© Provided by T3 Best 4K monitor
In our guide to the best 4K monitors for 2021, you'll find the very best 4K monitors around, and the cheapest prices to buy them for.
The price of panels has dropped considerably in recent years, and that means that the best 4K monitors, as well as the best gaming monitors, aren't necessarily going to cost a fortune. No matter how big your budget or how big a 4K display you're looking for, we're confident that these budget, mid-range and premium 4K monitors will include the perfect monitor for you.
This guide to the best 4K monitors is for every platform, so for example our picks will work brilliantly with a MacBook Pro or a Dell XPS. If you're looking for a monitor specifically for the MacBook Pro, we also have a dedicated guide to the best monitors for MacBook Pro.
The higher amperage (amp) power supply will not have to work as hard to handle a smaller load, and will run cooler and more stable. If the Amperage of your device is uneven, such as 3.13A or 4.16A, always round up. 3.13A rounds up to a 3.5A adapter, a 4.16A device will round up to a 4.5A or a 5A. Analog Panel Meters Monitors Enlarge Mfr. Part # 85098-03. Mouser Part # 785-85098-03. Honeywell: Analog Panel Meters Monitors: Datasheet. 6 In Stock: 1: $195.03: 2. Analog Panel Meters 29 0-1 DCA 4.5' R Enlarge Mfr. Mouser Part # 529-00450. Simpson Electric Company: Analog Panel Meters 29 0-1 DCA 4.5' R.
These are 4K monitors for all kinds of people: pro users who like to game in their downtime, excellent all-rounders for home office or office use, budget bargains that deliver pin-sharp pixels without costing a fortune, and super-accurate panels for creative illustrators, video editors and designers.
We think all of the models in our best 4K monitors guide are worth serious consideration, but if you're in a hurry and want the tl;dr version we reckon that the Philips Brilliance 328P is the best screen for most people. But it's not the only great 4K monitor around and this guide can help you find what is perfect for you.
If you're also looking to upgrade your computer, check out our best laptops guide. If you're building a gaming setup, take a look at our best gaming keyboards and best gaming mouse. And anyone clocking up serious screen-time will appreciate a decent seat, and our best gaming chairs provide the comfort and support you need.
There are plenty of other fantastic 4K monitors in this guide, though, so read on for even more choices and for buying advice.
The best 4K monitors you can buy today
The HP Z27 not only looks fantastic – from the screen to the stand – it also comes with a USB-C port so you can charge your laptop (or your phone) while you're working. It's well worth a place in our round-up of the best 4K monitors, particularly if you're looking for something sleek for the office.
With a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 pixels, you've got plenty of room for those spreadsheets and webpages, but at a size that doesn't necessarily overwhelm a small or medium-sized desk. Obviously, something bigger will be more immersive, but not everyone needs something huge set up in the attic or study.
Another point worth mentioning is the excellent color accuracy on this model, making it one of the top choices out there for professionals working with images and videos on a regular basis. Really though, whatever you're using it for, the HP Z27 is a winner.
Eizo displays are a familiar sight in professional photography and video production studios, due to the company's well-deserved reputation for outstanding consistent color accuracy, with very little brightness deviation across the panel. As such, they're an obvious choice for the top slot in our best 4K monitor roundup.
The 31-inch Eizo ColorEdge CG319X continues this tradition, delivering a 149 ppi DCI 4K resolution 4,096 x 2,160 panel (a slightly taller 4K standard used in digital video production) that is ideal for any sort of high-end photo and video editing work, as well as general usage and gaming.
The monitor is also equipped with a raft of high-end features, too, such as how it is equipped with HLG (hybrid log-gamma) and the PQ (perceptual quantization) curve for displaying and editing HDR (high dynamic range) video content.
Meanwhile, its wide-gamut LED backlight reproduces 98% of the DCI-P3 standard used in digital cinema and it also covers 99% of the Adobe RGB color space, too, meaning that images will always be displayed correctly.
All these features come together to produce a simply jaw-dropping image in applications across the board, which is only matched by the CG319X's asking price. This serious piece of image editing hardware commands a seriously high premium, so it's really only for the professionals. However, if you can afford it and can justify the expense, then the Eizo ColorEdge CG319X is the best 4K monitor in the world.
