The monitor might be the most important part of your Mac’s setup–after all, you can’t use any desktop computer without one and even the 16-inch MacBook screen can be extended to an external display twice that size. Because you’ll spend a lot of time looking at it, you’ll want to invest wisely. Not only will you want a monitor that provides a pleasing experience, but the quality of the images on the screen can also affect your work.

However, picking a new monitor can be daunting. Not only are there many manufacturers to choose from, but there are also lots of sizes, resolutions, and features to consider–and when we say lots, we mean lots. We’re here to help guide you while you shop, and we have some tips on what to look for in a monitor.

Below our recommendations for best desktop Mac monitor we test and review the best portable displays for Mac.

Apple sells displays for its Macs, and you could go with its offerings, but its displays are a quite bit more expensive than what third parties have. Buying from a different company may mean you may not get a feature that Apple offers, but it may also be a feature that you don’t need, depending on how you use the monitor. Note there are compatibility issues for plain M1, M2 and M3 Macs, which, unlike M1/M2/M3/M4 Pro/Max/Ultra MacBooks, can’t natively connect to more than one external display. Fortunately, we can show you how to connect multiple monitors to M1, M2 and M3 Macs.

There are plenty of companies that have great monitors that you can use with your Mac, without having to take out a second mortgage. Our sister publications Tech Advisor and PCWorld have tested several displays, and we list their top-rated ones that we have been able to confirm work with Macs, alongside the monitors we have reviewed below. Here are our recommendations in order, starting with Apple’s most expensive.

Best Mac monitors: Desktop recommendations

Apple Pro Display XDR: Apple's top-end professional 6K display

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Pros

• Phenomenally well-specced





• Peak brightness of 1,600 nits, stunning picture quality

Cons

• Seriously expensive (but this isn’t a consumer display)





• Stand not included

Best Prices Today:


$4999 at Adorama$4,999 at Amazon$5999.99 at Best Buy

Size: 32-inch
Resolution: 6K (6016×3384 pixels)
Connections: Thunderbolt 3 (96W PD), 3x USB-C
Webcam: No
Stand: Height, Tilt, Rotation stand extra $999/£949
Orientation: Landscape; Portrait with stand

Apple’s highly specced Pro Display XDR is a stunning piece of engineering, and we found it hard to find fault with the picture quality and colour output, but at that price and with these features this is a display for a very specific audience. 

The XDR is phenomenally well-specced: it’s 32in and 6K, offering 40 percent more screen space than Apple’s 5K displays, and offers a peak brightness of 1,600 nits (or 1,000 sustained). But it comes with a seriously eye-watering price tag, especially if you want to include the Pro Stand for adjustability and pivoting.

While this is an expensive monitor by consumer standards, but it really isn’t a consumer monitor. It’s intended for a professional audience.

Picture quality is maintained at ultrawide viewing angles, thanks to industry-leading polariser technology. This is so that a creative team can gather round a single monitor and evaluate a photo, video or design project without suffering a loss of consistency.

Connected via Thunderbolt, it can charge a MacBook

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