The Black Friday 2018 Guide to Smash Monitors

[Thinkaman]

I promised I'd make this topic. So here it is.

I'm not gonna give you a tutorial on all the vocabulary or technology of monitors. I'm just going to tell you what to buy: What portable monitor you want for the sole primary purpose of playing Smash Ultimate at tournaments (or other locations) on your Switch.

(If you want a big TV for your house, you probably want it for a bunch of other things too, so that's outside the scope of this topic. But go listen to Rtings and buy a modern LG.)

Our demands:

1. HDMI
   • Duh.
2. Speakers/Headphone Jack
   • We don't care if the speakers are crappy.
   • Most monitors without speakers don't offer an audio out, so these go hand-in-hand.
3. IPS Panel
   • Maximum viewing angle is MANDATORY in a competitive game where screens are shared.
   • Have you ever played teams on a TN panel? Garbage.
4. Low Input Lag
   • WE DO NOT CARE ABOUT RESPONSE TIME.
   • ALL ADVERTISED RESPONSE TIME NUMBERS ARE GARBAGE.
   • For a fighting game, all we care about is the optimal 1080p input lag of the monitor.
   • We don't care about ghosting, blur, artifacts, or anything that FPS or racing games care so much about. We only care about input lag.
   • Fortunately, most modern IPS panels have total input lag lower than "faster" "gaming" TN panels.
   • This is surprisingly, thankfully, not actually a huge concern with modern monitors in the size range we're looking at.
5. No PWM (flicker)
   • This used to be a big issue. Fortunately, almost all modern monitors have fixed this, so all this does is prevent us from bargain hunting for really old stuff.
6. CHEAP!
   • We aren't made of money, and this is a portable monitor; it's likely to get banged up, stolen, or who knows what.

Luxuries we might like to have:

1. Low Weight
   • I mean, this is a portable monitor.
2. Display Port
   • If you want your smash monitor to double as an extra portable monitor for anything else, you might want to be able to daisy-chain it.

What we DON'T care about:

1. Resolutions above 1080p
   • This is what the Switch outputs. Anything more is pointless.
2. Refresh Rates above 60 Hz
   • Again, Switch.
3. Color Accuracy
   • All the modern monitors that fit the modern criteria look decent anyway, probably better than anything you own if you are reading this.
4. Contrast
   • We're playing a vivid fighting game in a noisy room, not watching a movie. Who cares how dark the blacks are?
5. Fancy "Gaming" Technology
   • Again, we are not concerned with the things FPS players are.

(Last warning: if you want a top-of-the-line monitor to display the prettiest of pictures, or connect to anything besides a Nintendo Switch, this is not the thread for you!)


Over the past few months, I've been maintaining a spreadsheet of all the monitors on Amazon and Newegg that adhere to these criteria. Now that we have final Black Friday prices, I'm ready to pick the winners.

To my surprise, thanks to some solid discounts, ViewSonic is our Black Friday winner at every size of modern 1080p IPS monitors with audio support. Going into this week I really didn't expect them to win, but here we are. (Many of the other monitors I was tracking closely actually went up in price...) ViewSonic is historically one of the more reliable and reputable brands, so this at least makes things easy for us. I was expecting to have to write a big long topic explaining which brands are best at which sizes and price points, but ViewSonic won Black Friday 2018 in all of them. (Also, Amazon beat Newegg in all but a few monitors, including all of the winning ViewSonics.)