Not everyone has a huge amount to spend on a pixel-packed monitor, which is something that South Korean maker Samsung realizes, with it 28-inch, 4K Samsung U28E590D ringing in for a fraction of some of the other monitors on the market.
Make no mistake, though, Samsung is, of course, renowned for the quality of its display tech, and that is evidenced even here, with the U28E590D delivering a super-fast 1ms response time, 170-degree viewing angles, a 1000:1 contrast ratio, and rock-solid connection options.
You don't get quite as many ports or quite as much size as you do on some other models, but the U28E590D cuts very few corners in hitting that fantastically low price point. Definitely worth a look for anyone shopping for a new 4K monitor on a budget.
We wouldn't say the BenQ EW3280U is the best monitor in any one particular area, but what it does do is offer something for creatives, gamers, casual users and professionals for a very reasonable price – it's perfect if you want your 4K display to wear a lot of different hats through the week.
The HDRi that is on board the BenQ EW3280U isn't technically an officially recognized HDR standard – rather it's BenQ's take on the same technology – but it does the job of keeping both light and dark areas of the screen in view. There's minimal ghosting, and the high resolution looks bright, vivid and sharp whether you're looking at a game or a movie.
And a word about the sound too: with speakers on either side and on the back, you get audio that's a cut above what you might expect for something at this size and at this price. Coming from BenQ, you are of course also getting the reliability and the solid build quality that the manufacturer is known for.
If you're looking for a 4K monitor with a curved screen then the Samsung U32R592 is the best choice on the market for most people. That's because it delivers an elegant, minimal bezel screen that has a deep 1,500R curvature that really helps draw you into the panel.
It's got the tech chops, too, and is certainly not just a pretty face. A resolution of 3,940x2160 is partnered with an impressive response time of 4ms, a contrast ratio of 2500:1 and some top-rate viewing angles, too. The screen is also a just-right 32-inches in size, meaning it will fit into almost every setup.
It's not got the biggest port array, with only HDMI, mini DisplayPort and 3.5mm audio connections possible, but unless this will be an issue (and we're guessing the vast majority of people will connect via HDMI), then the Samsung U32R592 certainly will not disappoint.
Sitting wonderfully in the gap between out and out gaming monitor and all-around premium 4K monitor powerhouse, the Acer Predator X27 delivers a fantastic system for both work and play.
Not only do you get an Ultra HD 4K screen here, but you get one that boasts an HDR peak brightness of 1,000 cd/m2, a response time of 4ms, and a refresh rate of 144Hz. That is an astounding combination of top monitor tech and it makes watching 4K HDR movies and playing today's best games a no-compromise pleasure.
The design is clean and modern, too, meaning that the monitor fits easily into an office, study or gaming room setup. Naturally, to get the most out of such a monitor you will need a powerful PC or games console, but if that is you and you can stretch to the X27's undoubtedly premium price point, then it comes very highly recommended.
There's so much to love about the Philips Momentum 436M6VBPAB that it is difficult to know where to start. It's a simply massive panel, measuring in at a TV-sized 43 inches, which means you're never strapped for space. Thanks to its 4K, DisplayHDR 1000 panel technology, too, the picture quality it delivers is also impressive, with up to 1000 nits of peak brightness accessible.
Elsewhere, the 3,840 x 2,160 resolution screen also comes with a gamer-focused 4 ms response time and Adaptive-Sync technology, which means input lag is moot and high-speed gaming sessions a super smooth, click-and-hope free experience. Naturally, thanks to the screen's Quantum Dot color tech, too, images and videos are presented naturally and with rich, vivid colors.
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Lastly, a wide selection of connection options, including DisplayPort and miniDisplayPort, HDMI and USB-C, means that hooking the monitor up is never an issue either, and its cost makes it very approachable to most shoppers as well.
The picture quality isn't absolutely the best-in-class in this guide, however, just like everything else about it, it is good and complements a strong all-around 4K monitor package that excels in delivering huge screen space.
