The main reason to buy an all-in-one desktop: saving space. A typical desktop PC tower needs space to sit, as well as room around it for airflow, and it connects to a separate monitor. And everything you add, such as a webcam or basic speakers, is another thing to find room for and another cable (or two) to plug in.
All Is Well 1080p
There are numerous resolutions found on flat-panel TVs. Older TVs, and many 32-inch models sold today, have a million or so pixels (720p). More recent and slightly larger TVs (typically 49 inches and smaller) have a little over 2 million pixels (1080p). Even newer and bigger TVs (typically 50 inches and above, although numerous smaller sizes too) have 8 million (for 4K Ultra HD). And the newest, largest and most ridiculously expensive TVs have over 33 million pixels (8K). You'll have to look very closely, or whip out a magnifying glass, to discern each one.
But now that "4K" has gained traction as a term used to describe TVs and content, "2K" is becoming increasingly common as shorthand for the 1080p resolution used by most smaller and older HDTVs, as well as Blu-ray.
Remember how we talked about digital cinema resolutions only specifying the horizontal resolution? Well TVs, on the other hand, have historically used the vertical to describe resolution (going back to the glass tube days). So 1080p is the vertical resolution. Nearly all HDTVs have an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 (16:9, aka "widescreen"), so that means a horizontal resolution of 1,920 pixels (1,920x1,080).
Roughly half the number of pixels of 1080p. It's rare to find a TV that's 720p anymore. However, all ABC, Fox, ESPN, and their affiliated/sister channels broadcast at 720p. This goes back to the initial HD transition at the turn of the century. And if you're wondering why your TV doesn't say "720p" on those channels, check this out.
When you boil it all down, here's the takeaway: Older and smaller TVs are HD, 1080p. Nearly all new TVs are 4K Ultra HD, which have four times as many pixels as 1080p. Someday you might have an 8K or even 10K TV, but that's a l-o-o-o-o-ng way away.
As well as covering TVs and other display tech, Geoff does photo tours of cool museums and locations around the world, including nuclear submarines, massive aircraft carriers, medieval castles, airplane graveyards, and more.
One of the first things you see when shopping for a TV is its resolution. You'll often see the resolution slapped right on the box or even in the model name. 4k TVs started to dominate the TV market in the middle of the 2010s, and they soon took over from 1080p as the most common resolution found on TVs. Almost every TV from big manufacturers has a 4k resolution, and it's actually hard to find 1080p TVs now, but what exactly are the differences between each?
4k and 1080p refer to the resolution of the display. A 1080p TV has 1920 horizontal pixels and 1080 vertical pixels, while a 4k TV has 3840 horizontal pixels and 2160 vertical. It can get confusing because 1080p refers to the number of vertical pixels (1080), but 4k refers to the number of horizontal pixels (3840). So while the name makes it sound like a 4k display has four times the amount of vertical pixels, in actuality, the amount of vertical and horizontal pixels on a 4k display are each double that of a 1080p display. However, this means that overall, a 4k TV also has four times the total amount of pixels as a 1080p TV, which you can see in the table below.
There are different marketing names for each, but having a 4k TV doesn't necessarily mean it's better than a 1080p; there are many different factors that affect the picture quality. A higher resolution simply means it supports more content and delivers crispier images. You can see some of the differences between 4k and 1080p below. You can also read about resolution here.
As 4k TVs are the norm, native 4k content is also easy to find on most streaming apps like Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video. Physical video sources, like Blu-ray players and gaming consoles, are starting to support a 4k resolution as well, but they were limited to 1080p for a long time. Regular Blu-ray discs are 1080p, and there are now 4k Ultra HD Blu-ray discs as well, but it's an entirely new format and requires you to upgrade your Blu-ray player and purchase new 4k Ultra HD Blu-ray discs. The original Xbox One and PS4 were limited to 1080p, and then the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X/S, followed by the PS5 and Xbox Series X, were each released with 4k support.
It's becoming harder to find 1080p TVs in the 2020s, and they're usually limited to small, entry-level models. If you have limited space and need a small TV, you'll likely need to get a 1080p model, since 4k TVs are usually available in larger sizes.
The two photos above illustrate an identical image at different native resolutions, which means the image's resolution and the TV's resolution are exactly the same. The first photo is a 4k image displayed on the Hisense H9G, and the second is a 1080p image displayed on the TCL 3 Series 2019.
