Glossary

The point in a chain that decides what the whole chain delivers, regardless of how capable everything else in it is. On a desk it is almost never the part with the biggest number on the box; it is the cheapest, quietest item in the middle, and it caps the result without ever reporting an error.

A digital video and audio interface whose specifications are published by the HDMI Licensing Administrator. The connector shape has not changed across specification versions, so a plug fitting a socket tells you nothing about which version either end implements, or what any given cable is certified to carry. A listing that says only HDMI has named a socket, not a capability.

A display interface standard published by VESA, with its own connector and its own version numbers. The same standard can also travel over a USB-C connector as an alternate mode, which is why one device can honestly carry both words at once.

A connector shape specified by the USB Implementers Forum. It is a shape and not a feature set: power, data speed and video are separate capabilities that a given port may or may not implement, and every USB-C socket looks the same whichever ones it has. Knowing a port is USB-C tells you what will fit and nothing about what will happen.

DisplayPort Alternate Mode: the arrangement by which a USB-C connector carries DisplayPort video. VESA describes it as an alternate mode functional extension of the USB Type-C interface, which is the formal way of saying it is a separate capability rather than something every USB-C port has.

The older rectangular USB connector, and the one nearly every wireless receiver plugs into. Its relevance on a desk is arithmetic rather than technical: each device that uses one takes a port, and the ports are finite.

A small radio dongle that pairs with one specific device, or with a set of devices a manufacturer says it serves. Unlike a Bluetooth pairing it occupies a physical port for as long as the device is in use, and unlike a published standard it is the manufacturer’s own link, so a receiver from one brand is not stated to work with another brand’s device.

A radio connection under a standard published by the Bluetooth SIG. It costs no port at all, which is why listings advertise it, and it requires a radio in the machine, which is the one requirement no keyboard listing can confirm for you.

A manufacturer’s name for holding several pairings at once and moving between them with a key. Where a listing states it, it also usually states how many devices are covered, which makes it one of the more checkable claims in this catalog.

How many times a second the panel redraws, stated in hertz. It describes the display hardware. Whether that figure survives the trip from the machine, through a cable, into a particular input is a separate question, and it is the question this site exists for.

How long a pixel takes to change, stated in milliseconds. The figure is only readable alongside the method used to get it, and sellers use different methods without always naming them. A bare number cannot be compared with a qualified one.

Gray-to-gray. A response figure measured between two gray levels rather than between black and white. When a listing prints the letters, it has told you what was measured; when it prints a bare figure, it has not.

Moving Picture Response Time: a different way of describing motion clarity from a pixel transition figure. It is named here because it is one of the reasons two response numbers on two boxes may not be describing the same thing at all.

A panel setting that pushes pixel transitions harder to make them finish sooner. A response figure marked OD was measured with it engaged, so it describes the panel in a particular mode rather than as it arrives.

A family of techniques that let a display change its refresh rate to match what is being sent to it, instead of holding a fixed rate. Listings name it in several ways, sometimes as a brand and sometimes as the generic term.

AMD’s brand name for adaptive sync, appearing in several listings in this catalog, sometimes with a tier attached to it. Different names on different boxes do not by themselves mean different capabilities, and the same name does not guarantee identical behavior either.

A panel construction named in many monitor listings. It is stated here as a listing fact and nothing is claimed about how any particular panel looks, since that is not something a specification line settles.

A different panel construction, also named directly in listings. One listing in this catalog states VA where most state IPS, and the difference is recorded rather than ranked.

The pixel count of the panel, written as width by height. A resolution and a refresh rate together describe a mode; either one alone describes half of one. One listing in this catalog states a refresh rate and no resolution at all.

Pixels per inch: the resolution divided across the physical size of the panel. It is stated by one listing in this catalog and left out by the rest, though it can be worked out wherever both a resolution and a screen size are given.

A color space used as a reference for coverage percentages. A figure of 100% means full coverage of that reference; a figure above it means coverage extending past it, which is a different shape rather than simply more.

A different color reference from sRGB. A percentage of DCI-P3 and a percentage of sRGB are not interchangeable, cannot be compared by size, and must never be added together, though listings print them side by side as if they could be.

A standardized hole pattern on the back of a display, published by VESA, which lets a screen attach to arms and brackets from other manufacturers. This site records whether a listing states it. Fitting a bracket to a wall is a matter for the manufacturer’s instructions and a qualified installer, and no mounting guidance appears anywhere on this site.

A riser that sits on a desk you already own and raises a work surface above it, usually with a separate keyboard tray. It is not a desk: it needs a desk underneath it, and it takes up depth on the one it stands on. One entry in this catalog is a converter rather than a desk.