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The 4 Best Monitors For Photo Editing - Fall 2024

Updated Nov 01, 2024 at 04:13 pm
Best Monitors For Photo Editing

If you're a professional photo editor or content creator, getting a proper monitor can help you perfect your craft. While there are dedicated professional displays with perfect color accuracy, those tend to cost a lot, so the next best option is to get a cheaper monitor that performs well enough even for serious photo editing. A monitor with a wide range of accurate colors and a dedicated sRGB mode is useful if you don't want to pay more for calibration, allowing you to edit images properly.

Besides the color accuracy, a high-resolution display lets you see images with a ton of detail, and you can also think about the size, but that's a personal preference and doesn't impact the performance. Getting a monitor with a USB hub, wide viewing angles, and good ergonomics also improves your workflow, especially if you need to multitask or often share your screen with someone else.

We've bought and tested more than 330 monitors, and below are our picks for the best monitors for photography and photo editing. See our recommendations for the best 4k monitors, the best monitors for video editing, and the best work monitors. If you need more than just a monitor, check out the best laptops for photo editing, the best cameras for photography, and to complete your setup, the best home printers.


  1. Best Monitor For Photo Editing

    The best monitor for photo editing is the ASUS ProArt Display PA279CRV. It's a 4k, 27-inch monitor that's designed specifically with content creation in mind. It has picture modes with various color spaces that you may work with, from the basic sRGB color space to the wider Rec. 2020 color space. Colors are accurate before any calibration, and it also displays a wide range of colors in the Adobe RGB color space, but some colors are oversaturated. Another advantage is that its high 4k resolution delivers clear and detailed images.

    It has a few features to help your workflow, like an extremely ergonomic stand and a big USB hub to which you can connect various devices, including a USB-C port that supports DisplayPort Alt Mode with 90W of power delivery. It's a good choice if you want to edit in a well-lit room as it gets bright enough to combat glare, but it has more limited picture quality in dark rooms due to its terrible local dimming feature. If that's important to you, the Acer Nitro XV275K P3biipruzx has much better picture quality in dark rooms, but it tends to cost more and doesn't have as many picture modes.

    See our review

  2. Best Mid-Range Monitor For Photo Editing

    If you find the ASUS ProArt Display PA279CRV too much out of your price range, the Gigabyte M27U is a good choice that you can often find for a lower cost. It's a 4k, 27-inch display like the ASUS, but there are a few differences. It has one less USB-C port that's limited to 15W of power delivery, which isn't enough to charge your laptop while working on it. That said, it still has three USB-A ports to which you can connect other devices, and it has a KVM switch that makes it easy to switch between different sources.

    Although this monitor is designed with gaming in mind, it's still good for editing, as it has an accurate sRGB mode. This is useful if you're getting into content creation for the first time, but calibrating it still results in the best accuracy. Besides that, it gets bright enough to fight glare in a well-lit room and has decent reflection handling. However, it has worse ergonomics than the ASUS, as it doesn't offer any swivel adjustment. You can look into the Dell S2722QC if that's important to you, but the Dell lacks a dedicated sRGB mode.

    See our review

  3. Best Budget Monitor For Photo Editing

    If you're looking for a low-cost monitor for photo editing, there are a few good options you can get, like the ASUS ProArt Display PA278CV. It has a lower 1440p resolution than the Gigabyte M27U, so images aren't as detailed. It doesn't support HDR either, but that doesn't make a difference if you're editing content in SDR anyway. Besides that, this monitor is focused on photo editing as it has a dedicated sRGB mode with better accuracy than the Gigabyte, so you won't have to calibrate it for the most accurate colors.

    It has similar productivity features to the Gigabyte, too. It has a USB hub with four USB-A ports and a USB-C port with 65W of power delivery, so you can easily connect your laptop. It even has a DisplayPort output to daisy chain a second display. However, if you don't need the extra features like the USB-C or DisplayPort output, you can also check out the ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV, which is cheaper and performs similarly.

