch smart TV with a full HD resolution of 1920×1080, the text was big enough to be readable.
But there is no point in using a 32-inch or a giant smart TV having full HD resolution because the amount of space (which is 1920×1080 pixels) will be the same as on a 22-inch or a 24-inch monitor.
To truly benefit from a larger-inch screen, the smart TV needs to be a 4k TV, which would have a resolution of 3840×2160 pixels, which is four times the pixels of a standard full HD monitor.
But the good thing is, there are Smart TVs available in the market that support Chrome 444. The popular one among them is from Samsung.
There is a handful of smart TVs from Samsung that has a dedicated feature of using TVs as monitors.
Response time
There are also things like responsive time, which doesn’t matter a lot when it is higher in number on TVs, but for monitors, it has to be as short as possible.
You can find monitors in the market that come with a response time of 1ms to 5ms, while TVs have a response time of 5ms, and some TVs even have 25ms.
You must know the response time of a TV if you are planning to use it as a monitor because the 25ms is going to give you a terrible experience when you are using it as a monitor.
It will show you a huge lag when you input something on your computer, and it displays on the monitor 25ms later, so the less response time, the better.
Size of Smart TV for Monitor
The question for you is, what size would you prefer to use as a monitor, mostly the 4K TVs coming in the market are in the size of 40-inch, 43inch, 50-inch, and so on.
For me, the 43-inch was also pretty huge, and I don’t think it would be humanly possible to use a monitor bigger than that if you are planning to put it on a desk 2 to 3 feet away from you.
Also, going for a 4K TV, which is smaller than 32-inch, wouldn’t be ideal to use as a monitor since the text would be too small to be readable.
For comparison, the text on web pages on a 43-inch 4K resolution looks similar to the size of text on web pages on a 22-inch monitor.
So I think if you can handle 43-inch, it would be the sweet spot for choosing a smart TV to use as a monitor, but if it’s too big for you, you can go for a 32-inch smart TV, but again finding a 4K 32-inch smart TV would be a little tricky.
And if you are in the market for buying any monitor for your PC, there are 32-inch 4K monitors available that do not cost a bomb.
