Monitor sharpness is one of the most important aspects of having a superb visual experience on your PC screen. A monitor, television, laptop, or even our mobile phone can provide a great graphical user experience when they have the optimum levels of screen sharpness. Similarly, inappropriate levels of sharpness can lead to an unsatisfactory experience regardless of what you decide to watch.
To answer in short – sharpness determines the clarity of the image on your monitor. Increasing the sharpness level on your monitor can improve any soft or blurry picture and make it more clear and crispier.
How to Adjust the Sharpness Of Your Monitor?
Now that you know what sharpness does on a monitor, let’s see how to adjust it. Each monitor manufacturer offers a distinct user interface for making the necessary changes for not just sharpness but also brightness, contrast, and other display properties. Thus, there is no specific be-all and end-all guide to adjusting your sharpness. The best approach you can take is to look at your monitor’s user manual to see how you can customize those settings.
However, to assist you, we are providing a brief summary of the monitor sharpness adjustment process.
- Generally, all monitors come with a “Menu” button, which can be located on the sides of your monitor.
- After locating the Menu button, click on it and then go to the Sharpness option using its up or down button.
- In the monitor, you’ll also find the “+” or “-” button. Now, using these buttons, you can increase or decrease the sharpness of the monitor as per your need.
Is a High Sharpness Level Always Good?
The degree of sharpness will vary depending on what you are viewing on the screen. Having a display with the proper level of sharpness is essential for any type of computer use, including video editing, gaming, and watching videos.
Before changing the sharpness level to high, there are a few things you should bear in mind. High sharpness levels can affect or stress your eyesight and retina when seeing anything. Even though a high sharpness level can give you a crisper visual, setting it to maximum can also be overkill. Unless you need them on high for a specific reason, keeping them at a mid-to-low level is always preferable.
For normal viewing experiences like browsing the internet, you should always take care to make the sharpness levels appropriate for you. So, what is a good sharpness level? Depending on the monitor you have, it’s recommended to keep your sharpness level between 50% to 0%.
Does Resolution Affect the Sharpness of the Monitor?
To a certain extent, yes, the resolution does affect the sharpness of the monitor. But, more importantly, the pixel density of your display is what determines your monitor’s sharpness, not just resolution.
Resolution is the number of pixels displayed on a screen. When a screen displays more pixels, you get sharp, clearer, and more detailed visual quality.
However, as we all know, monitors come in different sizes and resolutions, hence, different sizes of monitors can have the same resolution or the same number of pixels and still have differences in their sharpness level. For example, let’s say a 24-inch monitor and a 32-inch monitor both have a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080. But the image quality on the smaller monitor will look sharper and more vivid than on the bigger monitor. And that’s because of its pixel density. The smaller screen will have a higher number of pixels per inch than the larger screen. Pixel density is measured in PPI, which is Pixels Per Inch. Therefore, the higher the PPI, the sharper the image you’re going to get. All in all, the sharpness of your monitor depends more on the pixel density rather than just the resolution.
How Can Monitor Sharpness Help in Gaming?
In terms of gaming, people emphasize more on having a nice visual experience rather than any other particular aspect. Who wouldn’t want to enjoy crisp and clear graphics during their gaming session? Thus, sharpness plays an important role in improving or spoiling anyone’s overall gaming experience.
Many people also wonder whether a high sharpness level is good for gaming or not. Well, if you keep the sharpness level high on a monitor that has a low pixel density, you may not enjoy its high-quality visuals. In fact, a low-pixel display will result in distorted images with excessive sharpness. But at the same time, if you set the sharpness too low, it could result in a blurry image. Therefore, you will need to experiment to find the option that works best for you.
How to Optimize the Monitor Sharpness in Gaming
The majority of displays come with the proper sharpness preset to prevent under or over-sharpening. In fact, in contrast to other displays, gaming monitors actually provide more customization options. But you can see if those options are present on your monitor. Here’s what you can do:
- Increasing the refresh rate:
Most displays have a minimum refresh rate of 60Hz. However, gaming displays operate at 144Hz, 240Hz, or even higher. Why does the refresh rate matter though? Well, when you increase the refresh rate, the blur decreases and makes the visual sharp. Most modern monitors have a refresh rate adjustment feature.
- Turning off the motion blur setting:
Locate the motion blur feature in your game’s settings menu. After you have done so, you can either decrease the motion blur or turn it off completely. Some games also come with a depth of field, chromatic aberration, film grain, and bloom settings sliders. Changing these settings can help you get the visual quality you want.