    See our review

  4. Best Cheap Monitor For Photo Editing

    If you need a simple and cheap monitor for photo editing, like if you're equipping your setup for the first time and you're on a tight budget, then check out the Dell P2425H. It's a basic monitor that has a smaller screen and lower 1080p resolution than the ASUS ProArt Display PA278CV, but this is what you have to expect for an entry-level display. It doesn't have a dedicated sRGB mode either, so while you need to calibrate it for the best accuracy, colors are still fairly accurate before any sort of calibration.

    It has a few neat features for a low-cost monitor, like its extremely ergonomic stand that makes it easy to adjust. It even has a USB hub so you can connect your devices, including a USB-C port, but it doesn't support DisplayPort Alt Mode to display an image from a laptop. Although it doesn't get bright enough to fight a ton of glare, it has good enough reflection handling if you want to use it in a room with a few lights around.

    See our review

Notable Mentions

  • Dell U4025QW: The Dell U4025QW is a high-end monitor for photo editing with an ultrawide screen, offering even more screen space than the ASUS ProArt Display PA279CRV. It has a ton of features, but it costs a lot more than the ASUS, so only go for it if you want such a big screen. See our review
  • Apple Studio Display:

    The Apple Studio Display is a premium monitor that's ideal for photo editing on a Mac. This is because it has features that you can only use with macOS, like its accurate sRGB mode. It also has a very high 5k resolution for detailed images. However, it costs more than the ASUS ProArt Display PA279CRV, so it's only worth getting if you have a Mac and are willing to spend more.

    See our review
  • Dell U2723QE: The Dell U2723QE is a competitor to the ASUS ProArt Display PA279CRV, which performs similarly and has a few more features, like a KVM switch, but it displays fewer colors in Adobe RGB. See our review
  • Dell Alienware AW3225QF:

    The Dell Alienware AW3225QF is a top-tier monitor that delivers much better picture quality than the ASUS ProArt Display PA279CRV, thanks to its QD-OLED panel. It displays a wide range of accurate and vivid colors and deep and inky blacks, which is great for working in dark rooms. That said, it risks burn-in with constant exposure to the same static elements over time, which can be problematic for photo editing.

    See our review

Recent Updates

  1. Nov 01, 2024:

    We moved the Apple Studio Display to the Notable Mentions because it's an expensive monitor that works best with macOS. We replaced the Dell S2722QC with the Gigabyte M27U because it has better accuracy. We also added the Dell P2425H as the 'Best Cheap Monitor.' Lastly, we replaced the AOC Q27G3XMN with the Dell Alienware AW3225QF in the Notable Mentions.

  2. Aug 16, 2024: We replaced the Dell S2721QS with the ASUS ProArt Display PA278CV as the ASUS has better color accuracy. In Notable Mentions, we replaced the Apple Studio Display XDR and the ASUS VG246H with the AOC Q27G3XMN to be more representative of the current market.

  3. May 24, 2024: Removed the Acer Nitro XV275K P3biipruzx and renamed the ASUS ProArt Display PA279CRV to 'Best Monitor' based on user feedback. Replaced the LG 40WP95C-W and the ASUS ProArt Display PA278CV with the Dell U4025QW and the Dell U2723QE in the Notable Mentions to better fit into the scope of the article.

  4. Apr 16, 2024: Added the Acer Nitro XV275K P3biipruzx as the best overall for consistency with other articles as it has good picture quality. The ASUS ProArt Display PA279CRV was renamed as the 'Best Mid-Range' and the Dell S2722QC as 'Best Lower Mid-Range' to reflect their market positions. Also added the ASUS ProArt Display PA278CV to the Notable Mentions.

  5. Feb 13, 2024: Removed the Dell U2723QE and renamed the ASUS ProArt Display PA279CRV to 'Best Monitor For Photo Editing' because it displays a wider range of colors than the Dell. Removed the Gigabyte M32U from Notable Mentions because it doesn't fit into the scope of this article.

All Reviews

Our recommendations are based on what we think are the best monitors for photography and other types of media creation currently available. They are adapted to be valid for most people in each price range. Rating is based on our review, factoring in price and feedback from our visitors.

If you would prefer to make your own decision, here is the list of all of our monitor reviews. Be careful not to get too caught up in the details. Most monitors are good enough to please most people, and the things we fault monitors on are often not noticeable unless you really look for them.