The 5 Best Monitors - Summer 2024 Reviews

The best monitor we've tested is the Acer Nitro XV275K P3biipruzx. It's an excellent monitor that isn't the absolute best at one specific usage but rather versatile and great for many different usages, making it a jack-of-all-trades monitor. It has features for gaming and productivity, meaning you can easily use it for your at-home work setup and then game with it once you're done working. You can adjust the stand in many different ways, making it very easy to place in a comfortable position. It also has a 4k, 27-inch screen with sharp text clarity, and there's enough space for you to open two windows side by side.

On top of that, it delivers great picture quality thanks to its Mini LED backlighting and decent local dimming feature that helps it display deep blacks in dark rooms. It also gets bright enough to make highlights pop in HDR, which is ideal for watching content or gaming. Speaking of which, it provides a good overall gaming experience as fast-moving objects look sharp, and it also has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth to take full advantage of the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, so it really is versatile for different usages.

While a high-end monitor like the Acer Nitro XV275K P3biipruzx is good enough for gaming, if you want the best gaming performance, the Dell Alienware AW3225QF is even better. It's a unique monitor with premium specs as it's a 4k, 240Hz QD-OLED monitor that combines its outstanding gaming performance with exceptional picture quality. Its high 240Hz refresh rate is ideal for competitive gaming, and it can also take full advantage of modern graphics cards and consoles thanks to its HDMI 2.1 bandwidth. On top of that, it has a near-instantaneous response time at any refresh rate, leading to sharp motion.

Its QD-OLED panel is ideal for dark room gaming, especially if you play HDR games. It displays deep and inky blacks without any blooming and gets bright enough for highlights to pop. It isn't the only QD-OLED gaming monitor you can get, as the Gigabyte AORUS FO27Q3 is another option with an even higher 360Hz refresh rate and 1440p resolution. However, only get this if you don't mind the lower resolution and prefer a higher refresh rate.

See our recommendations for the best gaming monitors.

If you want something for office work and don't need gaming features like on the Acer Nitro XV275K P3biipruzx or the Dell Alienware AW3225QF, check out the Dell U2723QE. It has a 4k, 27-inch screen like the Acer, but it has worse picture quality, which doesn't make a big difference for office work anyway, and it has a bunch of productivity features. It has a massive USB hub with five USB-A ports and three USB-C ports, making it very easy to connect different devices. One of the USB-C ports supports DisplayPort Alt Mode with 90W of power delivery, so you can connect a laptop and charge it with a single cable.

Another advantage is that it has a KVM switch, which is ideal if you want to connect two computers to the monitor. Thanks to its accurate sRGB mode and wide color gamut, it's a great choice if your work requires accurate colors, like if you're a content creator. However, if you find this monitor too expensive, you can get other lower-cost 4k displays, like the Dell S2722QC, which has a smaller USB hub and less accurate colors.

See our recommendations for the best office monitors.

If you're looking for a multi-use monitor like the Acer Nitro XV275K P3biipruzx but are on a budget, take a look at the Acer Nitro XV275U P3biipx. The biggest advantage of the XV275U, especially against other low-cost monitors, is that it uses Mini LED backlighting, similar to the XV275K. This means it displays deep blacks in dark rooms, and highlights get bright, which is great for watching content in HDR. It even gets bright enough to fight glare if you want to use it in a well-lit room.

However, since it's a budget option, it doesn't perform as well as the XV275K in a few ways. It has a lower resolution, so text and images don't look as sharp and detailed. It also has worse viewing angles, so it isn't as good for sharing your screen with others. Lastly, although it has gaming features like a 170Hz refresh rate, motion doesn't look as sharp as on the XV275K, and there's smearing behind fast-moving objects. Regardless, it's still a good option for various uses, especially if you're on a budget.

See our recommendations for the best budget and cheap monitors.

If you don't want to spend a lot of money on a high-end monitor, you can still get some versatile options for a cheap price. A great example of this is the Dell G2724D, which you can buy for a cheap price directly through Dell's website. However, it has considerably worse image quality than the Acer Nitro XV275U P3biipx, as it doesn't get bright enough for highlights to pop in HDR, and deep blacks look gray in a dark room. However, this is what you have to expect, especially given how much less it costs.

The Dell is still a great monitor with a 27-inch, 1440p screen like the Acer. It gets bright enough to easily overcome glare in a bright room and is extremely accurate before calibration, so it's a good choice if you're photo or video editing on a budget. Additionally, fast-moving objects look sharper than on the Acer, so it's a good choice for gaming.

See our recommendations for monitors under $200.