Some of the initials and terminology here may be confusing, but bear with me. Your monitor should be capable of a resolution of at least 1024 pixels x 768 pixels. Resolution is the number of pixels displayed on screen in vertical and horizontal direction. The higher the resolution, the more pixels are displayed. A dot pitch of .26 to .28.
Dot pitch measures how far apart the individual dots of the same color are on the monitor's screen.
The smaller the number, the better. A refresh rate of at least 75-87 Hz. The refresh rate describes how many times the entire screen is redrawn each second. The higher number indicates higher picture quality with less flicker. This is what you'll be looking at for years to come, so get a good one.