Best Monitors We’ve Tested Through 2024

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$450 at Innocn

Innocn 40C1R monitor on a flat blue background

Best big screen on a budget

Innocn 40C1R

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$1,499 at Amazon

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For the all-Mac creator

Apple Studio Display

, such as the Alienware 34 models and others; there are a lot more of these now. It’s pricey at just under $1,000 but it has great image quality, excellent color and class-leading gaming performance. It’s also widescreen, which is a perk for work.

A bigger screen but for a lot less is Innocn’s 40-inch 40C1R at $450. It’s not nearly as good, but it’s good enough all around — especially if you can find it when the price dips. 

If you need advice on whether a particular type of monitor is right for you, there are some answers to common questions at the bottom of the list and a lot more guidance available in our general monitor and gaming monitor buying guides.

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The combination of OLED with Samsung’s Quantum Dot color technology makes this Alienware 34-inch a standout. With great gaming performance and quality, terrific color and tonal accuracy (notably in the dark shadow areas, where OLED is weak), true HDR support, a USB hub, a solid set of controls and an above-average three-year warranty against burn-in, it really is hard to beat. It’s not perfect: It doesn’t have speakers, though the ones built into monitors tend to be pretty lame, and I’m not thrilled with the design of the connector layout and cable management, to mention a couple nitpicks. But it’s certainly a top all-around choice.

In September 2023, Alienware announced a followup model, the AW3423DWF, which is slightly less expensive and essentially the same panel, but instead of G-Sync, it supports FreeSync Pro and VESA Adaptive-Sync, two DP connectors and one HDMI versus the opposite on the older model and 120Hz VRR when hooked up to a console. There might be some other tweaks since it loses the extra overhead of the G-Sync silicon (for instance, it supposedly can mount closer to a wall with a VESA mount).

Read our Alienware 34 QD-OLED (AW3423DW) review.

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