The Productivity Monitor Buying Guide for 2025

[gentle upbeat music]

So my first video of 2025,

I wanted to cover

some of my favourite monitors

and share what you should be considering,

what you should be thinking about

when buying a monitor.

So who is this video for?

You want a productivity-based monitor,

something that will help you
get your work done.

You want high resolution

for sharp text, for sharp elements,
things like that.

And maybe you're also someone

who does design work,
photo editing, video editing,

so colour accuracy is also important.

So one of the first things to consider is size,

monitors can of course
come in so many different sizes.

You can get them as small as 15 inches

or you can go as big as a TV

if that's what you're into.

From my experience and for most people

sitting at a normal desk,

a good monitor size
is between 27 to 32 inches.

It's why so many monitors
on sale these days

are around that size.

Resolution.

So resolution matters a lot

when you're sitting at a desk

and looking at the monitor,

it's not like sitting and watching a TV

where you'll have many feet away.

When you have a monitor on your desk,

you're naturally sat a lot closer to it,

which also means that information density

also needs to be higher.

That then means you're going
to more likely see individual pixels.

High resolution monitors

tend to make things like text
and UI elements much sharper.

But then you also have to think about PPI,

which stands for pixels per inch.

The more pixels per inch,

the sharper the display looks.

So naturally smaller 4K displays

look much sharper than larger ones.

For some people this will matter a lot.

For others it won't,

it also totally depends on your use case.

If you do any sort of design work,

PPI will probably matter a lot to you.

I do a lot of design work,

so it matters a lot to me.

It actually matters so much

that it's at the top
of my list of requirements

for a productivity monitor.

So much so that I'm actually willing

to compromise on other features

to have a higher dense PPI.

IPS, Mini LED, and OLED.

So I'm going to try
and keep this bit fairly simple.

I'm not going to go super into detail

because of course there is a lot

that we can go into here.

I just wanna make it easy

for the average person to understand.

So IPS is actually

what is the most common
right now in monitors.

It's also more affordable

compared to things like Mini OLED and OLED.

It's reliable, relatively bright,

and great for productivity.

However, it's usually just one

or a couple of LEDs

that are lighting up the display at once,

which, to be fair,

is great for productivity work

and I actually think
will be fine for most people.

But if you're someone

who likes to use their displays
to watch movies,

you won't get really deep blacks.

And if you like to play games,

it just won't be as responsive

as an OLED display.

Mini LED displays are simply IPS displays

with lots of different LEDs lighting up

the display independently,

which also means that

if there is a dark part of the screen,

the LED in that part of the screen
can turn off.

Now that doesn't mean
it turns individual pixels off,

it just turns off sort of the patch,
a patch of the display,

when you have parts of the display

that you can turn off,

it also means that you can get
true deep blacks.

Mini LED displays can also get
much brighter

than standard displays.

But like I said, the downside

is that the LEDs work in patches.

So there is a part of the screen where

there's one really bright element

and then one really dark element.

It can cause some blooming.

It's one of the downsides of Mini LEDs,

it's not going to be perfect.

And this is where OLED comes in,

which is different from IPS and Mini LED.

OLED turns

each and every single pixel

into its own LED on the display,

which results in a truly fantastic experience

when you're watching movies and playing games.

However, it's not perfect

and there are definitely some cons,

they're usually not as bright
as IPS displays and Mini LED displays,

so they're not ideal for brightly lit rooms.

You've got to control

the lighting in your room a bit more.

There's also risk of burning.

So if you plan to use your OLED display

for looking at a spreadsheet

for 8 hours of the day,

the risk of burning is quite high.

But these displays are getting better

at negating this,

offering all sorts of longevity options.

And if you are someone

who regularly changes

what's on your display,

the risk of burning actually
comes down quite a lot.

Aspect ratio.

So most monitors are usually 16:9.

It's pretty much become the standard.

However, you also get ultrawide displays

and they've become very, very popular
over the last few years.

The aspect ratio of those can vary though

depending on the ultrawide display.

There's also one very unique monitor

that I've actually covered on the channel

called the LG DualUp,

which has an aspect ratio of 16:18.

So it's actually taller than it is wide.

I particularly like this monitor

because I can see it
actually being very useful

for very specific work applications.

However, I usually like to avoid using

these different types of aspect ratios

unless I have an actual purpose,

and stick to 16:9.

And the main reason

I like to stick to 16:9,

and why I would recommend sticking to 16:9,

is that usually the higher resolution

and they have better pixel density,

resulting in sharper
text and elements on the display.

Now when it comes to monitors
that I recommend,

I want to cover monitors that are primarily

made for productivity,

some of the monitors that I mentioned though

do also happen to be good for gaming.

These monitors are also
currently available to buy,

so I didn't wanna cover

sort of random brands,

random monitors from random websites.

I wanted to make it so that you could

pick it up quite easily from Amazon

or from other major retailer.

I also have one main rule

when choosing these monitors.

All of the monitors have to be
4K resolution and up.

I feel like because it's 2025 now,

unless you're a gamer,

who needs low resolution,
high refresh rate monitors,

4K monitors, just make sense.

Also, because I'm a Mac user,

this is going to be Mac user biased

because I primarily use Mac for productivity.

So first up is the Gigabyte M27U,

which is a budget option
of around $400-500

depending on where you're looking.

I've actually had the M28U

and the, I think, the M32U,

which are fantastic monitors.

The M27U is simply an updated version,

and it's 27 inches.

It's a 4K panel at 160 hertz.

