One of the main differences in panel technology is whether the display is VA vs. IPS. Biggest difference nowadays is that IPS panels have more accurate colors while VA panels have deeper, richer blacks. It's really a matter of personal preference. If you're already using a VA panel, that probably looks "normal" to you and you might find IPS to be too saturated. While some people will tell you colors won't be as accurate on a VA, when you're -- for example -- walking down a dark corridor in a first-person shooter or going through a gloomy dungeon in Diablo -- the VA will have much better contrast with shadows making objects in dark areas really pop out better.

Also a high refresh rate with GSync/FreeSync are very nice to have. Just make sure you enable the higher refresh rate in Windows! Unfortunately Windows doesn't do that by default so you could end up leaving performance on the table. In your Control Panel search for "Advanced Display Settings" -- there should be a refresh rate drop-down list box in there where you can select 180Hz or whatever your monitor supports.

Also need to enable higher refresh rate in the monitor's settings.

Came to say that perhaps a TV would not be too bad, like mentioned above.
That said, TV's have a freaking ton of lag depending on the model and settings. I've never seen a model than doesn't feel slow (only tested a few after all) but a particular 4K LG TV with default settings (a ton of post processing) was so bad that using a mouse was a issue (it was actually funny for the first 5 minutes), probably close to 1 second of lag.

If you don't play very fast games then a decent TV model would be a option, if you can find one suitable. I use a computer connected to my TV and with all the post processing turned off (noise reduction was the biggest lag contributor) is usable. I browse the web and play some games on it and while I do feel the diference even from a bog standard 60Hz monitor, is not the end of the world. Playing a fast First Person Shooter would be vomit inducing but any other non competitive game, like Turn Based, RPG's or Console style games is fine.

My cent and a half.

Wow, like I said in my OP, the folks here rock. Lots of good stuff here, and I'm still reading it all and am just so thankful. I won't be making my decision for another week so I've still got time. It looks like 32 inch is going to be the best I can do without paying the premium for a 4k monitor that I likely wouldn't be able to use anyway, at least not with this laptop.

The problem with a super large TV (say a 42 inch or something) it won't fit on my bedside stand that I use. The current monitor is 34 inches and I was thinking I could go up to 36, maybe, just maybe 38, but more than that I don't think will fit on this stand. If you've ever been in the hospital, you may know what I'm talking about as it is on four wheels, with one side open so as to slide under the bed and the tray is right in front of you. And I need space on that tray for other things (like eating my meals) so the monitor/TV can't take up too much. The current one has a two pronged stand that I lined up across the side and back such that it takes up very little, but the bigger the monitor/TV, the bigger the stand I assume so I don't want to go overboard.

I will likely stick with one of the 32 inch 1440p's and just do what I did with this one and had it set up in 1080p. lol, I remember when I first got it and it came up in 1440p I was like.... "Whoa, I can't see any of that" lol it all looked so small.

Getting old is always a PITA. Getting old after having not taken good care of your body is a whole new level of PITA, of which eyes going bad is really a minor one lol.

Thanks again all. When I pull the trigger I'll post a link to my final decision and everyone can chime in on what a huge mistake it was lol.

LOL No doubt that will happen!

Good luck with your health, man. I'm old too, but I've been lucky health-wise.

The best site worldwide for monitors : tests & such

https://www.rtings.com/monitor

under the price you mention forget OLED technology (it's the best one : but at a very higher cost)

get an IPS/Fast-IPS/Nano-IPS one

If you use an Nvidia card check if the monitor passed the certification (at least GSYNC compatible)
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/products/g-sync-monitors/specs/

Always check the constructor page for the technical informations. (often a store page such as Amazon is either misleading / or lack of informations)

IE : i found 2 ASUS monitors which was supposed to be FreeSync Premium (AMD tech.) and they didn't have passed the certification yet ... And i know for both tech. a monitor could fail to pass both certification (Freesync and / or G-Sync)

Okay, rather than wait until next Friday when I get my social security check, I'll post here now the one I'm leaning toward at the moment so you guys and chime in now and tell me what a huge mistake this one is BEFORE I actually buy it. lol

Probably makes more sense to learn what a huge mistake it is before I actually purchase it.

EDIT: Oh crap, I just noticed it's on a lighting deal and this price reduction ends in two hours. Yikes!!!

I just know if I pull the trigger I'm gonna find out here from you guys what a big mistake I made yet if I don't I fear I'm going to regret the deal I missed. It looks like the deal is roughly $40 (just quick in my head estimate) off normal price, which is not nothing. It's a tank of gas (for me at least).

Please, do not feel rushed to purchase during the Amazon lightning deal, as its price is regularly reduced to $169.99, as seen here.

Nothing really jumps out at me as a big red flag. And the price is pretty good. Other than the size, it seems to tick all the boxes for what you want. I say go for it.

Ah, hey friend, how are you? Thanks for that, I do think I'll wait seeing that. It will likely happen again in October at some point, and if it doesn't then if it does turn out to be the one I'm interested in, then the extra $40 won't be a huge deal.

So if anyone wants to tell me what a huge mistake it is, there's still lots of time!!! Please by all means tell me if it's a bad choice, I really want to know.

