A Postgres view is a convenient shortcut to a query that doesn't involve new tables or data, and when run, it executes an underlying query to return its results to the user. Views provide benefits such as simplicity, consistency, logical organization, and security, making them useful for simplifying complex queries and ensuring data accuracy. A materialized view is a form of view that physically stores the results, providing faster execution times but with the trade-off of stale data that requires regular refreshing. Materialized views are suitable for use cases involving high-performance queries or analytics, while views are better suited for simple to moderately complex queries where data accuracy is more important than speed.