And like I said, it's 27 inches,

which gives you a PPI of 163,

which is pretty decent.

It has a USB-C port,

which does mean you can have
a one-cable setup

with something like a MacBook.

However, it only provides

18 watts of power,

which is actually quite low.

I think if you're a MacBook user,

you might be able to get away with it.

But if you're someone like me

who's using a MacBook Pro
and you're video editing,

you're doing something quite heavy,

18 watts just isn't going to be powerful enough.

It's marketed as a gaming monitor,

but it also makes for a really good
productivity monitor.

And with it being sort of $400-500,

you actually won't really find

a better monitor right now

at this sort of price.

Next up we have the Asus ProArt 5K display,

and this is actually a fairly new monitor

that's just been released on the market.

This is probably the best
Studio Display alternative right now.

So if you're someone who was interested

in the Studio Display,

I would highly recommend looking at this.

It's actually right here, I've got it right here.

It has the same 5K resolution,

but at pretty much half the price

of the Studio Display.

It's 27 inches at 5K resolution,

which means a PPI of 218,

which is exactly what Apple
tried to go for in their displays.

But unlike a lot of the 5K displays
that you might see on the market

that advertise themselves as 5K,

this is actually a true 5K resolution.

It has a resolution of 1520 by 2880.

This monitor is also purely
designed for productivity and work.

It is an IPS panel though.

So no OLED,

but it is a ProArt display.

And Asus's ProArt line is specially designed
for colour accuracy.

So if you do any sort of design,

photo editing, video editing,

this monitor will be ideal.

Now the only downside is, of course,
that it's 60 hertz.

But I do think unless you're someone

who wants to do high refresh rate gaming,

it's not really going to be an issue.

It has a USB-C port that can provide

96 watts of power,

making it ideal for one-cable setup

with something like a MacBook Pro.

And of course, unlike the Studio Display,

it has a DisplayPort and an HDMI port,

so you can connect other things as well.

You're not limited to a thunderbolt cable.

So you could connect
a games console as well if you like.

If you want OLED though

and you want a glossy display,

the MSI 321URX is one of the best right now.

I actually did a video on this last year

as I feel like it's a great
one monitor for everything,

if you plan to do work and you want to game.

It's 32 inches at 4K resolution.

It has a refresh rate of 240 hertz,

making it ideal
for both console and PC gamers.

240 hertz is also just
insanely smooth in general.

It's a glossy display too,

which I know most people
are actually preferring these days.

It has a USB-C port
with power delivery of 90 watts,

again, making it ideal for a one-cable setup.

Now, of course, the downside of OLED

is that there is a risk of burning

and they don't get very bright.

If you're someone who can't control
the light in your room though,

the brightness, I feel like,
won't really be an issue.

And with this being a glossy display,

I feel like it's as close
to an Apple-like experience

that you can get.

It's also $1,000,

which at this price point,

you won't really find anything better,

and I expect it to also get cheaper

over the next year.

If you're specifically looking
for a 4K OLED glossy display,

this really is one of the best options right now.

Next up is the Studio Display.

So I still recommend this

to those who just want a monitor

that works right out of the box.

I get countless messages from friends asking,

"Hey, look, I'm not into tech or anything.

I want something that just works

and I'm willing to spend the cash.

What should I get?"

And my default recommendation

is always the Studio Display.

It's 27 inches at 5K resolution,

but it is only 60 hertz.

It has a beautiful design

that's made from aluminium and glass.

It comes with a thunderbolt cable

that you simply connect to a Mac

and it works right away,

not having to mess around with any settings.

Now of course, this is only designed for Mac users

if you're a Windows user,

any of the three previous monitors

I feel like are better options.

And it's not cheap.

It's $1599, which I think is a lot of money.

And now that Asus have this monitor

at 5K resolution,

unless you specifically want the Studio Display

for its design, for the webcam,

for the speakers or whatever,

this is just much better value.

But if you're someone

who just wants something that works

and you want the aesthetic

of the Apple display,

of Apple and everything,

and you want it to match your MacBook,

yeah, I think the Apple Studio Display
is a good option.

Now those are my recommendations,

the ones that I would recommend
for most people.

However, my personal work monitor

is the Apple Pro Display XDR,

which is an insane monitor.

It's 32 inches, 6K high resolution, and Mini LED,

which means it gets super bright.

It's honestly insane
how bright this monitor gets.

However, it is a $4,999.

So it's not targeted

or meant for consumers at all.

This is very much
a high-end professional display

specially designed for specific use cases.

I do a lot of design work,
photo editing, video editing,

I do that on a daily basis.

So the 5K investment for me,

even though it was a lot of money to spend

it's actually well worth it,

because I can make that back very easily

from doing the work that I do.

Now I'm sure by the end of the year

the landscape of monitors

will have changed again.

So I will have to do an updated video.

I feel like this is one of those videos

that has to be done every year.

The tech is just moving so fast.

And every year we're seeing
some incredible updates,

some incredible technology

coming to these monitors.

I also wouldn't be surprised

to see Apple update both the Studio Display

and the Pro display XDR to have 120 hertz,

now that Thunderbolt 5 is out.

Because I don't think a lot of people

realise the limiting factor

and why you don't really see 5K or 6K

more than 60 hertz,

because you just can't have
that much data running

through standard sort of thunderbolt cable.

Now that Thunderbolt 5 is out though,

we should be able to get it.

Right now, though, at the date
that I'm uploading this video,

the options that I've mentioned,

I think are great.

So hopefully, you guys enjoyed this video.

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter.

And subscribe for more.

[closing upbeat music]