What are the IPS, TN, and VA display panels?

What are the IPS, TN and VA display panels?

In this Laptop Radar article, I am about to explain your three panels – IPS, TN, and VA. All of them have their own pros and cons. No one is for universal use.

Hence, if one panel is fit for professional gamers then it may not be okay for photo editors and designers.

TN Panel (Twisted Nematic)

At the very first, the TN panel monitor was introduced which replaced the CRT (Cathode-Ray tube) monitors. Because TN monitors were giving good quality in very less space.

But, this kind of panel has also noticeable drawbacks.

  1. Viewing angles on the vertical axis.
  2. Mostly inverted colors on an extreme angle (more than 140 degrees).
  3. Not up to the mark screen color reproduction.
  4. Unable to display a 24-bit color image.
  5. They need to depend on interpolation to stimulate the correct shades that make a visible banding of colors.

Benefits of TN panels

But, the good side of TN panels consists of the following things.

  1. They display a wide color gamut
  2. Full SRGB color spectrum
  3. High refresh rate and low response time
  4. Cheaper to buy

So, TN monitors are not for programmers, designers, and non-competitive gamers. It’s for students, office workers, and competitive gaming.

IPS Panel (In-Plane Switching)

IPS panel is known by many other names also. The term IPS is coined by LG. But, Samsung calls it Plane-to-line Switching (PLS). If you look at AU Optronics, they call it Advanced Hyper Viewing Angles (AHVA).

All are referring to the same panel. So, don’t be confused with it. The IPS panel is the most common term used widely by online e-Commerce stores like Amazon, Flipkart, Best Buy, and many more.

Drawbacks of TN Panel

IPS panel is developed to meet the two following drawbacks of TN panel.

  • Poor color reproduction
  • Limited viewing angles (140-degree)
  • Vertical display

So, it has been done. In an IPS panel monitor, you can get a good color reproduction capability and also a wide viewing angle (178-degree which is wide). You can measure the color gamut using Spyder 5 PRO.

It’s good that IPS panel produces the most accurate black color but such monitors also have a very high response time and that’s not good. Although, recent IPS monitors by Asus, LG, and other brands come with very low response time. But, they are costly too.

In addition, programmers can use it without worrying. Furthermore, you will some kind of IPS glow when trying to see the picture from every side. That’s common but only when you look from very sides.

It’s also a point to note that all IPS monitors are not as cheap as TN panels. But, if you look for one with a 4ms response time then you will get it.

One more downside is that this monitor doesn’t have a higher contrast ratio. That’s the limitation of these panels. And, that’s why VA panels are on the market.

See the picture below which shows how the color changes with changes in viewing angles between the IPS (left) and TN (right) panels.

Difference between IPS and TN panel when viewing angles are changed.

VA Panel (Vertical Alignment)

VA panel is in the middle of IPS and TN panels. It is slow in terms of response but has a very high screen contrast ratio. Mostly IPS panels come with on average 1000:1 contrast ratio but this one comes with on average a 4000:1.

That’s too big for gamers. Although, In my opinion, competitive gamers should avoid it as its latency is low.

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