Is 120 Hz Better Than 60 Hz? Let's Break It Down!
1. Understanding Refresh Rates
So, you're staring at a screen, maybe shopping for a new TV or gaming monitor, and you see these numbers thrown around: 60 Hz, 120 Hz. What do they even mean, and why should you care? Well, simply put, Hz (Hertz) refers to the refresh rate. It's how many times per second your display updates the image. Think of it like flipping through the pages of a flipbook — the faster you flip, the smoother the animation appears.
A 60 Hz display refreshes the image 60 times a second. That was the standard for ages, and it's perfectly fine for many everyday tasks like browsing the web, checking emails, or writing documents. But things get interesting (and noticeably different) when motion comes into play. Think fast-paced action movies or, even more crucially, video games.
That's where 120 Hz enters the chat. Double the refresh rate means double the image updates per second. And that, my friends, leads to a noticeably smoother and more responsive experience. Less blur, less judder, and a more pleasing visual experience overall. Imagine watching a race car whizzing by. On a 60Hz display, it might look a bit like a streaky mess. On a 120Hz display, you can actually see the car!
Of course, there's always a 'but,' isn't there? While 120 Hz generally offers a superior experience, it's not always necessary and its benefit is affected by other factors, such as the response time of the panel, and the capabilities of the device outputting the content. The source material matters too. More on that in a bit!