I don't understand most of the terms anymore. I don't really understand HDR 10 versus 100 (or some of the others) or even HDR itself, as I've never understood if it's something to be turned on at the monitor level or the Nvidia panel or each specific app (game). Don't really know what Free sync premium means either (I thought I understood what Free Sync originally meant, it meant it matched up with AMD graphics cards/CPU's I thought) but does Premium mean it matches up with others too?? (like Intel Integrated or Nvidia). Not looking for explanations, just pointing out I don't know what I'm doing lol. Just want to play my games and have it look nice, you know? lol

EDIT: Oh, I forgot to mention that as of now by "second choice" is this ASUS model that I've been looking at for a couple of days too, but it's $100 more than the KTC linked in my previous post. It does have the added benefit of a speaker, which isn't nothing to me as i have two laptops hooked up to one monitor, and the older laptop is the only one I have left with the original AoE with the Rise of Rome expansion installed and I usually play that with the speakers on the monitor so I'm not changing my headphones every time I play AoE (which is still, to this day, something I do regularly lol). But if I go with one without a speaker (like the KTC linked above) I can just either switch the headphones every time or, less so, use that laptops speakers. I say less so because the laptops are situated in a separate place over to the left of me and that old laptops speakers don't have the output to be able to hear it very well. (Another symptom of my age I'm sure lol).

EDIT2: And off-topic and speaking of playing old games over and over again... man I feel Gothic 1 calling my name... it just seems like I can't resist... feeling like a swamp sect play through is calling my name... Ugh, getting that game to run is ALWAYS a nightmare for me though. Wish GOG would designate that one as a "Good Old Game".

So the lightning sale ended. I was wrong on my just in my head estimate by only $5, so not too bad. I said roughly $40 and it was actually $45 difference, as it was $169.99 and now that the lightning sale is over it's $214.99. It's not a huge deal, but it's not nothing either. $45 would fill my tank even if it's almost out. So yeah, a tank of gas.

Have to hope it comes up on sale again, but there are other options. This one is strictly 1080p, and now I'm thinking about the middle ground between 1080p and 4K, which is roughly the 1440p. While I would prefer reading and most things with the bigger size of 1080p, I might want to keep the option open in case there are some games where the more pixels will make a nice difference without too much suffering from small text/numbers. I dunno, might be worth a "premium" price. Although, as of this minute, now that the lighting sale has gone off, this one that is 1440p is now actually cheaper lol at $198.82.

And I don't have to rush. So, yeah, if anyone sees anything that should give me pause please post before next Friday. I know it's a VA panel (or whatever as opposed to OLED or ISP) but I think ALL curved monitors must be this type, and I have found I really, really do enjoy the curved "feeling" or something, I dunno, I just know playing Fallout 4 and where I sit in relation to the monitor, the curved monitor was really noticeable when I first experienced on this curved one. I remember thinking to myself "Self, from now on curved is where it's at" lol. (Yeah, yeah, there are other... things... that I also enjoy... the curves...). *cough*

Here is another possibility for under $200. Also 1440p instead of 1080p so I would have that as an option if I wanted. I don't recognize any of these brands, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're all crap just like having a well known brand doesn't mean they're all great. I guess with the more well known brands though you can usually assume a better customer service response if needed since they are all well established brands. *shrug*

Just make sure you get a monitor with HDMI 2.1 ports because they have low frame rate compensation that's built in a the native level.

Call me odd but I don't see that much of difference with monitors. I've gotten some monitors from e.g. my workplace, sizes are 24" 28" and 32" and also bough a couple cheap 28" monitors that were on sale, and I don't really care much which I am using. They work fine enough for generic computer use, work and playing games, I've never thought "god this is awful, I can't really play games or watch Youtube on this monitor, it is horrendous!".

Especially since your PC apparently is older and you play games like Gothic and Age of Empires, I wouldn't really fret whether it is VN or TN or OLED or whatever it may be. Size is probably more important to you, as she said as well.

I personally don't want OLED monitors because they have that freaking burn-in feature which is a definite no-no to me for computer use (since you tend to have the same taskbars etc. at the same places etc.), and OLED tends to also become dimmer over time. Maybe it doesn't matter and the monitor will get broken anyway before that becomes an issue, but still I don't like the idea of the screen becoming dimmer or having burn-in with heavy use. Sounds like a plasma TV to me! (never had a plasma but always heard old plasma TVs became quite dim).

I don't think new monitors are 1920x1080 anymore, even the smaller ones. The two cheap 28" monitors I bought are also something higher, maybe 1440 or whatever might be. That doesn't matter to me, I still use them as 1920x1080 monitors.

I have one older 32" monitor from my work that seems to be resttricted to 1920x1080 which is why no one wanted to use it at work so I got it home (it would have been recycled otherwise). I think it is a fine monitor for my use and I like its big size.

The only odd thing was that at times it did have some odditity with colors or something. For instance here in GOG.com forums with the light theme, when I read messages on this forum with black text on grey background, the letters seemed odd, as if each letter had white outlines or something? It made the text a bit harder to read, compared to my other monitors or the laptop screen.

Then, yesterday, that problem somehow went away? The only things I did was to download updates for Windows, AND in the monitor settings I changed the refresh rate from something like 59.9997Hz to 60Hz. Now that GOG forum text is fine as well? WTF does it have to do with the refresh rate? I was certain it was some HDR odditity (but the monitor does not even support HDR so it coulnd't be that) or the color calibration is somehow very off... but not it seems fine?

Damn technology, always messing up my brains.