lcd screen with usb input brands

USB monitors have taken the AV market by storm. By connecting a Lilliput 7 inch, 8 inch or 10 inch USB monitor to a Windows computer, all power, video and touch screen (if present) can be handled by one twin head USB cable. Tested with up to seven units on 1 machine the USB range offers a great deal of flexibility for exceptional value.

The best USB-C monitors give users the kind of seamless setup and workflow they"ll never experience with non-USB-C displays. These displays utilize that use the USB Type-C port as their main port, delivering a level of convenience that no other monitor can.

Professionals who need to simplify their workflow and require a clean, minimalist setup, as well as laptop users, will benefit a lot from an excellent USB-C display. That"s because the fast and highly reliable USB Type-C port can support video, sound, and other data transmission while simultaneously delivering power using just a single cable. It has an impressive capability to transfer large data and power at fast speeds.

Choosing the best USB-C monitor does take careful planning. On top of looking at picture quality, resolution, aspect ratio, contrast ratio, viewing angles, and brightness levels, there are other features to consider like power delivery wattage. Many USB-C ports come with 60W PD, some are only rated for 15W and very few right now offer 90W.

We"ve tested our share of USB-C displays, and lucky for you, we"re here to narrow down the choices to make it even easier for you. Much like how we test other monitors, we put each one through rigorous testing before considering it a worthy addition to this list.

Whether you need a premium monitor for video editing(opens in new tab), an affordable 4K monitor(opens in new tab), or a monitor with a webcam, you"ll find the best USB-C monitor for you below.

It"s hard to find a better value for your money than the mid-range LG 32UN880-B UltraFine Display Ergo monitor. It might seem like a very stripped-down affair, with its minimal features – or at least the bells and whistles that accompany a lot of USB-C monitors. At the same time, you"re also getting a lot here, especially for the price.

That isn"t to say the display itself isn"t impressive in its own right. The stunning screen that offers a 95% DCI P3 colour coverage in 4K resolution and 350 nits of brightness. Meanwhile, there"s an impressive selection of ports as well – including two HDMI, a DisplayPort, and a USB hub with two USB-A ports.

The MSI MPG ARTYMIS 273CQRX-QD is one of those enthusiast-level creator displays dressed up as a gaming monitor. MSI indeed touts it as one, complete with gaming-focused features, many of which you"ll find in pricier models. This 27-inch 1440p panel comes with a 1000R curvature, AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, and a 1ms response time. Oh, and it also delivers a blazing-fast 240Hz refresh rate to keep up with fast-paced games and during esports tournaments.

Doing creative work is a breeze on the BenQ SW321C PhotoVue, thanks to that 4K resolution and larger 32-inch size screen, letting you see every detail of your work. It also comes with thoughtful features like an SD card reader, a boon for anyone working on an ultrabook or MacBook that’s missing one, and a picture-by-picture mode that displays the same image in two different colour modes.

Of course, colour support and accuracy are even more critical, and BenQ knows this. It has equipped the SW321C with 95% DCI-P3 and 99% Adobe RGB colour gamuts and excellent colour accuracy of Delta E ≤ 2. On test, it"s proven to be one of the most colour-accurate monitors we"ve reviewed, and delivers on that colour coverage as promised. This monitor is more than enough if you do more broadcast quality editing.

Better than monitors with portrait modes are this new-ish breed of displays offering a squarish format. Such panels aren"t as prevalent yet, but many professionals are starting to turn on to them. This new 16:18 productivity monitor from LG has come at the right time.

From BenQ’s professional design line is the BenQ DesignVue PD3220U, an outstanding monitor whose features extend far beyond its USB-C capabilities. Not content with USB-C, it offers not one but two Thunderbolt 3 ports to keep creatives happy to allow daisy-chaining of multiple monitors and even connection of external GPUs.

Monitors for professional photo editors and graphic designers tend to be very expensive, but this screen strikes an incredible balance between price and specs. It boasts excellent colour coverage with 100% Rec.709, 100% sRGB, and 95% P3 colour gamuts as well as different colour modes including Animation and CAD/CAM.

The Dell UltraSharp U3223QZ(opens in new tab) is a premium 4K display that Dell designed specifically with multitasking remote working professionals in mind. This impressive productivity monitor couldn"t have come at a better time with the world back in full swing from the pandemic yet adopting that work-from-home practice reached its height during the lockdowns.

It comes with everything you need, minus a full desktop PC inside. That includes useful multitasking features, different creative colour modes, impressive colour coverage, and naturally, an intelligent webcam that delivers up to 4K at 30 fps or 1080p at 60fps video and comes with a SafeShutter feature. For your ultimate productivity, there"s even an Auto KVM (Keyboard, Mouse, Video) feature and what Dell calls "Fast Wake," which allows you to use its power button to wake both the monitor itself and your computer.

The BenQ DesignVue PD3420Q is designed specifically for creative Mac users – especially those looking for an affordable, mid-range model with excellent colour coverage and accuracy. That, of course, means that it"s a USB-C display with the capability to charge your laptops as well.

The Asus ProArt PA32UC-K is for people who want a serious USB-C monitor for video editing, and it doesn’t get much more serious than this. It offers 4K resolution (at the Ultra HD standard) and huge HDR – it can reach a peak brightness higher than most TVs, so it’s one of the best ways to work with HDR footage.

When we tested the screen, we found it offered good colour accuracy after calibration as well as great sRGB and DCI-P3 colour coverage. Plus, its feature set is impressive for its affordable price. In fact, even though its 60Hz refresh rate isn"t the best for fast-paced games, its 4K on a 32-inch panel combo is as much of a sweet spot for narrative-driven games as it is for productivity and creative workloads.

