No one can argue against the monitor being one of the highlights of any PC setup, but buying one without falling into marketing traps is easier said than done. Manufacturers love to market standard aspects of monitors as game-changing features, and the average user isn't savvy enough to know which monitor specs actually matter. Monitor brands can straight up lie about their products without facing any repercussions, because "hey, it's marketing, and everyone does it." So, here are some creative ways monitor manufacturers market specifications that don't mean what you think they do.

Zero-bezel screens

Zero-truth marketing

In 2025, having thick bezels on your monitor looks ugly as heck, and monitor brands know that. However, you won't find monitor brands mentioning "thin bezels" on the product page; instead, they'll use terms like "zero-bezel", "bezel-less", "frameless", "ZeroFrame", and more. Despite their monitors clearly having non-zero bezels, and quite large ones in many cases, they'll use product images that deceptively show the image extending to the very edges of the screen.

In reality, there's no true bezel-less monitor on the market. Bezels exist to support the panel, and as thin as they may be, you'll never find a monitor that feels like a frameless piece of glass. Sure, modern displays have become better with thinner bezels, but monitor brands still can't be forgiven for marketing them as zero-bezel displays. If you're deceived by the product images, you'll be in for a rude awakening when you receive your monitor and find it's not indeed bezel-less, and that the margins are, in fact, unusable.

Built-in speakers and Eye Care

I care NOT about either of them

It's the open secret of the monitor world: built-in speakers are useless. You'll rarely find a PC gamer relying solely on their monitor's speakers for anything but the most casual use cases. Most people buy speakers or soundbars for their PC, or use headphones. Monitor speakers are added just so brands can add one more feature to brag about. While some monitors have better speakers than others, they'll always be plagued by either insufficient volume or poor clarity.

A similarly useless feature on many monitors is "Eye Care." It supposedly protects your eyes from the "harmful" blue light of your monitor by adding a warm filter that you toggle on. This is something you can do yourself in Windows settings, even if your monitor doesn't come with Eye Care. This feature exists solely to make a monitor seem more value-for-money than several others on your shortlist. When you're comparing models that are evenly matched, one or two such features can sway your decision.

Dynamic contrast ratio

In contrast to...saying the truth

Now we're getting into monitor specs that sound quite technical, which might make you believe them. One of these is the dynamic contrast ratio. Looking at monitor product pages, you'll find insane numbers like 8000000: 1 dynamic contrast ratio. When reading such product pages, you might think this means that a monitor is exceptionally adept at showing bright highlights alongside deep blacks, making for great image quality. You couldn't be more wrong.

What determines a monitor's contrast is the native contrast ratio, which represents the difference between the brightest white and darkest black spot a display can show at the same time. Dynamic contrast ratio, on the other hand, tricks you by measuring the brightest spot in a scene and the darkest spot in another scene, and comparing those to arrive at these ridiculous numbers. Dynamic contrast ratio doesn't translate to any real-world representation of a display's quality, and should mostly be glossed over.

DisplayHDR 400 (on most models)

Stricter HDR standards need to be adopted

Everyone wants a monitor that is great at displaying HDR content. And monitor brands love to market almost all of their products with this feature slapped prominently on the product page. You'll probably find most monitors these days sporting the DisplayHDR 400 certification, which should indicate at least a decent level of HDR experience. However, the HDR 400 certification alone means nothing if the panel itself isn't capable enough.

To adequately display an HDR image, a monitor needs to have high brightness, a wide color gamut, numerous dimming zones, and high contrast (as a result). Not every HDR 400 monitor has all of these things, which makes most models terrible at HDR. It's not for nothing that people like to call these monitors capable of only "fake HDR." DisplayHDR 400 on most monitors is barely better than the "HDR10 support" you'll encounter. Any display might accept an HDR10 signal, but that doesn't mean you'll actually see the image as intended.

1ms response time

Don't believe it even for a millisecond

This one is a particularly egregious case of false marketing, but it's been done to death, and the larger PC community mostly ignores it now. Some consumers, however, might see the "1ms" response time figure on a product page, and assume that the monitor is automatically better than others they're considering. The grey-to-grey (GTG) response time numbers that manufacturers use are always taken with a pinch of salt, and 1ms never means 1ms.

Consider the monitor I'm currently using: the LG27GL850. One of the best gaming monitors of its time, it marketed a 1ms response time, but was really a 4ms panel, according to third-party reviews. Manufacturers are able to claim a 1ms response time by running the monitor in the fastest overdrive mode, and using the response time numbers obtained therein, irrespective of how much inverse ghosting the image experiences in these modes. No one will use a monitor in such a configuration, which makes the 1ms claims meaningless.

HDMI 2.1

Half-baked implementation

HDMI 2.1 is still a rarity on gaming monitors, but even many models that do support the feature only support it in name. Many of the inherent HDMI 2.1 features that should be present on a supported monitor are absent from these models. Features like eARC, ALLM, dynamic HDR, and HDMI-VRR are most likely missing from your monitor, even if it's technically an HDMI 2.1 display. This comes down to an incomplete implementation of the standard, but that doesn't stop manufacturers from marketing the feature.

Many aspects of HDMI 2.1 aren't mandatory for a manufacturer to include on a display, which is one of the reasons brands tend to skip them. Dynamic HDR and eARC might be the biggest missed opportunities on these HDMI 2.1 monitors, because they can significantly improve the gaming and media consumption experience. A handful of HDMI 2.1 monitors might indeed support each of its sub-features, but it's high time manufacturers were mandated to fully implement HDMI 2.1 if they're marketing it.

Sky-high refresh rates

240Hz is high-end for the majority

Manufacturers love to boast ridiculous refresh rate numbers on their monitors. From 360Hz and 480Hz to 500Hz, we've reached blistering numbers when it comes to refresh rates. These figures might not be lying, but they're mostly useless for the vast majority of gamers. In 2025, even a 144Hz–165Hz monitor is great for playing almost all games. And if you really want to step it up, a 240Hz is as high-end as you need to go.

Most people don't even have the gaming PC to drive the sky-high FPS numbers needed to fully utilize these monitors. And using tools like frame generation isn't a true solution — it introduces a lot of latency and artifacts that can ruin the experience. And the biggest reason these ridiculous refresh rates are almost useless is that once you've used a 144Hz or 240Hz display, anything faster doesn't make a difference to your experience. Esports professionals and enthusiasts might chase these record-breaking refresh rates, but you don't need to.

Don't fall for huge numbers when buying a monitor

A new monitor can be a massive upgrade to your gaming experience, but only if you trust real-world performance instead of brand marketing. Check third-party reviews (if available) for the monitor you're eyeing before parting with your money. You can figure out the hidden flaws in the model that you'll never spot on the product page. Most of the monitor marketing numbers are artificially jacked up to make the display better than it is.