The 7 Best Computer Monitors - Summer 2021 Reviews

The best monitor for office use that we've tested is the ASUS ProArt Display PA278CV. It has a large 27 inch screen with a 1440p resolution, giving you plenty of space for multitasking, as well as delivering sharp images and text. It uses an IPS panel with wide viewing angles, and it comes with a stand that allows for tons of ergonomic adjustments so that you can get a comfortable viewing position. It gets bright enough to provide good visibility in most lighting conditions, but it might struggle a bit in direct sunlight.

It's well-suited for content creation as long as you work in the sRGB color space. Its Adobe RGB coverage is good, but it might not be enough for professional photo editors, and it doesn't support HDR at all. It has great response times for a 75Hz panel, good enough for some casual gaming on the side, and there's even variable refresh rate (VRR) support to reduce screen tearing. The backlight is entirely flicker-free, which helps reduce eye strain on those long workdays.

There's a good number of ports available. You get four USB 3.0, with two located on the side for easy access, as well as a USB-C input with DisplayPort Alt Mode and power delivery of up to 65W. It's not quite enough to charge a gaming laptop with a dedicated GPU, but it should be fine for most thin and light ultraportables. All in all, it's a great office monitor worth considering.

The Dell U3818DW is the best monitor for office use that we've tested in an ultrawide format. It has a 38 inch screen with a 21:9 aspect ratio, which gives you about 30% more horizontal space than a typical 16:9 display. This means you can have more windows open side-by-side to make multitasking easier. It's impressively well-built, and it comes with a sturdy stand that allows for height, tilt, and swivel adjustments.

It uses an IPS panel with wide viewing angles, which is great if you need to share your work or content with someone else. It doesn't handle reflections all that well, and the screen's brightness is only decent, so it's best suited for a moderately lit room as it might not be able to combat intense glare. It has full sRGB coverage, excellent accuracy out of the box, and no signs of color bleed. You can display two input signals simultaneously with its Picture-in-Picture mode and control both source devices with one set of peripherals thanks to its integrated KVM.

Unfortunately, it's not a good option for gaming due to its slow response times, 60Hz refresh rate, and lack of VRR support. There are four USB 3.0 inputs, with two of them located on the side for easy access. It also has a USB-C input with DisplayPort Alt Mode support and 95W of power delivery. Overall, this is a great ultrawide monitor that should meet most office needs.

The best monitor for gaming that we've tested is the Samsung LC32G75TQSNXZA. It's an excellent gaming monitor with great overall performance. It's packed with gaming-oriented features, including an RGB lighting ring to set the mood in your gaming setup. We tested the 32 inch model, but it's available in a 27 inch as well. They largely perform the same, except that they have the same 1440p resolution, which means that the 32 inch model has a lower pixel density, and text doesn't look as sharp.

It has a high 240Hz refresh rate with native FreeSync support and G-SYNC compatibility. Motion looks smooth whether you're gaming at its max refresh rate or 60Hz, thanks to its outstanding response times. It also has a black frame insertion feature, but you can't use it with VRR enabled. It's a good choice for dark room gaming because it has a VA panel with a high contrast ratio to display deep blacks. If you want to use it for HDR gaming, it supports a wide color gamut and gets bright enough to make some highlights pop.

Sadly, even though it has a local dimming feature, it performs terribly and doesn't improve the contrast. The VA panel has narrow viewing angles, so the image looks inaccurate when viewing from the side or sitting up close, as the edges of the screen may look darker. On the plus side, it performs well in bright rooms thanks to its high peak brightness and very good reflection handling. Overall, this is one of the best monitors we've tested.

The LG OLED48C1 is the best large monitor that we've tested. Although it's a TV, we tested it as a monitor, and it offers better performance than most large monitors we've tested. Since it's a TV, it offers different features than most monitors, like a built-in smart operating system and image processing settings, but it doesn't have a DisplayPort, and the stand doesn't offer any ergonomic adjustment.

The large 48 inch screen offers plenty of space to open multiple windows side-by-side, and even though it uses a WBGR subpixel layout that's not typical of most monitors, text still looks fairly clear. It offers a responsive desktop experience thanks to its low input lag and near-instant response time for smooth motion. OLEDs can turn individual pixels off, resulting in a near-infinite contrast ratio, and there's no blooming around bright objects in dark scenes either. If you want to use it for PC gaming, it has a 120Hz panel with VRR support, but you need a graphics card with HDMI 2.1 support to achieve its full capabilities.

Unfortunately, OLEDs can suffer from permanent burn-in when exposed to static elements for long periods, like from a computer's user interface. We suggest hiding the taskbar, using a screensaver, or simply watching varied content if you want to avoid this issue. Luckily, it has wide viewing angles so the image remains accurate no matter where you're viewing it from. All in all, it's one of the best monitors we've tested.