Best budget monitors for 2024

You don't have to spend a fortune to upgrade your desk setup. An investment in an affordable monitor can bring many benefits, including a boost in productivity and an elevated gaming experience. 

A larger display, or one that's curved for a more immersive computing experience, can also improve your desk ergonomics, which will go a long way if you plan on spending hours every day in front of your PC. These budget-friendly picks are among the best affordable monitors available today. 

Summary

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Investing in a monitor is one of the most important desktop upgrades you can make to help you improve productivity and ensure an ergonomic experience that reduces the potential for neck, shoulder, and back injury while on the job. Though you can spend in excess of a thousand dollars on a premium panel, distilling the features you actually need and want will help to keep you on budget.

When shopping for a budget panel, you should consider the display size. A larger panel can help you fit more on the screen while changing the panel's aspect ratio can help to make the content you're viewing more immersive. Traditional FHD and UHD panels come in a 16:9 aspect ratio, but there are wider monitors, like WQHD and UWQHD displays, which can be even better for multitasking and gaming. Many of these panels are curved, and the effect is the equivalent of running two displays together side by side, creating an immersive experience. 

Resolution is also another significant factor that affects pricing. Traditionally, 4K monitors are more priced at a premium compared to lower FHD and QHD resolution panels. However, with technological advancements, you can still find 4K panels at a more modest price, especially if you're not looking for a large display over 30 inches. 

Gamers will want to focus on gaming panels that deliver fast refresh rates, measured in hertz, and quick response times, measured in milliseconds. Refresh rates start at around 60Hz these days, and creatives will want more color-accurate panels that will support the sRGB or DCI-P3 color spaces, like the ASUS ProArt Display on our list. 

And finally, if you're after an ergonomic setup, be sure to choose a display with a stand that can raise and lower your monitor, in addition to the basic tilt and swivel adjustments, which will help move your screen at eyesight and reduce any neck or back strain. Blue light controls and flicker-free screen tech can also help reduce eye strain.

Chuong Nguyen

Chuong's passion for gadgets began with the humble PDA. Since then, he has covered a range of consumer and enterprise devices, raning from smartphones to tablets, laptops to desktops and everything in between for publications like Pocketnow, Digital Trends, Wareable, Paste Magazine, and TechRadar in the past before joining the awesome team at Windows Central. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, when not working, he likes exploring the diverse and eclectic food scene, taking short jaunts to wine country, soaking in the sun along California's coast, consuming news, and finding new hiking trails.