Native 4k content is very popular, especially on streaming apps, but some of what you watch may still be lower-resolution content upscaled to UHD, which will look different from native 4k. To present lower-resolution material on a 4k TV, the TV has to perform a process called upscaling. This process increases the pixel count of a lower-resolution image, allowing a picture meant for a screen with fewer pixels to fit a screen with many more. However, it doesn't increase the detail of the image since the signal has the same amount of information. Above you can see the difference between a 1080p resolution on the 4k Hisense and on the 1080p TCL.
HDR, which stands for High Dynamic Range, started to become more popular around the same time as 4k TVs. While it's often marketed together, it has nothing to do with the resolution and actually refers to the colors and luminance. It allows content creators to use a wider range of colors and luminance levels. It helps improve the picture quality and produces richer, more vibrant colors. There are different HDR formats, and you may see some companies advertise 4k HDR, but just because a TV supports it doesn't mean that HDR looks good. However, the large majority of 1080p TVs don't even support HDR, so if you want to watch your favorite HDR content, go for a 4k TV. You can learn more about HDR here.
This chart illustrates the dividing line for normal 20/20 vision. To use the chart, check your viewing distance on the vertical axis and the size of the TV on the horizontal one. If the resulting position is above the line, you probably won't see a major difference between a 1080p and a 4k TV. Essentially, there's only a noticeable difference if you sit close to a large screen TV.
In the United States, there are two standard resolutions for cable TV broadcasts: 720p and 1080i. Much like 1080p, the number refers to the vertical resolution of the screen, 720 and 1080 pixels. The letter refers to either progressive scan or interlaced scan. Every TV sold today uses progressive scan, but they're also compatible with a 1080i signal.
When you're shopping for a TV, it's likely you're going to get a 4k model. A TV's resolution can be its main selling point, as it's easy to throw the 4k label on any TV, but the resolution is only one small factor in the total picture quality. While 4k is an upgrade from 1080p, it may be hard to notice the difference in resolution if you sit far from the TV, or if you just watch 1080p content. Since most TVs now are 4k and it's hard to find 1080p models, you won't really have to choose between 4k and 1080p anyway.
MacBook Air features a new, strikingly thin design in four beautiful finishes, larger 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display, 1080p HD camera, MagSafe charging, and moreM2 also comes to the 13-inch MacBook Pro with 24GB of fast unified memory, ProRes acceleration, and up to 20 hours of battery life
MacBook Air includes a new 1080p FaceTime HD camera with a larger image sensor and more efficient pixels that deliver twice the resolution and low-light performance of the previous generation. Combined with the processing power of the advanced image signal processor on M2, users will look great on video calls.
Android enthusiasts may claim they can tell the difference, but I doubt they would be able to pick a 1440p display out of a 1080p lineup. I should know; I was one of them. There was a time when the first thing I did when I got a new Samsung Galaxy phone in for testing was bump the resolution from 1080p to 1440p. I would have challenged anyone that my eyes could tell the difference.
Starting with Assassin's Creed Valhalla we see that at 1080p the GTX 1070 is around 15% faster than the RX 580 and around 10% faster at 1440p. That's a great result for the aging GeForce GPU as it means it was good for around 60 fps at 1080p using the medium quality settings and then 70 fps with low.
The GTX 1070 proves once again that it's still very capable of tackling the latest games, this time pushing well over 60 fps in Outriders using the high quality preset. Even at 1440p performance was good, 66 fps using medium was a great experience and even 53 fps with the high quality settings wasn't bad, it was also an impressive 61% performance increase over the RX 580.
The GTX 1070 was also in a completely different class when testing with Horizon Zero Dawn. We're looking at a 35% performance boost and that meant well over 60 fps at 1080p using even the favor quality preset and then over 60 fps at 1440p using the original quality preset. That's a solid result and plenty of performance at respectable quality settings for gamers to enjoy this title.
We've seen previously that Doom Eternal runs exceptionally well on the RX 580 and even the older R9 390. So it comes as little surprise to find the GTX 1070 makes out just fine, delivering over 100 fps even at 1440p using the nightmare settings.
Moving on, we have Watch Dogs: Legion and here the GTX 1070 offered 20-25% more performance and the extra frames came in particularly handy when using the high quality preset which saw the GeForce GPU render 73 fps on average at 1080p and 51 fps at 1440p. 2ff7e9595c
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