Best Budget Monitors 2024: recommended for your budget

Not too long ago, even the best Budget monitors had a bad name because they had bad color accuracy, wobbly stands that couldn’t be adjusted, and ugly designs. But things have changed, and now you can get a high-quality panel that looks expensive for less than £300. The problem is that there are hundreds of products that all say they are the best monitor for your budget. Even at this low end of the price range, it’s very important to choose the right monitor. If you don’t, you’ll be stuck with a screen that will hurt your eyes, test your patience, and break within a few months.

Our buying guide tells you what to look for before you spend a lot of money so you can make a good choice. If you keep scrolling, you’ll see a list of our favorite cheap monitors. If you’re a big gamer, though, you should read our separate article on how to choose the best budget monitor. Gamers have a very different set of priorities. If you have a small budget, you no longer have to get a small monitor. There are now a lot of options between 22in and 27in, and some even go over 30in.

But there’s more to think about than just panel size; resolution is a key factor. For example, a 22-inch monitor with Full HD resolution will look very clear, while a 27-inch monitor with the same resolution will look softer and more pixelated because it has fewer pixels per inch (PPI). To put it in numbers, a 22-inch Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) monitor has 100 pixels per inch, while a 32-inch Full HD panel only has 69 pixels per inch, which is 30% less.

Benefits of Owning a Budget Monitor

Cost-effectiveness: A budget monitor’s most obvious benefit is that it is cheap. These monitors are less expensive than high-end models, which makes them a great choice for people on a tight budget or who want to get more for their money.

Entry-Level Performance: Even though modern budget monitors are easy on the wallet, they often do a good job for everyday tasks like web browsing, document editing, and watching videos. They are good enough for both casual users and students.

Ideal for Multiple Displays: Budget monitors are a good way to set up multiple displays without spending a lot of money. Users can increase the size of their screens to be more productive or to play games better without spending a lot of money.

Energy efficiency: Many low-cost monitors are made with energy-saving features, like LED backlighting and power-saving modes, to help save money on electricity. Because of this, they use less power, which means lower electricity bills and less damage to the environment.

Space-saving: Budget monitors come in different sizes, including small ones that are great for people who don’t have much room on their desks or who want a second screen for their laptops or smaller workstations.

Best Budget Monitors Comparison Table

The best budget monitors are important for people who don’t want to spend a lot of money but still want a good display solution. They are a good mix of price and performance, which makes them available to more people.

Gigabyte M27Q

If you want a cheap monitor with a bigger 27-inch screen, you can get one like the Dell G2722HS that costs less than $100. It’s different from the ASUS VG246H because it’s made more for games than for general work use. Because of this, it’s less comfortable to use and has less accurate colors than the ASUS VG246H. But because it has a higher refresh rate of 165Hz, this is a great choice if you’re just getting into PC gaming and don’t want to spend much on your first game monitor. It does a great job with moving images and has a fast response time across the whole range of its frame rate. No matter how fast you play games, the touch lag is low. Overall, this is one of the Best Budget Monitors you can suggest you friends.

As expected for a cheap monitor, it doesn’t have many extra features, but it does have features that most game monitors have, like a dark stabilizer that makes it easier to see your opponents. Due to its low contrast ratio, it’s not a good choice for gaming in a dark room, but it’s good if you want to use it in a room with a few lights on. It has a good peak brightness, enough to stop glare, and it does a great job with reflections. Still, it is one of the best budget monitors that you can buy.

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Dell G2724D

The Dell G2724D is a great choice for people who are on a budget but don’t want to sacrifice quality. It has a nice look, clear motion at 165Hz, and a wide range of Adaptive Sync support, all of which help to give you an immersive gaming experience at a price you can afford.

The IPS LCD screen is 27 inches and has a 1440p resolution and a 165Hz refresh rate. Also, the color gamut covers 100% of sRGB, 86% of DCI-P3, and 82% of Adobe RGB, so you can expect a bright, colorful image that works well in games and is good enough for most content creation. All of these things are good reasons to like this monitor, but its official support for VESA Adaptive Sync, AMD FreeSync Premium, and Nvidia G-Sync is its best feature. Currently, this is one of the Best Budget Monitors.

It also has a nice look, with a matte black and gray chassis and sporty vents on the back that make it look aggressive without being too loud. It also comes with a monitor stand that can be adjusted for comfort and has a small base so it doesn’t take up too much space on your desk.

There are a few bad things to keep in mind. The monitor doesn’t have 3.5mm audio out or USB connectivity. Also, the HDR performance isn’t great, so gamers who need HDR might want to look elsewhere. Still, it’s hard to beat the G2724D’s performance for $300 or less, and more importantly, it has everything the average PC gamer will need for a smooth, responsive, and attractive gaming experience. Even though it’s cheap, it’s a great monitor that could sit on your desk for five to ten years.

