Three articles on what kind of high quality (gaming) monitor you should buy

[mouser]

The video game review/commentary blog "Rock, Paper, Shotgun" wrote two three long articles recently on why your next monitor should have an IPS display and 120hz refresh rate.  The articles are written for a gaming audience, but are good reads regardless.

• Why You Need An IPS Monitor - http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/02/05/best-monitor-for-gaming/
• Why You Need A High-Refresh / 120Hz-plus Monitor - http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/02/12/best-120hz-monitor-gaming/
• Why You Need A Monitor With Adaptive Sync - http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/02/19/gysnc-or-freesync/

[Shades]

IPS is superior for sure. On my desk you'll find a high quality LED screen (22.5 inch) and a cheaper IPS screen (22 inch). Both have a resolution of 1920x1080. You wouldn't think the difference would be that big, but it really is.

However, after disabling refresh rates that do not apply to your monitor in Windows, I don't have the option to go to 120Hz though. Still, the difference is very noticeable at lower refresh rates, so it would be safe to assume it is even better at 120Hz.

[tomos]

Yeah, having an IPS panel, I would not want to go back to anything else.
Oddly, my monitor allows only 59 *or* 60 for refresh rate (again, after disabling refresh rates that do not apply to your monitor in Windows).

IIRC older (CRT) monitors allowed higher refresh rates but I think for some reason they were more necessary there.

[Renegade]

My primary interest is in whether or not quantum dots become the main technology in displays.

Oh, I should also mention this:

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/196011-lg-readies-55-inch-8k-tv-and-new-quantum-dot-4k-display-technology



Which is more gorgeous? Korean women or Korean displays?

Let’s take the quantum dots first. Quantum dots, despite sounding thoroughly futuristic, are actually fairly simple things that are easy to mass-produce. In short, quantum dots are just small specks of semiconducting material that emit light when they’re excited. Depending on the size of the dot, and also the material, you can tune these dots to emit very specific frequencies (colors) of light. In the case of LG, a film of quantum dots is placed in front of the backlight and behind the display, resulting in “picture color reproduction rate and overall brightness [that] are significantly improved.”

Image: Quantum dots, depending on their size, emit light at different frequencies

LG doesn’t say exactly how the quantum dots achieve this, but we do know from previous testing that the overall quality of a display is significantly affected by the quality of the light produced by the backlight (and the various other films and waveguides that sit between the backlight and the display). If the quantum dots help produce a whiter light, or a specific frequency of white that plays very well with LG’s IPS LCD tech, then that could explain why this new 4K monitor has such exceptional color reproduction.

Go quantum dots! 

[Deozaan]

IIRC older (CRT) monitors allowed higher refresh rates but I think for some reason they were more necessary there.

Because of the flickering! Remember how taking a video of a CRT would show the flickering due to the difference in recording framerate and CRT refresh rate? Modern LCD/LED panels don't have the same issue, AFAIK.

[mouser]

Part 3 added.

[tomos]

An article on IPS from makeuseof.com -
3 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Buy A Cheap IPS Monitor
and
they make a couple of IPS recommendations here (but not in connection with gaming).

www.prad.de does good monitor reviews (but no longer do English translations).