The BenQ EW2780U comes with a special proprietary technology branded HDRi – the 'i' is for 'intelligent', we think – that apparently uses both the content on the screen and the ambient lighting to give you a better HDR experience, with no loss of detail in either the darkest or lightest parts of the picture.
In our experience, it's better than standard HDR in some cases but not in others, but there's not a huge amount in it (and you can at least turn it off if you don't like it). There are actually two HDRi modes, one for games and one for entertainment, so that's plenty of room to experiment.
Otherwise, this is another top quality monitor from BenQ, as you would expect from a manufacturer that's been in the business for years now. You'll have no problems at all with the build quality, initial setup and on-screen controls, and that's before you get to the spec of the monitor.
As well as 27 inches of space, you get a 4K resolution and a response time of 5ms – so you can conceivably use this display for gaming as well as for everything else. A good number of ports are included for a monitor this size as well, and the price is definitely on the reasonable side.
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Having fired up the BenQ EW2780U for a variety of movies as well as some everyday computer work, we can confirm it's a sharp, bright monitor that shows off content very well – whether that's a 4K stream from Netflix or an Excel spreadsheet – and definitely worth a place on your best 4K monitor shortlist.
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You're looking at a pixel resolution of 3,840 x 2,160, a screen size of 27 inches and a refresh rate of 60Hz with the LG 27UK650-W, and that puts it firmly in the all-purpose 4K monitor category – it's a screen that can be used for just about anything you can use a display for, and it's going to pass any test you give it with flying colors.
Up close and in use the LG 27UK650-W panel is bright and vibrant, with superb color reproduction and clarity. We'd be happy using this monitor for gaming, or for office work, or both, and there's support here for AMD Freesync variable refresh rate technology too, which is going to appeal to gamers.
In terms of looks, the monitor manages to be sleek and unfussy, and it's the sort of display design that can fit in just about everywhere. No matter what your desk setup or what you plan to do with it, the LG 27UK650-W is a 4K monitor that'll impress you.
And, do you know who else it impressed? The entire T3 Awards 2020 judging panel, with the LG27UK650-W winning the highly desirable Best 4K Monitor award. That shows you just what a quality monitor it really is.
There's no doubt that Dell knows what it's doing when it comes to electronics, and the UltraSharp U2718Q confirms that: this understated, high-quality 4K monitor impresses in just about every category, though it's a bit more suited to the demands of the professional than the gamer.
It certainly looks the part – check out those ultra-thin bezels and the minimal aesthetic of the stand. Color accuracy and port selection are good too, with two HDMI slots, a DisplayPort socket and a mini DisplayPort socket, and two USB 3.0 ports as well. Despite all this potential cabling, everything is kept neat and tidy around the back.
The best part of the Dell UltraSharp U2718Q is the picture you get, which is crisp and clear and vivid – it even makes spreadsheet work enjoyable. The screen can rotate around 90 degrees at an angle as well, if you need a more unconventional monitor setup.
If you're looking for a quality 4K panel that also specializes in maximizing desk space then this cleverly engineered Space Monitor from Samsung should be right at the top of your shopping list.
The magic-maker is the monitor's clamp system, which locks the monitor's flat stand to the rear of a desk very firmly, with a simple twist to lock system fixing it firmly in place. The monitor, which is completely bezel-less on three sides, then simply slots into the stand, where it can then be secured with a few screws. A snap-on backplate then hides this. Undistracted 1 42 download free.
The Space Monitor can then sit flush to the back of the desk, allowing it to sit right up against walls, as even the few cables that extend down from its ports can be cleverly routed through cable channels carved into the back of the stand. The stand is hinged at the base, too, and allows it to be brought forward and downward at any angle (zero-level HAS) until the base of the monitor sits flush with the table.
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Panel-wise, Samsung delivers a 3,840 x 2,160 resolution monitor with a 16:9 aspect ratio, typical brightness of 250 cd/m2 and a 2500:1 contrast ratio. Response time sits at 4ms (GTG), refresh rate at 60 Hz, and horizontal and vertical viewing angles at 178°. In other words, a quality and versatile 4K screen.
