What to Check on a Monitor
A monitor can fail or underperform in ways that are hard to notice until you look for them:
- Pixels: a single dead or stuck pixel is easy to miss on a busy desktop but obvious on a solid colour. The dead pixel test fills the screen with one colour at a time.
- Refresh rate: a 144 Hz or 240 Hz monitor often runs at 60 Hz because of a setting or cable. The refresh rate test measures what your screen is actually doing.
- Motion clarity: slow pixel response leaves trails behind moving objects. The ghosting test makes those trails visible.
- Sharpness: pixel density (PPI) decides how sharp text looks at your viewing distance. The PPI calculator works it out for any screen.
New Monitor Checklist
When a new monitor arrives, run the dead pixel test first — most retailers only accept returns for pixel defects within a short window. Then confirm the refresh rate, because a wrong cable or setting is the most common reason a fast monitor feels slow.