Why do monitor model numbers have extra letters?

They encode the panel, stand, ports and region. One character can separate a height-adjustable model with USB-C from a fixed-stand model without it, at a large price difference — so always search the full string.

Do I need a high refresh rate?

Only for fast-moving games. For general use and work, panel type and stand adjustment affect your day far more, and they are the specifications listings tend to bury.

When are monitors cheapest?

When a range is quietly superseded. Monitor turnover is less publicised than television or phone cycles, so the outgoing model is often discounted without any announcement.

Cheapest place to buy a monitor in the UK

The specification you care about is rarely the one printed largest.

Updated 25 September 2026 · 1 min read

Suffixes change everything and are printed smallest

Monitor model numbers end in letters that encode the panel, the stand, the ports and the region. Two listings differing by one character can be a height-adjustable version and a fixed-stand version, or a model with USB-C and one without, at a large price difference.

Search the full model number including every trailing character. Dropping the suffix is how people end up comparing two genuinely different monitors and concluding one shop is cheap.

The headline numbers are the least useful ones

Size, resolution and refresh rate are what listings shout about, and they are the specifications most likely to be identical across a whole price band. What separates monitors in practice — panel type, colour coverage, stand adjustment, whether it will charge a laptop over one cable — tends to sit further down the page.

What actually drives the price

Panel type, which governs contrast and viewing angles and is the single biggest determinant of how a monitor actually looks.
Stand adjustment. A fixed stand is markedly cheaper and cannot be fixed later without buying an arm.
USB-C with power delivery, a genuine premium and the feature most often assumed rather than checked.
Clearance cycles. Monitor ranges turn over quietly and the outgoing model is discounted without much announcement.

Before you buy

Copy the complete model number, suffix included.
Search that exact string rather than the marketing name.
Confirm the stand adjusts, if that matters to you.
Confirm the port you need is on the model, not merely on the range.
Check the outgoing model in the same series.