Monitors reviewed & rated

Got up to £300 to play with? We’ll help you discover which is the best modestly priced monitor available

We look at a range of inexpensive displays for your Mac

Whether you’re looking to upgrade your existing Mac monitor or are after something to use with a new Mac, the display you choose to buy is an important decision. And the good news is you no longer need to break the bank.

Yes, Apple’s Thunderbolt Display is a thing of beauty, but you don’t even need to spend half as much to get a decent 27-inch display (albeit with a more standard Full HD resolution rather than 2560x1440 pixels).

In this group test, we’re looking at the £200-£300 price bracket. That’s a good budget for a decent 24- or 27-inch display, and it’s allowed us to gather up a good selection of monitors, which are great to use as a main screen or as a second display, perhaps with an iMac.

And, as you’ll read over the next two pages, we were impressed with what we saw. None of our review models disappointed, while some positively glowed in terms of the specs they provided for the money.

As far as connectivity goes, while none of our models have Thunderbolt natively, several boasted DisplayPort, which can connect directly to a Thunderbolt port. You can also use a simple third-party DisplayPort-to-HDMI

These are all very impressive – you’re guaranteed a good monitor whichever one you go for!

converter (you don’t need to fork out for the pricey Apple one).

As you can see from our table, some of the displays include legacy ports, such as VGA and DVI, should you be in need of those options – perhaps for an older Mac mini, for example.

Whichever monitor you choose, you’re guaranteed a decent display. It’s just that some do it with more finesse than others, perhaps with an added feature here or there. Indeed, the displays that really impressed tended to be those that featured a better variety of ports, as well as some appealing extras, such as pivoting stands or a better menu system. However, these were all impressive displays for the price point. You’re guaranteed a good monitor whichever one you go for! Dan Grabham