With the MSI PS341WU being tough to find, your options for a truly impressive ultrawide USB-C monitor for creative workloads have become considerably limited. Luckily, LG is here to save the day with the LG 38WN95C, a stunning 3840 x 1600 display that gives you plenty of room to spread out and have all your tools handy so you can immerse in your creative process. Content creators will also appreciate its 99% sRGB and 98% DCI-P3 colour gamuts.

While it isn"t a 5K2K display like the PS341WU, it comes with its own strengths including a fast refresh rate of 144Hz and a fast response time of 1ms, as well as AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and Nvidia G-Sync – all the good stuff esports and non-pro gamers need. A great all-rounder, it also boasts LG"s ambient light sensor and an articulating stand, both of which productivity and creative professionals will appreciate.

Of course, its pixel-per-inch ratio of 110.93 is just the ticket for making those visuals sharp and those texts comfortably readable. Oh, and did we mention its VESA DisplayHDR 600 certification?Are USB-C monitors better?It’s hard to say that USB-C monitors are better than the competition. But, they do offer a few advantages. First, USB-C connectivity is quickly becoming the norm on all sorts of devices, from Windows Ultrabooks and MacBooks to tablets. And, many of those devices don’t come with other forms of connectivity. So, if you want a second screen for your laptop, you’re limited to one of these displays.

Additionally, many USB-C monitors offer power delivery. So, when you connect your Dell XPS 13 or MacBook Air, the same USB-C cable driving the monitor also provides power to that computer. And, typically it’s enough to keep the battery full even when running demanding tasks. This one-cable solution also helps create a more minimal, less cluttered setup.

Of course, those advantages just benefit laptop users. If you’re using a desktop PC, you’ll probably end up sticking with a DisplayPort or HDMI connection.Do USB-C monitors work with MacBook Pros?Not only do USB-C monitors work with MacBook Pros, but they’re often the only reasonable choice. You can, of course, use other monitors, but you’ll have to invest and keep track of the appropriate adapters every time you connect and disconnect. And, since all current MacBook Pros come with some kind of Thunderbolt connectivity, which uses the same connection as USB-C, they’ll be able to deliver their video signal and transfer data and receive power from the monitor (if the monitor supports power delivery).Are USB-C monitors good for gaming?The speeds at which USB-C connections transfer data is more than sufficient for gaming. It’s about on par with DisplayPort 1.4. The only real limitation is how it connects to your gaming computer. If your gaming desktop has a graphics card that supports DisplayPort 1.4, which just about all current GPUs do, then you’ll need to invest in an adapter and adjust some monitor and driver settings on your computer. But, if you’re using a gaming laptop sporting a USB-C port, you don’t even have to use an adapter. It’s essentially plug-and-play.

USB-C monitors aren’t just for creative professionals and masters of productivity. There are gaming options too, as the surprisingly affordable Gigabyte M32Q proves. With 94% DCI-P3 and 120% sRGB coverage, it doesn’t quite make it as a display for pro-level content creation. However, that’s more than good enough for most users and it’s certainly good enough for gaming, especially when combined with its VESA DisplayHDR 400 certification, 1ms GTG response time, 165Hz refresh rate, and AMD FreeSync support.

There’s no doubt that gamers, especially those who play competitively or have a penchant for fast-paced titles, will love it. This is one terrific USB-C gaming monitor, and looks every bit the part, touting gaming-inspired aesthetics, a dashboard that displays your CPU usage, clock speed and cooling management, and small gaming-centric extras. It keeps its price competitive as well. Just keep in mind that this isn’t a 4K monitor, which means you’re not gaming in 4K – though unless you have an expensive high-end GPU like an RTX 3080, you couldn’t do so anyway so this 1440p is just the ticket for most gamers.Round up of today"s best deals

The best portable monitor we"ve tested is the ASUS ProArt PA148CTV. It"s an okay choice if you want to use it for productivity and office work, but like most portable monitors, it doesn"t give you the same picture quality as a desktop monitor. However, it"s still good enough overall to have as a second display for your laptop. With a 1080p resolution and 14-inch screen, there"s enough space to see a full window, and the text clarity is excellent due to the high pixel density. It also has excellent accuracy before calibration, which is better than most portable monitors and good enough if your work requires accurate colors.

It"s a well-built monitor with a kickstand to adjust the angle of the screen. Connecting to it is easy as it has two USB-C ports that each support DisplayPort Alt Mode, and it even has a Micro-HDMI input which is ideal if your laptop doesn"t support USB-C. It also has a touch screen, but unfortunately, it isn"t that useful because it doesn"t feel responsive and doesn"t work with macOS devices.

The best monitor with USB-C ports that we"ve tested is the Dell U2723QE. It"s a high-end office monitor whose USB hub offers tons of features, making it easy to multitask with different devices. Unlike many monitors, it has three USB-C ports, and each of them serves a different purpose. One is for the DisplayPort Alt Mode, which supports 90 W of power delivery, enough to charge even power-hungry laptops, and you can display an image from it at the same time. Another USB-C port is a downstream port with 15 W of power delivery, so you can use it to charge your phone or connect peripherals like a keyboard or mouse that support USB-C. Lastly, the other USB-C port is an upstream port for the KVM switch, which allows you to connect multiple devices to your monitor and control them with a single keyboard and mouse.

It"s also the best 4k USB-C monitor for photo editors because it has a dedicated sRGB mode that has excellent out-of-the-box accuracy, so you won"t need to get it calibrated for accurate colors. Also, the 4k resolution helps deliver sharp images, and the 27-inch screen is big enough to see more of your work area at once.