How do IPS and LED monitors differ?

It’s not enough today to go for the largest screen if you are to truly acquire a good monitor. Whether it’s for your home or office, the monitor is only as good as its features: refresh rate, resolution, backlighting, and display panel technology.

IPS is short for In-Plane Switching, a display technology that offers better color reproduction than the previous generation’s TN or Twisted Nematic panels. IPS allows for better contrast ratio and good color accuracy with minimal color shifting when the monitor is viewed from different angles.

LED, on the other hand, refers to Light Emitting Diode technology. It should be distinguished from LCD or Liquid Crystal Display, which is less efficient. LED comes in a flat panel screen backlight that provides more energy saving, durability, and reliability while consuming less power.

To be very clear, the primary difference between IPS and LED is that IPS refers to the panel technology while LED has to do with the backlighting. In short, you can have an IPS monitor using LED technology, just as LED can be used for PLS (Plane-Line Switching) or TN monitors. Your monitor can even be an LCD that uses both IPS and LED.

Most newer gaming monitors and televisions use IPS Panel technology, while LED is often used more for the screens of smartphones. In a nutshell, it’s incorrect to directly compare LED and IPS as they refer to two different technologies.

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