Without further preamble, buy one of these:

Here are the clickable links from the above table:

(TN PANELS - SAVE $10 FOR AWFUL VIEWING ANGLES)
ViewSonic VA2246MH-LED https://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-VA2246MH-LED-1080p-Monitor-HDMI/dp/B072F3DL6P
ViewSonic VA2446MH-LED https://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-VA2246MH-LED-1080p-Monitor-HDMI/dp/B074F28QNS
ViewSonic VA2746MH-LEDhttps://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-VA2246MH-LED-1080p-Monitor-HDMI/dp/B071YVGZ79

(IPS PANELS - WHAT MOST PEOPLE WANT)
ViewSonic VX2259-SMH https://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-VA2259-SMH-1080p-Frameless-Monitor/dp/B01HSABNU0
ViewSonic VX2459-SMH https://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-VA2259-SMH-1080p-Frameless-Monitor/dp/B06XYRWB8J
ViewSonic VX2759-SMH https://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-VA2259-SMH-1080p-Frameless-Monitor/dp/B01F6UTURM

(FANCY STAND - PAY $20 FOR BETTER STAND, LIGHTER PANEL, BETTER SPEAKERS, AND DISPLAYPORT)
ViewSonic VX2276-SMHD https://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-VX2276-SMHD-Frameless-Widescreen-DisplayPort/dp/B01GE9QSVK
ViewSonic VX2376-SMHD https://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-VX2276-SMHD-Frameless-Widescreen-DisplayPort/dp/B01GE9QWJI
ViewSonic VX2476-SMHD https://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-VX2276-SMHD-Frameless-Widescreen-DisplayPort/dp/B01GV9H1RS
ViewSonic VX2776-SMHD https://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-VX2276-SMHD-Frameless-Widescreen-DisplayPort/dp/B01GE9QWB6
ViewSonic VX3276-MHD https://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-VX2276-SMHD-Frameless-Widescreen-DisplayPort/dp/B0787WGCXT
Note that the fancy-stand monitors are not VESA mountable, except the biggest one--which seems older and might have different input lag?

Both IPS lines use identical panels. Here's DisplayLag.com verifying a 10ms average total input lag time, which is about as good as it gets.

(UPDATE - GLOSSY IPS DELLS WITH GIANT SPEAKERS)
Dell S2418H https://www.amazon.com/Dell-S2418HN-Monitor-Infinity-Display/dp/B06XYSZRQT
Dell S2718H https://www.amazon.com/Dell-S2418HN-Monitor-Infinity-Display/dp/B06XYPPCZX
Update - A third party-seller on Amazon has some prices on this Dell line that is competitive with the fancy stand ViewSonic stuff at these 2 sizes. They are also unmountable and have no DP input, but come with a "built-in" bundled speaker that is going to beat any in-bezel option and offers superior volume control buttons. However, they are glossy-coated screens rather than the usual matte, so they are a risky choice for brightly-lit venues.

This is as cheap as it gets--there's basically no room to compromise further down. If you really are on a budget and don't need speakers/audio at all (such as if you want to just use the switch headphone out),, there's an Acer IPS for $79 that looks decent:
https://www.amazon.com/Acer-SB220Q-Ultra-Thin-Frame-Monitor/dp/B07CVL2D2S


Hmm, maybe I should have made these into affiliate links somehow? Oh well. It's just my Thanksgiving gift to the community.

Well, that's a wrap. Enjoy the fruits of consumerism!

 

[infomon]

AMAZING breakdown, thanks very much!!!

 

[The Slayer]

Blarg, wasn't thinking about getting another monitor, but it would make sense since I would wanna play Smash right beside my computer. Guess I'll put that on a footnote for my birthday next year.

 

[Thinkaman]

I found some nice Dell monitors on Amazon that are competitive with the ViewSonic stuff at 2 sizes, and have much bigger "built-in" speakers. However, they are glossy, which is not what most Smashers want in a portable monitor. Added to OP.

 

[Thinkaman]

Bump:

Amazon is early matching Dell's Cyber Monday monitor doorbuster, the $149 D3218HN. This is a dirt cheap price on a 32" IPS panel known to have minimal input lag, but it does lack speakers and DP. The picture quality is meh, but well-suited for a bright venue.

 

[Scarlet Spyder]

Best Buy has this LG. Does it fit all of the above criteria?

 

[Rucario]

Thank you you spreed some light on what I needed