Best monitors under $200 you can get right now

If you suddenly have a tight budget, you can still find a decent monitor for less than $ 200. But act quickly if you find a cheap monitor you want thanks to so many people right now to work from home, they go in and out of camp like Black Friday Door knocker. Or discontinued and gone like the Acer G246HYL, which was one of the first monitors with monitors under $ 200 that we originally bought to try. We are working on another test round for a future update.

When buying a budget monitor, be sure to check the list of items in the box. Make sure there are no missing items that would push the price above this threshold, such as B. a stand or suitable cables. The stand may not be a problem if you plan to use the VESA mount to attach it to a wall or arm. In this case, however, you should make sure that the mounting screws on the back of the monitor match yours: the majority of these screws have 100 x 100 mm brackets, although in some cases they don’t support a VESA bracket at all.

Do you have a mac If it’s an old MacBook and it has one HDMI Port or a iMac or Mac MiniYou will have no problem. An adapter or a cable with integrated conversion is required for more modern MacBooks with USB-C / Thunderbolt 3 ports. You may also need to experiment with the resolution and scale settings in Mac OS, since it natively prefers an aspect ratio of 16:10, not the 16: 9 aspect ratio, which is much more popular on Windows.

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If you’re not a hardcore gamer or creative professional, many of the most technical specifications – such as color gamut and latency – aren’t really important to you (and you should always take them with a grain of salt anyway).

For the money, you can generally expect to get:

• A maximum resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels (referred to by marketers as “Full HD resolution” and also referred to as 1080p or 2K because of its approximately 2,000 pixels). Under 27 inches that’s fine. At 27 inches or larger, it’s not great except in an important case. The reason why you buy a 27-inch monitor over a 24-inch monitor is usually because you want to fit more on it. However, when the same number of pixels are used, everything just gets bigger – it no longer appears on the screen. And because it spreads them out on a bigger screen, some people (like me) can be annoyed to see the pixel grid. I find a pixel density (the number of pixels per inch or ppi) of at least 90 a good balance, but YMMV. The exception? If you actually need text that should be larger, e.g. B. if you have a visual impairment.
• A stand that allows you to tilt the computer monitor and not raise or lower it.
• While there can be one or two larger ones, the monitors usually go up to 27 inches.
• Between 250 and 350 nits of brightness. That should be fine for most applications.
• Up to 75 Hz refresh rate for an IPS monitor (which stands for in-plane switching) or 144 Hz refresh rate for a TN (Twisted Nematic). A high refresh rate is important if you want to play a lot of FPS, races, fights or other motion sensitive games. An IPS monitor is better for general use because it is superior for off-angle viewing and usually has a better color. The fastest IPS monitor you can find for the money is 75 Hz. A TN monitor is better for fast gaming and a better gaming experience. It has a higher contrast ratio, but a poorer viewing angle – color accuracy and contrast change as you move farther away.
• Many of these inexpensive monitors support AMD’s FreeSync adaptive update technology, which works with AMD’s GPUs to synchronize game frame rates with the display.
• If it comes with built-in speakers, don’t assume they will replace real standalone versions. They are sometimes better than expected, but think of the speakers as a nice asset for basic system sounds or video conferencing, and consider it a stroke of luck if they are satisfactory for entertainment. (I was relatively impressed with the speakers in the BenQ EW series.)
• A curved monitor that fits a wide display into your field of vision without having to sit back too far is not worth paying for monitors that are 27 inches or less in size. then the bezels are too wide in your field of vision. A possible exception is if you want to use three identical monitors for gameplay. Then they wrap around you better than three flat screens.

If you increase your budget to $ 200-300, you get more 32-inch options and a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440. And the more you’re willing to spend, the more you’ll likely find something in stock and ready to ship.

Continue reading: Best speakerphone in 2020 for working from home

BenQ

If you’re looking for a cheap, attractive FHD monitor with built-in speakers that don’t suck, this should be on your shortlist. They’re barely audiophile, but they’re decent enough to watch movies, stream music while you work, or listen to podcasts, and they can get loud enough (without distortion) to be heard from a distance. And possibly loud enough to annoy your upstairs neighbors (who annoy you by galloping around the clock). It has three HDMI 2.0 inputs with HDCP 2.2 – most cheap monitors have two at most – although most people really don’t need that many. Additional benefits include a 75 Hz update with AMD FreeSync technology, audio profiles, the ability to change gamma, and a mode that maps colors to compensate for color blindness. It is not an HDR monitor, but it can fake it as much as possible due to its technological limitations.

Despite all the setting options, the screen is not as bright and the screen display can be frustratingly shaky – the up and down arrows for navigation swap the directions at random. And because it’s 27 inches and 1080p, it has a visible pixel grid on white areas. In addition, you can only tilt the screen, not raise or lower it.

LG

The LG is a solid, attractive all-purpose choice with some gaming advantages. Although I would hardly call it a gaming monitor, it offers features for a good gaming experience, such as the ability to override response time, a 1 ms mode to reduce motion blur, and an optional crosshair in the middle. It’s a bit brighter than most others and there’s a photo mode that seems to improve color accuracy. In addition to the two HDMIs, it has a VGA connector (though this is not uncommon in this price range) if you have a really old device to plug in.

This goes in and out quickly. So when you need it, you want it (to play or work) and you see it, don’t wait until you buy it. It can be ordered from B & H until at least July 2.

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This LED monitor is a great option if you’re tired of working and blinking on a small laptop screen. The thin bezels and built-in power supply of the display make it streamlined and neat, and you pretty much see the entire screen. The base allows you to tilt – there is no height adjustment – and has a hole for cable routing so that you can route the power cord and a VGA or HDMI cable to the inputs on the back (power and HDMI cables are included contain).

Along with the screen size and design, you get a refresh rate of 75 Hz, a response time of 4 ms, and FreeSync support, which is slightly better for games and fast-moving videos than for an average office monitor. On the other hand, a non-exciting color performance and a brightness that is apparently below the specification only undercut this for this use. It is good for mixed use, even if it is not outstanding in any area. This is also the end of the way for functions. So if you want things like built-in speakers or a webcam or VESA mounting holes, you have to look elsewhere.

Josh Goldman / CNET

My dining table has served as my desk many times. But because we’re still eating there, it can’t be a permanent desk with an external monitor. Enter this small portable USB-C display from Auzai, which quickly enlarges my screen space, but just as easily folds up to keep it or to travel to a far away country (also known as my living room).

For example, although it’s only a 15.6-inch display, it’s great for opening and viewing email or Slack, playing a video while you work, or viewing documents or other files side by side. It’s also a great companion for a two-in-one laptop like the 15.6-inch Samsung Galaxy Book Flex in the picture above (left). Put the Flex in display mode and connect a keyboard and mouse. You have an advanced desktop setup with two screens.

The display can be connected via USB-C or HDMI. A mini HDMI to HDMI cable and a USB-C to USB-C cable are included. There are built-in stereo speakers and a 3.5mm audio output when you want to connect headphones to the screen – functions that make more sense when you connect it to a game console or other HDMI device.

As with others on this list, the color performance is fine and the brightness is suitable for indoor use. However, if you need something portable or just don’t have space for a normal external display, this Auzai display is worth the investment.