Dell UltraSharp 32 Video Conferencing Monitor (U3223QZ)
Work’s strength
While money is still tight for a lot of people, the days of desperately searching for a $200 projector for everyone in a family that suddenly works and learns at home are long gone. The good news is that prices are generally coming down and better technologies — notably OLED and HDR with local dimming thanks to mini LED backlighting — are becoming more widely available for desktop monitors.
Now you have time to consider whether the emergency purchase you made two years ago still fits your needs. (Has your cloistered interest in gaming or design changed your priorities?) And have time to budget for the widescreen monitor you’ve been watching.
Read more: How to buy a gaming monitor
What is the best screen?
As with many categories of tech products, “best” can be subjective no matter how objective the test is. For example, I prioritize color accuracy over delicate edges and elegant curves. So I tend to refer to my top picks as “favourites” (or “top picks”) rather than “best”. And while expensive monitors aren’t necessarily better than cheaper monitors, you’ll usually have to spend more or make compromises, especially for monitors that are more specialized for color work or gaming.
With that in mind, my favorite public pool projector I’ve tested this year is the Alienware 34 QD-OLED. It’s $1,100, but it has great picture quality, excellent color, and class-leading gaming performance. It’s also a wide screen, which is an advantage for the business.
Bigger screen but much less The 40-inch 40C1R from Innocn At $600. It’s not nearly as good, but it’s good enough all around – especially if you can find it when the price drops.
I want you to know that between remote work and moving to new offices, there has been a slow ramp-up this year of testing and screen reviews, but you can start to expect a more consistent review schedule and updates to this list.
If you need advice on whether a particular type of projector is right for you, there are some answers to frequently asked questions at the bottom of the list and plenty of guidance available at our site. In Monitor And gaming screen Buying guides.
The combination of OLED and Samsung’s Quantum Dot color technology makes the 34-inch Alienware a standout. With great gaming performance and quality, great color accuracy and tonality (especially in dark shadow areas, where OLED is weak), true HDR support, a USB hub, a solid set of controls and an above-average three-year burn-in warranty. Really hard to beat. It’s not perfect: It doesn’t have speakers, though the speakers built into monitors tend to be pretty weak, and I’m not thrilled with the connector layout design and cable management, to name a few. But it is definitely the best overall option.
In September, Alienware announced a follow-up model, the AW3423DWF, which will be less expensive at $1,100. As far as I can tell, it’s basically the same board, but instead of G-Sync, it supports FreeSync Pro and the new VESA Adaptive-Sync, two DP connectors and one HDMI for reverse on the old model and 120Hz VRR when hooked up to a console. There may be some other tweaks as it loses the extra load of G-Sync silicone (eg it supposedly can be mounted close to the wall with a VESA mount). It is expected to go on sale in the US in early November.
Read our Alienware 34 QD-OLED (AW3423DW) review.
The Innocn’s 40-inch flat screen trades some perks for value, making it a solid general-purpose monitor if you need a big screen for less and it’s okay with above-average, but not best-in-class, gaming or color-critical accuracy. Plus, it comes with VESA mount hardware in the box, which is convenient if you want to mount it on a wall or arm, and unlike a lot of its “value” competitors, it has a 90-watt USB-C connection.
Like many big screens for less, the Innocn has a fairly low resolution for its size — 3440 by 1440 pixels — but if you normally scale your display, it should fit. Gaming is solid, but if you play games with very fast motion, the moving artifacts might bother you. It handles refresh rates of 144Hz (DP) and 100Hz (HDMI). It has a lot of features that are either minimally effective or undocumented.
Read our Innocn 40C1R review.
One of the pet peeves with the majority of monitors is the location of all the connectors in a hard-to-reach recess. This isn’t a problem if you never have to access USB ports or switch video cables. But if you do, this HP stands out for its diamond angled back which basically puts all the connectors on the sides. It’s no slouch as a monitor, either. My unit needed a bit of tweaking to get to better color accuracy, but it was very good after that. And it’s great for both PC and console gaming, with support for 4K at 144Hz via DisplayPort and 4K/120Hz VRR compatible with consoles. Plus it has a USB hub.
Don’t get it if you want true HDR or are swayed by the lure of loudspeakers—the latter are fine for boop-and-beep notifications, for example, but can’t replace a real speaker system or headphone. What bothers me about the design is the stand’s inability to rotate.
Read our HP Omen 27U review.
The Dell IPS black panel in this 32-inch monitor (as well as the webcam, microphone, and speakers) provides IPS’ wide color range as well as deeper blacks, which means higher-than-usual contrast. This translates to relief for the eyes from long days in front of a screen.
