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#1 ASUS TUF VG27AQ
The best external monitor for MacBook Pro is the ASUS TUF VG27AQ. It's mainly designed for gaming, and it delivers great overall performance for most uses. It's well-built with amazing ergonomics, allowing you to place it how you like.
It uses an IPS panel that provides wide viewing angles, great for sharing your screen with others. It performs well in most brightly-lit office environments as it gets bright enough to combat glare and has decent reflection handling. It has a flicker-free backlight and some nice extra features like built-in speakers. If you're going to use it for gaming, it has an outstanding response time, a very low input lag, and it has native FreeSync support to reduce screen tearing.
Sadly, it doesn't have a USB hub, so you can't charge your MacBook and display an image from it with a single cable. It's not ideal for photo editors as its coverage of the Adobe RGB color space is a bit limiting, and there's noticeable color bleed when displaying vertical bars of solid colors, which isn't good for photo editing. On the upside, it has excellent gray uniformity, so solid colors across the screen look great. Overall, this is the best monitor for MacBook Pro we've seen.
#2 LG UltraFine 4K
This screen was developed by Apple and LG together, so it couldn’t be a better fit for a MacBook Pro. You can connect it over a single cable that delivers up to 85W of power to your laptop (enough for even the 16-inch MacBook Pro), plus sends video out from your MacBook to its 4K display, and can carry data to accessories too.
The UltraFine 4K is more than a monitor – it’s also a Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C hub. The giant bandwidth of Thunderbolt means you can daisy chain this to a second 4K display still running off that single cable to your MacBook Pro – or plug in loads of external storage, connection hubs, cabled internet… whatever you need.
#3 LG 27GL850
If you prefer something with a USB hub, check out the LG 27GL850-B. Its ergonomics aren't as good as the ASUS TUF VG27AQ, but it has much better coverage of the Adobe RGB color space, great for photo editing, and it has only very minor vertical color bleed. Like the ASUS, it also gets bright enough to combat glare, it has good reflection handling, and its IPS panel provides wide viewing angles. Sadly, it has a really low contrast ratio, so blacks appear closer to gray when viewed in the dark. On the upside, it's also a great gaming monitor with outstanding response time and really low input lag. Lastly, it also has a flicker-free backlight, which helps reduce eye strain during those long work hours.
#4 ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV
The best monitor for MacBook Pro in the budget category is the ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV. It's mainly designed to be an office monitor, and it offers great all-around performance. The 27 inch, 1440p screen helps deliver clear and crisp images, and it's great for multitasking.
It has one of the best stands we've seen. It has an incredibly wide swivel range, so it's really easy to place it in an ideal position. It has an IPS panel with very wide viewing angles, which is great for sharing your screen with others. If you work in a bright environment, it gets bright enough to combat glare and has good reflection handling. The out-of-the-box accuracy is very good, and it has amazing screen uniformity, although these may vary between units. Even though it's limited to a 75HZ panel, it's good for casual gamers as it has a really quick response time and low input lag.
Unfortunately, it doesn't support HDR and has a low contrast ratio, so it's not ideal for watching movies in dark rooms. It has some nice extra features, like built-in speakers and a USB hub. However, it doesn't have a USB-C input. All in all, this is a great option that won't cost you much, making it one of the best monitors for MacBook Pro in the budget category that we've tested.
#5 BenQ PD3220U
At 32 inches diagonally with a 4K resolution, it’s a huge display with tons of screen real estate. That gives you plenty of room for productivity, though working so close to a large screen may take some getting used to. Once you do, you’ll appreciate how gorgeous this display looks.
Built using an IPS panel for fantastic color accuracy, this BenQ monitor has a 4ms response time, so it can handle gaming sessions as well as high-detail work. It also features BenQ’s Eye-Care technology for reduced blue light and flickering, making it more comfortable to use over longer periods.
#6 Dell UltraSharp U2720Q 27
If you are looking for a pin-sharp 4K display, the Dell Ultrasharp U2720Q is one of our top-rated options for the best 4k monitors. It packs a 3,840 x 2,160 resolution into a 27-inch screen, giving you an unbelievably sharp picture.
It excels in other areas, too. Its 1,300:1 contrast ratio is fantastic, giving you deep blacks that never feel lackluster or washed out. The panel uses IPS technology for top-notch viewing angles and color reproduction. And speaking of color, Dell’s display hits 99% of the sRGB gamut and 95% of the P3 wide color gamut that Apple uses in its own screens.
You get two USB-C ports that provide up to 90W of power to keep your MacBook charged up, while there are also three USB-A ports, a DisplayPort slot, and an HDMI port, so you get plenty of options for connecting your devices.
#7 Best Ultrawide: LG 34GN850-B
The best monitor for MacBook Pro with an ultrawide screen is the LG 34GN850-B. It has a 1440p resolution with a 21:9 aspect ratio, offering you enough space to open multiple windows at once. Although it's mainly designed to be for gaming, it offers good overall performance.
It's a good office monitor as its IPS panel provides fairly wide viewing angles. It gets bright enough to combat glare and has decent reflection handling. It's also very good for content creators as it has excellent coverage of the Adobe RGB color space used in photo editing and great coverage of the DCI-P3 color space used in most HDR content. It also has great out-of-the-box color accuracy, so unless your work demands the most accurate colors possible, you won't need to pay extra to get it calibrated.
Sadly, it doesn't have a USB-C input that would optimize the user experience for a MacBook Pro owner. Still, it has two USB 3.0 ports, so you can charge your devices while working. It also has excellent gray uniformity, so solid colors across the screen, such as on a web page, look great. All in all, most people should be happy with this ultrawide.