5 Best Gaming Monitors with USB Ports


best gaming monitors with USB ports

A gaming setup is like a shrine of sorts: the more you sacrifice to it, the more the gaming gods will give back. This certainly applies if what you are investing in is a gaming monitor to which you can connect more devices via USB since visuals are possibly the most important element while gaming. 

What are the gaming best monitors with USB ports? Here is a list of the five best gaming monitors with USB ports:

Monitors have lots of terms and specifications that can be very confusing, which only makes choosing the right one all the more difficult if you only have five to choose from. But don’t worry; below you can find the specification for each as well as a guide on what to look for in a gaming monitor.

Why Look for a Gaming Monitor With USB Ports?

There are many monitors out in the market that work just as well as the monitors mentioned above. However, these monitors have the advantage of being compatible with devices that are connected through a Universal Serial Bus cable.

As the name ‘Universal’ states, these ports have the advantage of making your monitor compatible with just about any device, which is why your computer, your keyboard, and your mouse has them too (unless Bluetooth is used).

With a monitor with USB ports, you can further expand the number of devices that you can connect to your gaming system, including extra hard drives, some consoles, gaming controllers, and even other monitors.

Now that we have explained why this specification is important let us take a look at what makes a good gaming monitor.

What to Look for in a Gaming Monitor

what to look for in a gaming monitor

Resolution

This aspect is usually measured in pixels of width by pixels of height. Resolution determines the number of pixels that are on your monitor. Meaning that this is the specification that makes images on your monitor look much sharper.

However, there is another factor that goes hand-in-hand with a resolution that will be crucial to determining how good your game is going to look, and that is size.

Size

This aspect is usually measured in inches. Size is how big your monitor is. It is usually measured from corner to corner diagonally. There are two reasons why size matters. 

The size determines how good your resolution is going to look, if you have a small monitor, then a resolution of 1920x1080p will look good as the pixels will be smaller, but would look terrible on a larger monitor since the pixels are bigger.

The second reason is simply space. You don’t want a crammed gaming/working area where you can’t move your mouse freely due to fear of hitting or knocking over your brand new monitor.

Refresh Rate

This aspect is usually measured in hertz (Hz). The refresh rate determines how often the image on your screen is updated. In other words, it determines the number of frames per second that you will see your game in. This is important since, for most shooter games, you need to make split-second decisions, and even though you may not notice the difference between frame rates, your eyes, and your subconscious will.

Special Features

This includes features that make this monitor unique among others and also features that do not fit into any of the categories mentioned above but that are worth mentioning.

Price

One of the most important aspects is the price. The price will dictate what level of specifications you can afford, and it will also determine whether the specifications you get are worth the money. All prices are listed here as they appear on Amazon.

Your Console Specifications

Perhaps the most important part that can be easily overlooked. Your gaming monitor, no matter how advanced and expensive, can only provide as much quality and refresh rate as your console can. For this, you have to look at your console or PC’s graphics card, as it is the memory that controls all visual aspects of the virtual world.

If you purchase a monitor that is too good for your console or PC, you will have to either return it or upgrade your PC. For a PC to be upgraded, you would have to purchase a new graphics card that needs more power, meaning that you might have to purchase a new power supply core, which is bigger, meaning that you might have to purchase a new case.

There is no problem if you are willing to invest in the best gaming setup, but if you only see gaming as a light hobby, you don’t want to upgrade your entire setup for a better resolution or refresh rate, as the costs will pile up. As previously stated, like a shrine, a gaming setup requires sacrifices. The more you give, the more it gives back.

5 Best Gaming Monitors with USB Ports

Now that we know what elements to consider let us take a deeper look into the five best gaming monitors with USB ports.

1. Dell S-Series 27-Inch Screen LED-Lit Gaming Monitor 

dell gaming monitor
source: Dell

The Dell S-Series 27-Inch Screen Gaming Monitor comes in for $347.70. It has a 27-inch screen with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels, giving it an incredibly high definition quality. It has a refresh rate of 155 Hz, providing you with a fast response time to get the upper hand when it comes to reaction time.

