Best LCD Monitors

Dell monitors are best overall

The 27-inch Dell UltraSharp U2713HM (*Est $700) offers a compelling package. Sporting an IPS (AH-IPS) panel, it delivers excellent performance: Colors are accurate and rich, black levels are deep and viewing angles are wide. It's packed with enough features to satisfy most, with plenty of presets, energy-saving functions and adjustment options for tweaking. Reviewers praise Dell's onscreen display for its simple, user-friendly functionality. The ergonomic adjustments are ample, making it easy to set your screen up just right for your setup, and there's a wide array of connectivity options as well.

The 30-inch Dell UltraSharp U3011 (*Est. $1,085) receives the most acclaim from sources for performance, but at the same time, there's a lot of gulps about its price. Its advantages over the Dell U2713HM include a higher-performance H-IPS panel. The screen size is 3 inches larger as well. Still, the performance of the Dell U2713HM is nearly as good, and it sells for more than $300 less, granting it an edge in our eyes.

For those on a budget, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better general-purpose monitor than the 24-inch Dell UltraSharp U2412M (*Est. $340) . Reviewers find it to be a solid workhorse display that's a step above monitors in its class. Its e-IPS panel is a cheaper alternative than other higher-end IPS panels. Still, it produces a crisp display with good colors and contrast, with 1,920-by-1,200-pixel resolution and a 16:10 aspect ratio. It's thin and rather energy-efficient thanks to its LED backlight -- a nice touch for home and office use. It comes with a host of ergonomic options and features, and the user-interface is clean and intuitive. It does lack an HDMI input, and its e-IPS panel -- even though it outperforms much of its class -- can't quite hang with pro-grade IPS panels. Even so, it packs a lot of punch for the money.