Video conferencing refers to a tilting 4K webcam, 12-watt speakers, microphone array, video conferencing touch controls, and additional business features like power delivery, screen mirroring, a slew of docking USB connections, and more. If you like your desk to look like a stock image, this is a clean solution. Some USB ports are also easily accessible. Since most of the features are software controlled, this is not a good choice for Mac users.
It’s expensive, but it includes the equivalent of a webcam, conference phone, and hub. So if you need those, it somewhat mitigate the sticker shock. If it is put up for sale, it will also be a good value.
Dell released a firmware that it says addresses at least some of the glitches I had when I reviewed it—mostly about the sound and picture quality of the microphone and camera—but I haven’t been able to go back and retest.
Read our review of the Dell UltraSharp 32 Videoconferencing Monitor (U3223QZ).
Pricey yet beautiful—with excellent color accuracy and reference profiles as well as a good six-speaker audio system—the Apple Studio Display gives fans of the Mac ecosystem exactly what one would expect from Apple.
That includes some downsides too, like no physical controls, no HDR, the extra cost of a stand that lets you adjust the height (no swivel or swivel), one input connection and the three USB-C ports on the back rather than easily accessible .
Read our Apple Studio Display review.
Other notable screens
LG UltraGear OLED 27 ($1,000): OLED (with the exception of QD-OLED) can’t be beat for its high contrast and — for gaming — fast pixel response. LG’s 27-inch OLED model It’s great for HDR gaming, but thanks to the lower full-screen brightness it can be a bit weaker for everything you’re doing no Games, at least if that’s a deal killer.
HyperX Armada 27 ($450): HyperX’s first foray into gaming monitors feels like a trial balloon. Parent company HP already sells the Omen line of gaming monitors, and the screen plus arm seems to be just an attempt to differentiate. the Armada 27 It’s a good 165Hz 1440p gaming monitor and the Arm comes with parts for multiple types of mounting, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the Arm’s design and there are better 27-inch 1440p monitors for the money.
Sony InZone M9 ($798): This PlayStation-enhanced monitor—though not from Sony’s PlayStation division—is a great HDR experience (DisplayHDR 600 with 96-area local dimming) and works as advertised with PS5. If you’re planning to mount it on a VESA-compatible arm or mount, elevate my opinion a bit; Over time, I’ve come to dislike the stand’s design more and more. In addition to that Enzone M9 Takes a long time to cycle through inputs in automatic input selection mode on a multi-monitor/input system.
Frequently asked questions about monitoring
What screen size do I need?
All else being equal, if you have the space and the budget, bigger is always better. The screen size label is based on the length of the diagonal: this makes it easy to compare when each screen has roughly the same aspect ratio (the ratio of the number of horizontal pixels to vertical pixels). But wide and ultra-wide screens on desktops and newer aspect ratios on laptops (such as 3:2 or 16:10) make it a little more difficult.
If you remember geometry and algebra, you can calculate the width and height of the screen if you also know the aspect ratio (because width / height = aspect ratio and width² + height² = diagonal²). The higher the aspect ratio is 1:1, the wider the screen and the more sides are off the center of your vision if you are close. The calculation will also allow you to know the physical dimensions of the screen, and in particular the width, to make sure it will fit in the allotted space. The DPI Calculator can do the math for you.
Should I get two screens or one that is too wide?
It really depends on what you do. For example, if you want a really fast gaming monitor for playing and a high-resolution monitor for working, it’s a lot cheaper to get two single-monitor devices that do both. Or if you need a color-accurate monitor for design but want a high-brightness monitor for gaming, it’s also cheaper to get two smaller monitors – I have two 27-inch models for that reason. But if you just need a lot of screen real estate, using a single, ultra-fast space might be simpler.
Need more guidance? We have more detailed information on What to look for in a general purpose screensaver More specifically What is important in a gaming monitor.
All measurements are performed with Portrait Display’s Calman Ultimate 2021 R4 software using Calibrite ColorChecker Display Plus (formerly X-Rite i1Display Pro Plus) and Murideo Six-G pattern generator for HDR testing when necessary, or Client3 HDR patterns within Calman, where possible. The comprehensiveness of our tests depends on the capabilities of the monitor, the screen and backlight technology used, and the reviewer’s judgment.
On most basic models we might just stick with brightness, contrast and color gamut, while on more capable monitors we might run tests for most user-selected modes for gaming or critical use of colour, uniformity and so on. For color work, we may also run tests to check how accurate the white point varies with brightness.
Color accuracy results reported on Delta E 2000 units are based on Calman’s standard Pantone correction set, as well as spots for grayscale and skin tone. White point results are based on both the actual white value as well as the associated color temperature for the entire gray scale (21 spots, 0 to 100%) rounded to the nearest 50K as long as there are no significant differences. We also use Blur Busters motion tests to judge motion artifacts (such as ghosting) or update refresh rate issues that can affect games.
See more details on how we test the monitors.
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