M: I'm trying to find an inexpensive monitor with 1080p and only a couple feet large at max with a DisplayPort. The biggest problem I'm having right now is I'm not sure who's currently thought of as being a good manufacturer. I've largely been playing off of a laptop screen and major brand name TVs as secondary monitors. Who's thought of as a decent manufacturer now when it comes to just a screen with a DisplayPort connection?
G: Short answer first:
If you just want a solid, no-nonsense 1080p DisplayPort
monitor, the consistently “safe” manufacturers right now
are:
If you stick to those, you’re unlikely to get burned.
At your spec level (1080p, ~24", DisplayPort), brand matters less than a few key traits:
Panel type → IPS is the baseline now
(better color + viewing angles; basically standard in 2026)
Build quality / QA → where brands differ
Inputs → check explicitly for DisplayPort
Some cheap monitors quietly drop it.
These are the “plug it in and forget it exists” monitors.
These can be excellent, but they also make a lot of SKUs. You check the exact model.
Not unusable—but quality control, backlight bleed, and longevity are more variable.
Here are a few current, typical options in your range:
product["turn0product15","Dell P2425H 24" IPS Monitor",{"render_as":"block","description":"Business-grade 1080p IPS with DisplayPort and excellent reliability"}]
product["turn0product3","LG 24U411A-B 24" IPS Monitor",{"render_as":"block","description":"Very inexpensive IPS panel with good color and typical LG quality"}]
product["turn0product2","Acer Nitro XV240Y 23.8" IPS Monitor",{"render_as":"block","description":"Higher refresh rate with DisplayPort if you want smoother motion"}]
| Attribute | entity["turn0product15","Dell P2425H"] | entity["turn0product3","LG 24U411A-B"] | entity["turn0product2","Acer Nitro XV240Y"] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Panel type | IPS | IPS | IPS |
| Resolution | 1080p | 1080p | 1080p |
| DisplayPort | Yes | Yes (model dependent but common) | Yes |
| Refresh rate | ~100Hz | ~60–100Hz | Up to 200Hz |
| Build quality | Excellent | Good | Good |
| Use case | Work / reliability | Budget everyday | Mixed use / gaming |
| Typical price | Mid ($150–180) | Low (~$90–120) | Low-mid (~$150) |
At 1080p, you’re no longer buying “cutting-edge display tech”—you’re buying quality control and consistency, and that’s where the brand actually matters.
M: Yeah, that's why I checked. There's a lot of stuff on Amazon that evidently isn't even good enough for you to recognize as a valid name. Honestly, if I could, what I'd want is some kind of item like this one monitor or whatever that I have from back in the day. It's a Funai Corporation, that's F-U-N-A-I, model number LC195SLX. What appeals to me about it is that, well, first, I believe it still works, and the back connections it has are just about as flexible for anything I could want involving stuff up until about 10 years ago. It's got an HDMI, a VGA port, a cable connection, RCA port, and the YPBPR kind, along with the HDMI, if I didn't mention that already. The point is, if I could find something that flexible, it might be worth investing in if it was a little larger. That one's about the size of my laptop screen, maybe a little bit larger. But I'm still thinking about using it as a secondary screen for the moment for my new computer build, simply because I'm really reluctant to get rid of it and anything larger than a couple feet isn't exactly what I'm looking for in terms of size. Higher resolution would be nice, but that only does so much before it starts getting too small to really be usable.
G: You’re chasing something that mostly doesn’t exist anymore in a single unit—and there’s a reason for that.
TL;DR:
Modern monitors dropped all those legacy inputs. If you want that level
of flexibility, the closest realistic solution is:
Trying to find one screen that does everything like your old unit is basically fighting the entire direction of the industry.
That thing is effectively a TV + monitor hybrid from a transitional era, when:
Manufacturers stopped doing this because:
So now:
Modern monitor = digital-only (DisplayPort / HDMI)
Legacy compatibility = handled outside the monitor
Instead of one device that does everything, you now build:
This is objectively better long-term:
Look for monitors that still include:
Examples from:
These sometimes still sneak in VGA.
Small TVs still sometimes include:
But:
Brands like:
Get a clean monitor + a single converter hub strategy:
Example setup:
Now you’ve recreated your Funai… but:
You’re right to be cautious:
So:
Your instinct to stay around that size + resolution is solid
You’re basically choosing between:
One box, all ports, plug anything in
→ doesn’t really exist anymore (without compromises)
Separate pieces, slightly more setup
→ more flexible, longer lifespan, better quality
Used business monitors from ~2015–2018
These sometimes include:
Models from Dell / HP / Lenovo in that era hit a weird sweet spot:
You’re not wrong—your old monitor represents a peak convenience era that got abandoned, not because it was bad, but because it became inefficient.
