The 5 Best 1080p Monitors - Spring 2024 Reviews

The best monitor with a 1080p resolution we've tested is the Dell Alienware AW2523HF. It has a 25-inch screen and a fast 360Hz refresh rate, which is great even for competitive gaming. It has FreeSync VRR support to reduce screen tearing with AMD graphics cards and is also G-SYNC compatible with NVIDIA graphics cards. It has a few other gaming features, like a dark stabilizer to help you see your opponents better in dark areas and different crosshairs to give you a competitive advantage in FPS games.

It has an incredible response time, so fast-moving objects look sharp, even at lower refresh rates. While it doesn't have a backlight strobing feature to reduce persistence blur, motion looks crisp even without it. Besides its impressive gaming performance, it also delivers good picture quality with accurate colors, wide viewing angles, and great peak brightness, meaning it looks good in well-lit rooms. This monitor often goes on sale, but if you have trouble finding it available, consider the Sony INZONE M3, as it's another great gaming monitor. However, it has a lower 240Hz refresh rate.

If you want to take full advantage of an NVIDIA graphics card and are willing to spend considerably more, it's better to get a native G-SYNC monitor like the Dell Alienware AW2524H. It's the best 1080p gaming monitor and is higher-end than the Dell Alienware AW2523HF. It has a faster 500Hz refresh rate, but the main benefit of getting the AW2524H is that it has features you can only use with an NVIDIA graphics card. These include variable overdrive to improve motion handling based on the refresh rate and NVIDIA Reflex Latency Analyzer to measure the latency of each source in your setup, helping identify which causes the most delay.

Besides those extra features, this monitor offers impressive gaming performance with a fast response time at any refresh rate, especially at its max refresh rate, so there's minimal motion blur. Unlike the AW2523HF, it has a backlight strobing feature to reduce persistence blur, but it doesn't work at the same time as VRR.

If you want to save money or don't mind getting something with a lower refresh rate, check out a budget model like the ViewSonic XG2431. There are trade-offs for getting something cheaper, and in this case, the ViewSonic has a lower 240Hz refresh rate than the Dell Alienware AW2524H. It doesn't have native G-SYNC support like the Dell, but it's still G-SYNC compatible and has FreeSync support, so its VRR support works with any type of graphics card.

It's impressive for gaming, as motion looks extremely sharp, especially at high refresh rates. This monitor is better than other budget-friendly monitors because of its versatile backlight strobing feature to reduce persistence blur. You can adjust the backlight strobing flicker to your liking, which isn't something all monitors can do. However, like many monitors, this feature doesn't work simultaneously with VRR. Besides that, it has other useful gaming features, like black stabilization, so it's easier to see your opponents in dark scenes.

If you're looking for a cheap, entry-level 1080p monitor without many features and plan on using it for work, check out the ASUS VG246H. It has a much lower refresh rate than the ViewSonic XG2431, so it's not ideal for gaming, but it's a good choice for productivity, especially at this price point. It has a very ergonomic stand, so you can easily adjust it to your preferred viewing position, which you can't do with most low-cost monitors.

It also has wide viewing angles that keep the image consistent from the sides, which is ideal if you need to share your screen with someone else. Unlike other entry-level displays, it has a dedicated sRGB mode, so colors and images are accurate without calibration. However, you'll still need to calibrate it for the most accurate colors. It also has good enough reflection handling if you want to use it in a room with a few lights, but it doesn't get bright enough to fight intense glare.

If you want a cheap and basic monitor like the ASUS VG246H but instead want something that's at least good enough for gaming, look for a 1080p monitor with a 144Hz native refresh rate, like the ASUS TUF Gaming VG249Q1A. It's better for gaming than the VG246H because of its higher refresh rate, which you can overclock to 165Hz. While this isn't as good for competitive gaming as the ViewSonic XG2431, it's still very good for PC gaming, especially if you're on a limited budget and are building your first gaming setup. It has incredible motion handling, and fast-moving objects look fairly crisp, even at lower refresh rates. Like the ViewSonic, it also includes a backlight strobing feature to reduce persistence blur, but it isn't as customizable.

It has FreeSync VRR support to reduce screen tearing and is G-SYNC compatible, so it works with NVIDIA graphics cards. It's rather limited in features, which is expected of a cheap gaming monitor. However, you can still add virtual crosshairs to give you a competitive advantage, as your game's anti-cheat tool won't detect it.