Best 27-inch monitor deals: Seven QHD displays for under $260

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Sure, bigger is better when it comes to monitors, but how much display space do you really need if you aren’t a PC gamer or creative pro? I recently bought a 27-inch QHD display now that the dining room has morphed into my wife’s home office. She has a dual-monitor setup at work and needed a monitor for days when she’s working from home. And I plan to borrow it on days she goes into the office, because my ancient 24-inch FHD monitor now seems puny by comparison. 

I arrived at a 27-inch QHD display because it offered enough screen real estate and a crisp image for a great price. I was surprised to find QHD — that is, quad HD or 2,560×1,440-pixel resolution — displays didn’t cost much more than 27-inch models with FHD resolution, i.e., “full HD,” with the same 1,920×1,080 pixels as pre-4K TVs. And QHD pixel density on a 27-inch panel is dense enough that I can’t see individual pixels when seated in front of the display. So far, I don’t have any associated FOMO about not spending more for a 4K display (at least 3,840×2,160 pixels).

Read more: This is the gear you need to work from home

Because I scratch my gaming itch with an Xbox One, I don’t require a display with a fast refresh rate — 60Hz or 75Hz will suffice. Because I don’t engage in photo editing beyond an occasional crop or touch up with the MacOS Photos app, I don’t need a professional-grade monitor with a wide color gamut or HDR. I simply wanted a display larger than my current display with a bright, crisp image and a modern array of video connections that includes both HDMI and DisplayPort. Plus, I wanted thin bezels framing the display to make a side-by-side, dual-monitor setup look good should we eventually expand our dining-room operations.

Check out CNET’s monitor buying guide for more, and check out my recommendations for 27-inch QHD monitors that will fit most budgets. I found a great deal on an LG display on Amazon, and it’s still available at the same sale price (although now you’ll need to wait until next month for it to ship). There are no other deals on Amazon currently that can match the LG I bought, and Best Buy is bereft of 27-inch QHD monitor deals at the moment. I did, however, find a model from HP, two versions of a display from Dell and a trio of monitors from Lenovo that are on sale and worth a look.

LG

This is the model I ended up buying on Amazon after shopping around. I got it for its current price of $227 with a $53 discount, although I must have not been the only one to buy it recently, because it’s now not available until January. 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 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. Or laptop audio, in my case of my wife working in the dining room. It offers 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.

Dell

You can save $100 on this 27-inch QHD display from Dell. It follows the same recipe as the LG above: IPS panel with both HDMI and DisplayPort connections, thin bezels and 350 nits of brightness.

Dell

Take the above Dell display and add speakers. 

HP

This HP model is on sale and boasts a modern look with thin bezels, and features both DisplayPort and HDMI connections.

Lenovo

This 27-inch IPS panel from Lenovo is well under the $200 mark with code CYBERCLEAR15. It offers one DisplayPort and one HDMI port and thin bezels on three of its sides.

Lenovo

This model is the trimmest of the bunch with razor-thin bezels on all four sides of the display. In addition to the standard DisplayPort- and HDMI-in ports, it features a DisplayPort-out port so you can daisy-chain multiple monitors.

Lenovo

This Lenovo model features a USB-C port, which lets you connect a MacBook and other laptops with only a USB-C port to the monitor without an adapter or special conversion cable.