If you try to recreate it exactly, you’ll get worse hardware.
If you accept a small external box, you’ll get something strictly better in every measurable way while preserving all that flexibility.
M: You're misunderstanding in the reason why I brought it up. It was more of kind of an appreciation of it and a good way to explain the priorities I have. I'm not exactly expecting a VGA monitor input for anything that's being made currently. But it's a good way of showing that my priority is more over the capacity to be used than the capacity to, you know, look really modern and giant and all of that.
G: Got it—that reframes things cleanly.
You’re not chasing legacy ports.
You’re prioritizing utility, flexibility, and “just works”
reliability over flash.
That actually maps very well onto a specific slice of the current market.
You want a:
22–24" IPS “business monitor” with DisplayPort + HDMI, no gimmicks, solid stand, good OSD
Ignore gaming branding. Ignore “ultra-thin” nonsense.
Look for office-grade monitors.
These are built for:
They tend to have:
These can be great, but:
Ignore marketing terms. Focus on this checklist:
Cheap monitors cut here first.
Look for:
Dell and ViewSonic tend to do this better than average.
Instead of pushing specific SKUs, here’s the pattern:
These all hit your criteria:
That Funai wasn’t “good” in a modern spec sense.
What it was:
predictable, permissive, and tolerant of inputs
Modern equivalents of that idea are:
That combination replicates the experience you liked, not just the hardware.
You’re not looking for “a good brand” in the abstract.
You’re looking for:
a monitor that behaves like infrastructure, not a product
So:
That lands you in a category that still exists—and hasn’t been ruined by trend-chasing yet.
M: From what I can tell, I'm going to have to actually go to a Best Buy or something. Or maybe a better way of putting it is that if I'm going to go somewhere besides Amazon, I might as well go to the physical store in order to see what it is I'm actually getting. Sounds lazy, doesn't it? I don't think it's not lazy, I just also think that purchasing patterns have changed in what you're requiring. Well, the requirements might not actually have changed, but what you're looking at, I'm just babbling right now, it seems. Okay, so the real reason why I wanted to say something here was... Oh damn, there was a reason. I think it had to do with gaming. That's what it was. I need to ask you to go online and tell me if you can identify anywhere within, like, half an hour of, let's say, the 232-233 zip code, where I could go and be sure to find, not exactly how to describe this appropriately, what I'm looking for is a place other than GameStop, because I'm not sure what their selection is at the moment, where I might expect to find at least a few PlayStation or PlayStation 2 games, PS1 or PS2, somewhere I could just look through the stuff and incidentally maybe find games that I'm not expecting to. Because especially with those consoles, you can go online and look for copies of the classics and, you know, hope you find a good deal, but I'm just as interested in trying to find a place where I can get more of a potential of finding older games that aren't quite on the classic level, but that I would be able to find less expensive and, just as importantly, the kind of thing which is, you know, worth bringing back for a memory.
G: You’re not being lazy—you’re describing a different mode of discovery. Online is for targeted acquisition. What you’re after is browsing entropy—the chance to stumble into something you didn’t know you wanted. That still exists, but it’s mostly been pushed into niche physical spaces.
Here are the kinds of places near your area (Richmond / 232–233 range) where that PS1/PS2 crate-digging experience is still alive:
entity_metadata["local_business","one-line","DawnStar Video Games","Richmond, VA, USA"]
entity_metadata["local_business","one-line","Tech Exchange","Richmond, VA, USA"]
entity_metadata["local_business","one-line","2nd & Charles","Midlothian, VA, USA"]
entity_metadata["local_business","one-line","Diversity Thrift","Richmond, VA, USA"]
What you want isn’t “a store that sells PS2 games.”
You want:
A place where inventory is inconsistent enough to allow discovery
That means:
Avoid:
| Type | Chance of finding PS1/PS2 | Price | Discovery factor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retro game shop | High | Medium | Medium |
| Tech resale shop | Medium | Medium | High |
| 2nd & Charles | High | Low–Medium | High |
| Thrift store | Low | Very low | Very high |
If you want the closest modern equivalent of flipping through bins at random:
That combination recreates the “I wasn’t looking for this, but now I own it” experience that online shopping basically killed. map