100Hz vs 60Hz Office Monitors: Is the Smoother Screen Worth It?

A 100Hz monitor draws a fresh frame every 10 milliseconds instead of every 16.7, and whether that gap is worth paying for depends entirely on what fills your screen most of the day. For a desk that spends its hours in spreadsheets and long documents rather than fast-moving games, the case is narrower than the marketing suggests, and Dell's Pro 24 Plus P2425DE makes it at R6,099 without charging extra for the jump.

Quick Answer

Worth it if your work involves a lot of scrolling, dragging windows or reading moving text; less obvious if your screen mostly sits still while you type. The gain is smoother motion, not sharper detail, and it costs nothing extra on the R6,099 Dell Pro 24 Plus P2425DE since 100Hz is built into the panel rather than sold as an upgrade.

🖱️ Where 100 frames a second actually shows up

The benefit is specific, not general, and it helps to know exactly where to look for it.

Dragging a window across the desktop, scrolling through a long PDF or spreadsheet, and the mouse pointer tracking a fast hand movement all look measurably smoother at 100Hz than at 60Hz, because the screen is updating roughly 67 percent more often. Static content, like a document you are reading without scrolling or an email you are composing, looks identical at either refresh rate, since nothing on screen is actually moving.

That distinction matters because most office work is a mix of both, and the moments where 100Hz earns its keep are the ones people notice as "this monitor feels smoother" without being able to say exactly why.

👀 The comfort argument, not the performance one

This is not a competitive gaming feature, and treating it as one sets the wrong expectation.

Higher refresh rates in an office context are almost entirely about visual comfort over a long day, not about reaction time or precision. Scrolling a long report at 60Hz can introduce a faint blur or smear as text moves past, which some people find tiring to track for hours; 100Hz reduces that smear noticeably. Whether that comfort difference is worth chasing depends on how many hours a day you spend scrolling versus reading fixed text.

💻 What your laptop needs to actually reach 100Hz

The panel supporting 100Hz does not guarantee you will see it, and this is the step people skip.

Windows has to be told to use the higher rate rather than assuming it on its own: from Settings, drill into System, Display, Advanced display, and look at what the refresh rate dropdown for that monitor is actually set to, since 60Hz is a common default even when the panel is fully capable of more. Bandwidth is the other half of the equation - 2560 x 1440 at 100Hz over USB-C or DisplayPort needs a cable genuinely rated for it, and a tired or underspecified one quietly holds the whole link to 60Hz with nothing on screen to explain why.

For a desk that mixes office work with the occasional game, a step up into the gaming monitors range gets you a higher ceiling than 100Hz, though the office comfort case above holds regardless. The current office monitor range and the best-selling monitors page are both worth a look to see where 100Hz panels sit against faster and cheaper alternatives.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 100Hz noticeable for someone who mostly reads static text?

Barely. The difference shows up in scrolling and dragging, not in a page that sits still while you read it.

Does 100Hz need a better graphics card than 60Hz?

For office applications, no. The extra load on integrated graphics from running a QHD panel at 100Hz instead of 60Hz is small compared to what gaming or video editing would ask of it.

Why does my monitor say it supports 100Hz but Windows shows 60Hz?

Windows sometimes defaults to the lower rate. Check Settings, System, Display, Advanced display, and confirm the refresh rate dropdown matches what the panel supports.

Does a higher refresh rate use more power?

Marginally. The difference is small enough that it will not meaningfully change how fast a laptop drains on battery power.