Monitors

The UltraSharp line is the reason this category exists: three years of cover with Advanced Exchange, so a failed panel is replaced rather than queued for repair, and Premium Panel Exchange, which replaces the panel over a single bright pixel. Nothing on it needs an account or a driver.

• Three year warranty with Advanced Exchange
• Premium Panel Exchange covers one bright pixel
• 27 inch QHD, IPS Black panel
• Height, tilt, swivel and pivot
• No account, no software, standard drivers

A 32 inch 4K IPS Black panel aimed at people who colour match for a living, with Thunderbolt 3 in and a three year manufacturer warranty.

• Three year manufacturer warranty
• 32 inch 4K, IPS Black panel
• Thunderbolt 3, 65W to a laptop
• Factory calibrated for sRGB, Display P3 and Rec. 709
• No account, no software, standard drivers

A 27 inch 1440p panel that arrives factory calibrated and runs on plain DisplayPort and HDMI with no account and no software to install. ASUS covers it for three years as standard and five if you register it, which is longer than most desks keep a monitor.

• Three year warranty, five with registration
• Factory calibrated, Calman verified
• Height, tilt, swivel and pivot on the stand
• DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI-D and a USB hub
• No account, no software, standard drivers

The budget pick, and it qualifies on the same grounds as the expensive ones: no battery, no account, no firmware to abandon, and plain HDMI and VGA inputs that any machine made in the last twenty years can drive. An IPS panel rather than the cheaper TN sort, which is what decides whether it still looks right from an angle in year eight.

• IPS panel, 24 inch 1080p
• Plain HDMI and VGA, no dock or driver
• Flicker free, blue light filter
• The low cost option here

4K at 27 inches on an IPS panel covering most of the DCI-P3 gamut, which is the specification that stops a screen looking dated: resolution and colour are the two things a monitor cannot be upgraded into later. It runs off plain DisplayPort or HDMI with nothing installed, and there is no battery in it to reach an end.

• 27 inch 4K, IPS panel
• Up to 95 percent DCI-P3 colour
• DisplayPort and HDMI, no driver needed
• Height and tilt adjustable stand

The same UltraSharp cover on a 32 inch 4K panel with a Thunderbolt hub, so one cable carries video, data and power to a laptop and the monitor becomes the dock. The hub is the part that dates a monitor fastest, and this one speaks standard Thunderbolt rather than anything proprietary.

• Two year manufacturer guarantee on this listing
• 32 inch 4K, IPS Black panel
• Thunderbolt hub, one cable to a laptop
• Height, tilt, swivel and pivot
• No account, no software, standard drivers

The same argument at 27 inches: an IPS panel, a frameless case and inputs that need nothing installed. A monitor with no software behind it cannot be orphaned by a maker dropping support, which is the failure mode that ends most screens long before the panel does.

• IPS panel, 27 inch 1080p
• HDMI and VGA, nothing to install
• Flicker free, blue light filter
• No battery and no firmware to abandon