I’m in the market for a Monitor or a TV for MSFS.
The size would be a maximum size of 32” and a budget of £300 pounds but I’m not up on the latest spec so any advice would be welcome.
Thanks in advance
Niko:winking_face_with_tongue:
Hi, here’re a few questions to help narrow your choices down:
What screen resolution are you looking for? (1080p/Full HD, 1440p, 4K)
What aspect ratio (shape) do you want? (ultra wide-screen/letterbox or standard 16:9 telly ratio)
What refresh rate (Hz/FPS) do you want as a minimum? (50, 60, 75, 85, 100, 120, or more)
So, you’re in a slightly uncomfortable place in terms of the choice between TV and monitor specifically. 32" is small for a TV, which oddly tends to make them less great value for money in terms of features for price since these models tend to be aimed at the lower end of the market; but it’s big for a regular monitor, which tends to make them less great value for money also since you end up paying a premium for the size.
Important things to consider:
- Any TV you can get for <£300 is going to be limited to 60Hz refresh rate. That isn’t an issue for most video sources, but obviously you can push a PC display further than that. However, monitors that do >60Hz are also premium priced.
- Few if any TVs have variable refresh rate (Gsync or Freesync) except for high-end, high-price models; it’s common on monitors, but those will be ‘gaming’ monitors which will be > your £300 price point
- TV pixel latency times are likely to be higher than a similarly-sized monitor. Higher latency = more ghosting on the image. You may care about this or you may not.
- TV connectivity options are likely to be HDMI only. Most modern GPUs prefer DisplayPort connections, although I think nearly every card still has at least one HDMI port. Adapters are available, of course. Depending on the HDMI version that the TV supports, you might not be able to use all the modes you want to be able to use (in particular, on cheap TVs it’s not unusual to find, even today, that they can only do 30Hz refresh rate with a 4K source).
Generally speaking, a monitor is designed to be used with a PC, whereas a TV is designed to be used with sources like set-top boxes. However, you will not have a problem using a TV as a display for a PC.
What’s your actual goal here? Why buy a new display? What display do you have now? What’s your PC spec? All of these will help provide advice.
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Thanks for the reply.
I’m on 1080p now so at least 1440 or 4K. Is 1440 enough for MSFS.
16.9 aspect ratio as I like depth in cockpit view. Not sure about a ultra wide.
Refresh rate at least 60htz, higher if required for MSFS smooth image.
I’m an Xbox series X user playing on a 40” 1080p TV at the moment but I also want to also set up in an small room and the maximum size TV/ monitor is about 32”. I’ll be sitting at a desk close to the TV/monitor. This is the plan anyway.
Edit: I only noticed you said you were on Xbox after writing most of this, so some of it doesn’t 100% apply. But I thought I’d leave it as-is, so ignore talk about upgrades etc 
I wouldn’t bother with 1440p when 4K is easily available at your price point. You can always run the sim at 1440p on the 4K display if you have issues with performance, pending upgrades.
Smoothness is subjective. 60FPS absolutely looks ‘smoother’ than 30FPS when you’re panning around, for example, but you will probably not notice a major difference in regular flight. Though some people swear it sticks out to them like a sore thumb so YMMV. However, with vsync you can lock to either 30 or 60 so it’s only an issue of what your PC can actually handle. Refresh rate doesn’t really contribute much to perceived smoothness IMHO. Gamers will tell you that 120Hz (or more) is vital for response times in 3rd-person shooters, but MSFS is not a 3rd-person shooter. My advice would be don’t worry about going beyond 60Hz. It’s unlikely you’ll find a 120Hz display for your price point anyway.
Ultra-wide displays are basically not available sub £300. Well, there’s a ‘Z-Edge’ 30-inch curved ultra-wide display on Amazon, but I’ve never heard of them and I wouldn’t buy from an unknown brand without advice from someone I trust.
I think the sweet spot here is:
- 4K UHD resolution (16:9)
- 60Hz refresh (check that it’s 60Hz at 4K, though)
As you mention you’re on Xbox then I would hazard a guess that a TV might be better for this application since you don’t have as much control over your display output as a PC would have.
Do a search on Amazon for 32" 4K TVs - there’s a large selection and plenty of them are in your price range. My advice would be to stick with known brands like Toshiba, Samsung, LG and Sony. That should get you some candidates to consider.
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Sorry for not commenting I’m on XBX sooner and thanks for your time to post:+1:
If I was in need of a new monitor, this would probably be my choice.
https://www.amazon.com/LG-32UN500-W-Compatibility-Virtually-Borderless/dp/B08FPLLX6Y/r?th=1
It has built-in sound and supports HDR. But in addition to that, I’d probably (and still might) invest in a better USB sound setup.
Is a flat or curved monitor better for use with MSFS ON XBX:+1:
I think that’s a matter of personal preference. Some people like the effect that a curved display brings. However, MSFS (nor indeed Windows / Xbox) knows nothing about your monitor being curved, so it won’t affect the image projection in any way.
Personally I prefer flat displays. I did have a curved display for a while and I found that my brain adapted to it so that whenever I was looking at a flat display (at work etc) it looked… wrong somehow. Took me several days to adjust back to a flat main monitor.
Have you ever experienced a curved display? Maybe the best thing is to go to a shop and try one out and see what you think. But unless you go for one of the really, really big specialist gaming displays (which IIRC would be beyond your budget) then the best you’re going to do is maybe 27" and at that size, I don’t think the curve does anything much in terms of making things more immersive.
I was thinking a monitor about 27”to 32” would be about right as I would be sitting close to the desk the monitor is on. A larger TV say 40”” would be to large sitting so close to it.
Since the XBX is optimised for 4K would I benefit using a small monitor of 27”-32” using 1440 instead of 4K.
For a desktop monitor, I’d go with a 32" 4K. They’re not that expensive, and you’ll appreciate the clarity.
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Everyone is different but my 55" Qled isn’t too big for me and I sit about 3ft from it. Big and beautiful! 
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Ditto on my 65 " 4K HD HDR TV.
Fs2020 is great on it.
Thanks for all the reply’s. I’ve now got a LG 32” 4K as space is limited. Fired it up yesterday and there’s a massive improvement on 1080p. Still messing with settings but looking good so far.
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I was asking the same question. Went upstairs at my flight school and looked at their sim. I have tried the 3 huge TV thing, curved monitor, but the flat panel they had right up close to the controls blew all that away. Not sure what TV it is, but thinking it must be 4k to support that closeness. Will validate next time.
I had problems finding a 32” 4K telly at my price point that why I got a monitor