Are there other monitors available that offer similar viewing experiences? Absolutely. But there aren't any that deliver such a stunning, space-saving design. One of 2021's strongest 4K monitor choices.
Dell's latest high-end 31.5-inch 4K display packs in a lot of professional-grade features for superb color accuracy. It has a specification that almost rivals Eizo's monster CG318-4K (see above), as it hits 99% Adobe RGB coverage and 87% DCI-P3, delivering great picture quality.
While it costs a lot less than Eizo's offering, it's still a pricey prospect, though, which is to be expected of a large high-end 4K display in 2021. Nevertheless, if you want a premium 4K monitor but can't stretch to the Eizo, it's definitely worth a look.
Digital designers will be in hardware heaven with the BenQ PD3200U thanks to this 4K monitor being calibrated for super color accuracy, contrast and crisp image quality. The screen is also a bit of a whopper at 32 inches, leaving users plenty of real estate to play with.
As the screen is really designed for professionals, it also comes with a darkroom, CAD/CAM, and animation mode, keyboard video mouse and embedded SD/MMC card reader with support for SD/SDHC/SDXC/MMC.
It certainly costs a pretty penny and isn't much of a looker, but when its base functionality and features are so good, that doesn't matter so much if you're in the market for a top 4K monitor at the moment.
Since 4K is still quite a new technology, most of the displays in this list are pricier than a lot of non-4K displays – but Iiyama's 28-inch B2888UHSU is much more reasonable.
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It uses a TN panel with a 1ms response time, and although the viewing angles aren't quite as wide as you'll find with an IPS display, there are plenty of small extras that make the B2888UHSU a really good buy.
It has a copious number of video inputs, for example, a fully adjustable stand, and a picture-in-picture mode, as seen with other larger displays, so you can use two devices simultaneously with this monitor.
If you have a slim, modern laptop you probably don't have many ports to connect things to – and that means this Dell 4K monitor could be the perfect solution. It has a built-in USB 3.2 Gen 1 hub with 65W power delivery, 2 downstream USB 3 ports and 2 USB 2 ones, enabling you to connect your laptop via a single cable and access multiple accessories without lots of hassle or an additional hub. It has an always-on mode so you can continue to charge connected devices even when the display is off.
The IPS panel has excellent viewing angles and the monitor can be tilted, swiveled and height-adjusted by a maximum of 5.9 inches, and it has Dell's ComfortView to reduce blue light. If you're feeling flush the ultra-thin bezel lends itself well to a twin-display setup, and while it doesn't include its own speakers it's designed alongside an optional soundbar, the Dell Slim Soundbar.
How to choose the best 4K monitor for you
It's really important to do your research when choosing the best 4K monitor for you. From refresh rates to adaptive-sync capabilities, be sure you know exactly what these features are and whether they'll influence your decision before you make it. A little research goes a long way when investing in new tech.
To this end, below our list of top 4K monitors we've included some advice that should help you narrow down and determine what UHD screens you should be looking for, and ensure you land a panel that you'll be impressed with.
The natural successor to 1080p screens and televisions is of course 4K, which is also marketed as Ultra HD (UHD). There are four times as many pixels, which means four times as much detail.
Movies look good at 1080p, but in 4K the picture really gets to that breathtaking level – and as long as your PC can handle the processing demands, playing games on a 4K display is an amazing experience, too.
When choosing a monitor, you need to take into consideration factors such as color gamut and response time, the latter being a reflection on how good the panel will be for gaming (the faster the better).
You also – naturally – need to work out which panel size you need. 27-inch displays are the sweet spot for us, although you can get some excellent deals on larger displays, too.
Who makes the best 4K monitors?
There are loads of quality 4K monitor makers in business today producing panels at both the budget and premium ends of the market. Naturally, certain manufacturers tend to lean toward different pricing brackets, but almost all will offer something for most usage cases.
The best 4K monitor makers, from T3's experience of reviewing and ranking 4K monitors are:
- Samsung
- Dell
- Philips
- Acer
- HP
- BenQ
- LG
These makers have show T3 with stylish panels, excellent build quality and advanced panel tech and features that in almost all circumstances when they introduce a new Ultra HD monitor then it's going to be a good one.