The Dell S-Series includes four USB ports, one upstream, two downstream, and one as a BC1.2 charging port. It also includes a swivel and pivot function allowing you to move and adjust the monitor’s orientation however you please—definitely worth the price.

2. ASUS VG248QE 24″ Full HD Gaming Monitor

asus gaming monitor
source: ASUS

The ASUS VG248QE 24-Inch Gaming Monitor has a price of $288.00. It has a 24-inch screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, which provides a moderately high definition image. It has a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which is ideal for quick reaction times in first-person shooter games.

The ASUS includes two USB 2.0 ports and a swivel and pivot function, giving the user the freedom to orient the monitor as they please. This monitor may not have the highest specifications, but it definitely justifies its price.

3. Samsung 34-Inch CJ791 Ultrawide Curved Gaming Monitor 

Samsung gaming monitor
source: Samsung

The Samsung 34-Inch Curved Gaming Monitor comes in for $799.00. It has a 34-inch screen with a resolution of 3440 x 1440 pixels, giving it a considerably high-resolution image for its particularly wide monitor. It has a refresh rate of 100 Hz, giving the player moderate yet adequate reaction time.

The Samsung Ultrawide Curved Gaming Monitor includes two USB ports and two Thunderbolt 3 ports, allowing for the user to connect a MacBook to the display. It is definitely on the more expensive side of monitors, but it wouldn’t be there if it didn’t have features to justify its price.

What makes the Samsung 34-Inch stand out from other monitors is its ultrawide, curved monitor, which has as an objective to emulate the curvature of the human eye, presenting the player with an expanded image to making them more aware of what is happening in the virtual world.

4. Acer Predator XB271HK 27-inch Gaming Monitor

acer predator gaming monitor
source: Acer

The Acer Predator 27-inch Gaming Monitor has a price of $574.99. It has a 27-inch screen with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, giving it an astonishing resolution, possibly the best out of all the monitors in this list. It has a refresh rate of 60hz, giving the player a lower yet acceptable reaction time when it comes to first-person shooters.

The Acer Predator Gaming Monitor has four USB 3.0 ports, allowing for multiple extra devices to be connected to your setup. It also has a swivel and pivot function to freely adjust orientation.

5. Alienware 25 Gaming Monitor

alienware gaming monitor
source: Alienware

The Alienware 25 Gaming Monitor comes in for $399.99. It has a 25-inch screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, giving it a decently high definition quality. It has an astonishing refresh rate of 240 Hz, giving the player incredibly quick reaction time.

The Alienware 25 Gaming Monitor has four USB ports, making it perfect for a multi-display setup.

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Now that we have taken a look into each of the five monitors, it’s time to compare and contrast them to see which one is the best monitor for you.

How to Choose a Gaming Monitor

To choose a gaming monitor, you have to take into consideration your setup’s current situation and needs. For example, if your setup is lacking frames per second, or if your resolution is too low, or if you are just looking for anything that’s better to replace it with, etc. Most of these monitors come with a tradeoff. 

If what you are looking for are the highest quality graphics so that your reaction doesn’t have to depend on seeing a pixel changing shades, and instead, you can see a distant enemy in full detail, then the Acer Predator Gaming Monitor is the best for you. However, the Acer doesn’t have the best refresh rate, so there’s a tradeoff between frames per second for quality.

If, on the other hand, you are looking for the highest refresh rate to allow your eyes to have the sharpest reaction times, then the Alienware 25 Gaming Monitor is the right choice for you. However, this comes with a tradeoff and a caveat.

Firstly, there is a tradeoff between quality for higher frames per second. Secondly, the human eye can barely tell the difference between 144 frames per second and 240.

If what you are looking for is a wide range of vision to see more of what lies in front of you, then the Samsung Ultrawide Curved Gaming Monitor is the best choice for you, since it offers a mixture of good image quality and a decent refresh rate. However, it is the priciest out of all the monitors mentioned above.

