In the early days of the pandemic, I bought a new monitor when my wife joined me in working from home and our dining room turned into a home office. I waffled between a 27-inch QHD and a 32-inch UHD display, each of which provides a sufficiently sharp image for the size of the panel at an approachable price. I opted for a 27-inch QHD monitor (quad HD or 2,560×1,440-pixel resolution) that didn’t cost less than $300, but I came close to pulling the trigger on a 32-inch UHD display (ultra HD or 3,840×2,160 pixels) that offered more room and more pixels for only a bit more money.
Between these two sizes, you can find a display to fit your desk space, work needs and budget. Creative pros and gamers with concerns about color gamut and refresh rates will require a higher-end display than you’ll see here, but these models are large enough for most needs with sufficient pixel density to produce a sharp image.
Check out CNET’s monitor buying guide for more, and check out the best deals I currently see among 27-inch QHD and 32-inch UHD displays. I’ll keep this story updated as pricing fluctuates and I uncover better deals.
Best 27-inch monitor deals
These 27-inch models offer a QHD resolution that you might also see referred to as 2K. They offer more screen real estate and better resolution for not much more money than a 24-inch, FHD (full HD or 1,920×1,080 pixels) display. You might also encounter 27-inch 4K displays, but in my experience, a QHD resolution is more than adequate when stretched across a 27-inch panel.
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LG
This is the model I ended up buying on Amazon after shopping around. I got it near its current price of $247. It’s an IPS panel with a QHD resolution, a rated 350 nits of brightness and thin screen bezels. I like the simple stand, although I wish it offered height support. Most monitors at this price, however, don’t offer such an adjustment, so I can live without it. It doesn’t have internal speakers, but those are generally terrible and not something I’d ever use when I have a Bluetooth speaker in my home office. It has one DisplayPort and two HDMI ports, giving us the flexibility to connect to a variety of PCs and laptops. I’ve got no complaints about its image, which I find to be sufficiently bright and crisp. The 32-inch version of this monitor is also tempting at its current price of $280.
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Newegg
This Acer model is on sale, making it cheaper than the LG above, and shares many of the same specs — both are IPS panels with HDMI and DisplayPort connections and rated for 350 nits of brightness — but this Acer adds integrated speakers and AMD FreeSync, which syncs the monitor’s refresh rate (up to 75Hz in this case) with the frame rate of your PC’s graphics card for stutter-free gaming. To be clear, FreeSync does not make this Acer a gaming display, but it will provide smooth gameplay up to to 75 frames per second.
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Newegg
Wanna spend even less? You can get this 27-inch Pixio monitor for only $230 at its current sale price. It features a QHD resolution along with AMD FreeSync and a speedy 144Hz refresh rate if you want to use it for gaming in addition to work. It’s rated for an ample 400 nits of brightness so it should be a bit brighter than the Acer and LG models above.
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Viewsonic
The highlight of this ViewSonic model is its USB 3.2 Type-C port, which means you can connect a MacBook and other laptops with a USB-C port (but not HDMI) to the monitor without an adapter or special conversion cable. It also supplies both HDMI and DisplayPort connections along with AMD FreeSync and is rated for 300 nits of brightness. This model is currently out of stock on Amazon.
Best 32-inch monitor deals
The next step up in size, resolution and price from a 27-inch QHD display is a 32-inch UHD display. UHD is also commonly referred to as 4K.
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Newegg
This Samsung model has a relatively low max brightness of 270 nits, making it a better fit for a basement den or otherwise low-light room than for a sun-drenched office. It features AMD FreeSync, two HDMI ports, one DisplayPort and a headphone jack, but no USB ports. It’s currently $100 off to drop its price to a very reasonable $300.
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Samsung
This Samsung sale model stands out from the 32-inch UHD pack here because it features a USB Type-C port, which means you can connect a MacBook and other laptops with a USB-C port to the monitor without an adapter or special conversion cable. It also offers a pair of HDMI connections along with integrated speakers and a remote control. It’s rare to find a USB-C monitor at this size and resolution for this low a price. The downside? It’s rated for only 250 nits of brightness.
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Acer/Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
Like the other 32-inch displays here, this Acer model features a vertical alignment panel. VA panels typically offer better contrast ratios for deeper blacks and brighter whites than in-plane switching, or IPS, panels at the cost of viewing angles. It’s rated for a sufficient 3,000:1 contrast ratio and 300 nits of brightness. For ports, you get two HDMI 2.0 ports and one DisplayPort 1.2 connection. It also supplies a pair of 2-watt stereo speakers. It’s $140 off right now at Newegg.
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Dell
At 32 inches, a curved display starts to become an option and not just for gamers. A curved display lets you sit closer without needing to crane your head as much to see the whole screen. This curved Dell display features a gentle 1,800R curvature along with AMD FreeSync and integrated speakers. It also boasts a wealth of adjustability with tilt, swivel and height adjustment. It has a bounty of connectivity with two HDMI ports, one DisplayPort connection, two USB-A ports, a USB-B port and headphone jack. And it’s currently $150 off.