Acer K273

The Acer K273 is now our favorite monitor for under $300. This 27-inch IPS screen has a 1080p resolution and a refresh rate of 74Hz. It also works with AMD FreeSync and has controls for overdrive for gamers. The back of the monitor only has HDMI and VGA ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a stand that tilts 15 degrees backwards. But it’s incredibly cheap and does what it says it will do. Overall, this is one of the Best Budget Monitors.

For a cheap panel, the K273 did very well in our tests. It covered a good amount of the sRGB color gamut and was also pretty accurate. The IPS panel has good viewing angles and handles motion well, which is good news for gamers. It also has a relatively high peak brightness (263cd/m2) and contrast (1010:1), which is also good news. Overall, this is a great low-cost buy for both work and play.

BenQ GW2785TC

We talk a lot about monitors that give you the best value for your money, and the BenQ GW2785TC is by far the best one we’ve seen. This 27-inch 1080p panel has a huge number of features and an RRP that will blow your mind. The stand is fully adjustable, with support for portrait mode, 130mm of height adjustment, 45° of left/right swivel, and 20° of tilt backwards. On the back, there is a USB-C port, an HDMI 1.4 port, a DP 1.2 “in” port, and a DP 1.2 “out” port, which lets you connect a second monitor in a daisy chain.

The panel is accurate and has a wide range of colors. It can show 95.6% of the sRGB color gamut, and its Delta E is small enough that any mistakes are hard to see. You won’t have to deal with a dim, washed-out picture, either. The GW2785TC had a peak luminance of 272cd/m2 and a contrast ratio of 1,165:1. We could go on, but the point is simple: this monitor’s ridiculously low price makes everything about it even more impressive. If you want something similar but a little bit smaller, we suggest the 24in GW2485TC from BenQ. It’s the same except for the size of the screen and the price, which is a little bit less. Overall, this is one of the Best Budget Monitors that you can buy right now.

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AOC U32P2

The AOC U32P2 is a very good deal for the money. This 32-inch 4K monitor makes the most of its high resolution with a large MVA panel that avoids the problems that come with vertical alignment panel technology. This panel is bright, reaching over 400 nits on test, and it’s also pretty accurate: we measured a high of 99% sRGB coverage with an average Delta E of just 1.09. Those are very good results for a monitor that usually costs less than £379 (but the price has gone up because there aren’t as many of them). Overall, it is one of the Best Budget Monitors that you can buy.

The U32P2 keeps impressing in other ways as well. With 90 degrees of pivot, 150mm of height adjustment, 22 degrees of backward tilt, and 180 degrees of swivel in either direction (so you can turn the screen all the way around), this is one of the most ergonomic monitors we’ve tested.

The number of ports is just as impressive, with only USB-C missing from the back of the screen. You are left with a hub with four USB-A ports, two HDMI 2 ports, one DP 1.4 port, and a headphone jack, just in case. Yes, 60Hz peak refresh rate and 4ms response time might not make gamers drool, but for almost everyone else, this 4K monitor is an unbeatable deal.

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ViewSonic VA2456-MHD

The 24-inch, 1080p ViewSonic VA2456-MHD has the best contrast ratio of any budget monitor we tested. It has darker blacks, which make games, movies, and web browsing look a little bit better. The color accuracy of this model right out of the box isn’t good enough for professional photo and video work, but it’s good enough for everything else and better than many of the other models we tested. Still, it is one of the Best Budget Monitors that you can consider.

The VA2456-MHD has both HDMI and DisplayPort connections, while most cheap monitors only have one or the other. It also has a modern design and a stand that doesn’t wobble too much, though it only tilts up and down like most cheap monitors. The built-in speakers aren’t great, but they work fine for YouTube videos or the bleeps and bloops of your operating system. ViewSonic backs the monitor with a three-year warranty and a good replacement policy for panels with dead or stuck pixels.

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Tips for Finding Deals and Discounts on Budget Monitors

Sign up for newsletters: Sign up for newsletters from stores that sell monitors online and in person. They often send special deals and discounts to people who sign up for their emails.

Follow Social Media Accounts: Check out the social media accounts of tech retailers and manufacturers. They sometimes use social media to announce flash sales or deals that are only available for a short time.

Comparison shopping: Use a website or app that lets you compare prices from different stores to find the best deal. This will help you find the best deals and cheapest prices on monitors that are within your budget.

Check Deal Websites: Deal websites and forums that focus on tech deals should be checked often. Monitor deals are often found on sites like Slickdeals, TechBargains, and r/buildapcsales on Reddit.

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