If what you are looking for is an all-round good monitor for a low price, then the ASUS Gaming Monitor is the right choice. It has good quality, high refresh rate, and its USB ports, and a low price could allow you to purchase multiple monitors for a multi-monitor setup, giving you a far wider picture.

Although these monitors widely vary in prices, they can still be quite expensive for most people who see gaming as a light hobby rather than as a ‘profession.’ So it is important to ask whether there are any other alternatives to a gaming monitor.

Alternatives to a Gaming Monitor

The role of a gaming monitor is to provide a clear picture of what exactly is going on in the virtual world. Gaming monitors achieve this through lighting many different pixels and updating the image at a given time interval in less than a second. Another device that has a role similar to the gaming monitor is the TV.

A TV was the progenitor of gaming displays, veteran gamers can remember connecting their Nintendo 64, PlayStation, or Xbox to their box-shaped TV when they were young, and this is still possible today, even with PC.

A small TV has the advantage of good quality, lower prices, and more than anything, being multi-purpose. You can watch your favorite shows or sports through cable and immediately after switch the video source to your gaming console. Also, it is more likely that you had a TV at home before a gaming console or PC, so there wouldn’t be any need to buy a gaming monitor. Right?

Sadly, TV’s were not designed to display videogames at a quality or refresh rate that is deemed adequate for professional gaming setups. TVs tend to have refresh rates of 30 to 60 Hz, which is far lower than what gaming monitors tend to offer.

Another alternative would be a gaming laptop. Gaming laptops have the advantage of being small, cheaper than a tower, keyboard, mouse, and monitor setup for PC gaming, and they can have very good specifications since they are built for gaming. On top of that, they can connect to a TV or Gaming Monitor for a wider picture.

As a small note, you will only find laptops and computers suitable for professional gaming that run Windows. Apple and Linux tend to have statistics that make them incapable of running games properly, and some developers choose to fully opt-out their games from these operating systems.

However, the disadvantage of gaming laptops is that you would have to purchase a mouse since playing with a trackpad is incredibly difficult, and the image, although good, is very small.

In Summary

As humans we are visual creatures; we rely more on our eyes for detailed information than in any other body part. So any gaming setup requires good visuals. The monitors mentioned above are good, but they have their differences.

All of them offer Universal Serial Bus (USB) support, which allows for extra devices and displays to be attached to the gaming setup. Where they differ is in how they go about providing visuals.

The Dell S-Series is an all-round good monitor for a moderate price, similar to the ASUS, which offers decent all-round features for a lower price. The Samsung Ultrawide Curved monitor offers an extra-wide picture with a great field of view and decent quality and refresh rate, but it is the most expensive of the five.

The Acer Predator offers astonishing graphics and resolution for a sharper image, but it has the lowest refresh rate of the five. Alternatively, the Alienware offers the highest refresh rate for razor-sharp reaction times, but it has lower image quality, and the refresh rate might be a bit of an overkill.

Alternatives to gaming monitors include TVs, which are lower in price and can provide good resolution and graphics but have refresh rates that could be considered terrible for professional gaming. Gaming laptops are all-round good being cheaper and smaller, but their display size is both their blessing and their curse.

Once again, the defining factor of what monitor you should get is your situation and the specifications of your own console. If you fail to consider this, costs will pile up, which would render the purchase of your monitor mostly useless or will force you to upgrade your PC. If you are only into gaming as a hobby, you don’t want to spend this much.

The world of gaming monitors is huge; no monitor is exactly like each other. And some, although cheaper or lower in specifications, are better for different people, so what worked for your buddy might not exactly work for you. Hopefully, this guide was helpful in choosing which gaming monitor suits you best!

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John Hammer

Hi i'm John Hammer, Founder and Author of Gizbuyer Guide. Ever since the original Xbox, PlayStation, and iPhone I've purchased and worked on all kinds of consumer tech products, gaming gadgets and operating system softwares. To this day my curiosity has never left, and my aim is to guide and share my knowledge on technology as I continue to experience the latest of the consumer electronics industry.

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