Many popular monitor lines are updated at least once a year, which leaves a good number of unsold models to go on sale when the holidays come around. While manufacturers may refresh the product lines slightly, there are rarely huge differences from year to year, and most consumers will be pleased with a monitor released several months ago.
With that in mind, there’s a good selection of entry-level and mid-range computer monitors seeing a deep discount for the holiday season. Quite a few of them are already on sale, and some will likely remain discounted through the post-Thanksgiving shopping season.
Which PC monitor is right for you depends largely on how you’ll use it. If you only plan to use it sporadically for checking email and browsing social media, you can probably get by with something highly affordable. Office and remote workers who stare at a screen all day will benefit from something with a reasonable resolution, better-than-average refresh rate and possibly an integrated blue light filter to promote eye health.
If you like to play intense video games, be on the lookout for something with a high resolution and refresh rate capable of getting the most out of your video card. Finally, photo and video professionals need monitors with extremely wide color gamuts and support for accurate calibration, so they know that what they see on their screen is the same thing their client will see on their screen or on a print.
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This might be the best budget-friendly gaming monitor out there, sporting a 144Hz variable refresh rate that’s compatible with G-Sync and FreeSync. While it sports only a 1080p resolution, that looks surprisingly crisp on a 24-inch screen. Its native contrast ratio is above average, and the 1800R curvature makes games that much more immersive.
Sold by Amazon
There aren’t many high-quality 4K monitors available at this price, and you won’t have to sacrifice much in terms of general performance if you take advantage of this great deal. Its slim bezel makes it a pleasure to look at, and the small footprint means it doesn’t take up a ton of desk space. It even supports HDR10 content, which is rare in this price range. There’s also a 32-inch version if you need more real estate for working or playing.
Sold by Amazon
Some portable monitors are of questionable quality and reliability, but not this one. UPerfect has made dependable portable displays for a while now, and this one represents just about the best one they’ve released yet. Its 10-bit panel can reach 500 nits of brightness and occupy nearly all of both the DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB color spaces. Even the most premium laptops usually can’t make all of those impressive claims. To top it all off, it’s less than 0.2-inch thick and weighs under 1.5 pounds.
Sold by Amazon
As you can probably tell, this is not technically a computer monitor. However, at 43 inches, it can deliver a vast amount of space for gaming or productivity in the proper setup. It’s best used with a recently released graphics card that can take advantage of its HDMI 2.1 ports and 4K resolution at 120Hz. If you run your entire entertainment center using a home theater PC or just really like losing yourself in the fantastic visuals of modern AAA games, this deal is hard to pass up right now.
Sold by Amazon
Despite its moderate price (which is even more attractive with a Black Friday discount), this one has the specifications needed to get the most out of some seriously powerful gaming rigs. It’s 27 inches, the 1440p panel can display up to 165 FPS using the DisplayPort and it has a peak brightness of 400 nits, which is noticeably better than the subpar brightness of most other mid-range gaming monitors. If you’re the owner of a 1000 or 2000-series GeForce graphics card, it’s hard to pass this one up, as its pixel density ensures you probably won’t be able to make out individual pixels from across a desk.
Sold by Dell
A lot of people who work all day on a computer find the 27-inch size class to offer the best balance of computer desktop space and a compact footprint. This one is especially compact because, unlike many 27-inch monitors on sale right now, it’s actually flat rather than curved. Its 1440p resolution lets you get plenty of information on the screen and even place two windows side by side without missing too much or seeing any pixelation.
Sold by Dell
This one is engineered specifically for gamers who love high frame rates and smooth motion and hate tearing and stuttering. It boasts a 240Hz refresh rate as well as Nvidia and AMD VRR support. It’s a great and full-featured monitor aside from just its refresh rate, though, with above-average peak brightness, built-in USB 3.0 hub, four-way stand adjustment and integrated cable management to help keep your desk free from clutter. Alternatively, the Dell S2522HG offers a faster USB hub, a higher peak brightness and a lower price, with the only tradeoff being it’s 2 inches smaller than the Alienware.
Sold by Dell
If you’ve never used a 21:9 ultrawide monitor before, you might be surprised at just how different they look and feel from a standard 16:9 display. To be sure, they’re marketed squarely at gamers, and this premium offering from Dell does not disappoint, with a high refresh rate and relatively impressive DisplayHDR 400 certification for high brightness and a wide color gamut. Gaming aside, though, an ultrawide monitor can greatly increase productivity when studying, researching, writing, coding or performing similar information-heavy tasks. However, keep in mind that it requires a significant amount of space on your desk or an especially rugged monitor stand.
Sold by Dell
Maybe you don’t need something fancy with an Ultra HD resolution or blazing-fast refresh rate. Maybe all you need is something that displays text and image reliably as part of a budget-friendly PC build or as a secondary display for plugins or chat rooms while you’re working or playing. In that case, consider this spartan 22-inch Dell monitor, which is about as affordable as a reliable PC monitor gets these days.
Sold by Dell
There aren’t a ton of gaming monitors out there like this one. In fact, it’s among the few 1440p models that can produce up to 240 FPS, which makes for not only a perfectly crisp image but also movement that’s so smooth it looks almost like real life. Thanks to the top-level AMD FreeSync support that helps offload HDR processing to lesser-used graphics processor components, owners of powerful AMD Radeon RX GPUs will love it. Speaking of HDR performance, its 90% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space makes compatible games look great, especially now that Windows has slowly started to iron out the difficulties it had in the past with HDR content.
Sold by HP
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Chris Thomas writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
