All screens have HDMI and DisplayPort to hook up with a PC (and even VGA if it is a actually outdated one). These are the fundamentals. If you need the most recent of those port requirements in screens, you are trying for HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2.1.
Increasingly more screens these days embrace a built-in USB hub, which may generally embrace USB-A ports, an Ethernet jack, and extra. When you join over the upstream USB-C (or USB-B if the monitor’s a bit older), you’ll be able to plug equipment and peripherals instantly into the monitor. That is notably helpful in case your laptop computer would not have many ports, or should you continuously transfer your laptop computer and prefer to hold it as cable-free as doable. Many screens additionally embrace Energy Supply over USB-C, letting you join and cost your laptop computer by way of a single cable.
Some workstation-level screens take this a step additional and likewise embrace a KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) change, which lets you change between a number of laptops or PCs, all plugged into the identical monitor. Most individuals do not want this, however should you run a number of PCs for any motive, it is a should.
The location of those ports can be necessary. Ideally, you will not have to succeed in the again of your monitor too typically, as a result of let’s be actual, it is an enormous ache. Down-firing ports are the toughest to succeed in and see, however provide the cleanest look. Again-facing ports, in the meantime, are simpler to plug in. Among the new Dell screens even embrace a pop-down, forward-facing port module for fast entry to USB-C or a headphone jack. Some monitor stands embrace some built-in cable administration to route your cords, which is a useful characteristic.
Pricing
There’s an enormous vary of pricing for screens, starting from beneath $100 to $5,000 for the Apple Professional Show XDR. Most individuals will doubtless be buying within the sub-$300 vary, which is what makes choices just like the Dell 27 Plus 4K so spectacular. It isn’t an ideal monitor by any means, however in my very own testing, it hits the candy spot in worth and high quality.
However I really like the variety within the monitor area proper now. You will need to pay additional for it, however as a product class, it has matured to some extent the place you will all the time be capable of discover what you are searching for, whether or not it is a port-filled workstation, a super-fast gaming monitor, a show with sensible options that doubles as a tv, or perhaps even an outsized ultrawide monitor that replaces twin screens.
