The best touchscreen monitors provide the same crisp imagery and their non-touch counterparts but also offer a responsive, slick, and elegant way to interface with your PC or other devices. In the modern display market, you no longer need to pay a massive premium for a touchscreen either—while they’re still generally pricier than standard displays, the markup is significantly less brutal than in previous generations.

Continue on to our roundup for more of the best touchscreen monitors money can buy, or bop on over to our best computer monitors list for even more great options.

For a straightforward option with plenty of screen space and flexibility to match, the Dell P2418HT is a great pick. This touchscreen monitor remains on the affordable side while offering a Full HD, 23.8-inch LCD display. It also uses an LED-backlit IPS panel to offer excellent viewing angles.

Best Overall

Dell P2418HT

An anti-glare coating on the screen helps with bright office environments, even more so if your desk is near a window and you’re constantly getting sunlight on your screen. (Although that same anti-glare coating can also make the contrast better between parts of the screen that have fingerprints on them and parts that don’t.) There’s also a 3H Hard Coating on the display to help protect it from damage.

The Dell P2418HT is meant to easily integrate into your workspace. It includes a USB hub on the back, so you can wire your peripherals directly into the monitor. Extra handy for a touchscreen monitor is the highly flexible stand, which lets you position the Dell P2418HT at the best height for touch interaction.

The Acer UT241Y has a sleek design, Full HD display, and flexible stand, making it an excellent option for those who want a high-definition monitor. It also sports Acer’s Zero Frame display design, which runs the screen almost to the edges of the monitor for a virtually borderless appearance.

Best HD

Acer UT241Y

The Acer UT241Y uses a 23.8-inch display with an IPS panel for wide viewing angles and a dual-hinge design that lets you tilt and angle the Acer UT241Y to a range of different heights. This is especially useful if you have an adjustable desk and tend to alternate between sitting and standing.

Adding to the package are two ports for USB 3.0 and one USB 3.1 Type-C port (which can handle video and touch signals), dual speakers for your audio, and a quick 4ms response time that’s suitable for gaming. Note that the touchscreen functionality of this monitor is only available with Windows 10 computers.

Sometimes a great option might be one you wouldn’t think to look for — that’s where we think the Microsoft Surface Go fits in. While it’s actually a full-featured tablet running Windows 10, the touchscreen display is a high-quality option that you can make excellent use of on the go.

Best Tablet

Microsoft Surface Go

The Surface Go has a 10-inch display with a resolution of 1800x1200, making it fairly sharp at 217 pixels-per-inch. It also has 10-point multitouch for all your touchscreen needs and supports the Microsoft Pen for stylus users.

When you’re on the go, you have the option of using the Surface Go and a standalone tablet or converting it into a laptop experience with a keyboard and mouse. That way, you have a touchscreen without needing to lug around a computer as well. Alternatively, if you want to use the Surface Go as more of an external monitor for another computer, you can use a remote desktop client to control your other computer from the Surface Go.

The Lenovo IdeaCentre AIO 520 is actually a fully-functional desktop computer with a touchscreen monitor, which makes it more expensive but also streamlines the hardware you have on your desk. It offers a large, 27-inch touchscreen display with Quad HD (2560x1440) resolution. That display supports full, 10-point multitouch.

Best Desktop Computer

Lenovo IdeaCentre AIO 520

What you get inside the monitor in this case is a full Windows 10 computer with an 8th-Gen Intel Core i5 processor and 8GB of RAM. There’s also 1TB of storage, dual speakers, and a popup webcam. So, you’ll get all the touchscreen functionality and high resolution without even needing to plug into another computer. The IdeaCentre 520 does support HDMI input from external devices, but if you want to the use the screen’s touch functionality with a different computer, you’ll have to look into remote desktop tools.

What to Look for in a Touchscreen Monitor

Refresh Rate

The refresh rate of a monitor refers to how many times per second the screen can update with new image data. This is most important for playing games, and you’ll want to look for a monitor with a refresh rate of at least 144Hz if you’re really serious. Most gamers will be satisfied with a refresh rate of 75Hz or more, but if you don’t use your computer for gaming, you can opt for lower.

Display Type

Monitor display types can be hard to understand because there are several different types of LED displays. IPS monitors have great color reproduction and viewing angles, so they’re good for watching video content, any work that requires accurate colors, and most general use scenarios. TN monitors have worse viewing angles, but fast refresh rates make them perfectly suited for gaming.

Resolution

Resolution refers to the number of pixels that the monitor can display, which impacts the sharpness and clarity of the image. The lowest resolution you should settle for is 1920 x 1080, which is referred to as full HD. If you want to take it to the next level—and your video card can handle it—go for a 4K monitor with a 3840 x 2160 resolution.

  • Will a touchscreen monitor work with any computer?
  • Yes, you can add a touchscreen monitor to virtually any computer (desktop or laptop). Your only real concern is ensuring there’s the proper port/connection for your new monitor on your machine: ensure you have an open HDMI/USB-C/DVI, etc. slot(s).
  • How does a touchscreen monitor work?
  • Touchscreen technology is either capacitive or resistive. Capacitive screens rely on a change in electrostatic fields triggered by a finger or specialized stylus/device to register an input. Resistive screens, on the other hand, are pressure-sensitive, regardless of the source of the pressure.
  • Do touchscreens work over HDMI?
  • Not exclusively, no. For touch technology to work, a signal needs to be sent over another data channel, usually a USB connection, though an HDMI connection may be used separately to carry the video signal.

Yes, you can add a touchscreen monitor to virtually any computer (desktop or laptop). Your only real concern is ensuring there’s the proper port/connection for your new monitor on your machine: ensure you have an open HDMI/USB-C/DVI, etc. slot(s).

Touchscreen technology is either capacitive or resistive. Capacitive screens rely on a change in electrostatic fields triggered by a finger or specialized stylus/device to register an input. Resistive screens, on the other hand, are pressure-sensitive, regardless of the source of the pressure.

Not exclusively, no. For touch technology to work, a signal needs to be sent over another data channel, usually a USB connection, though an HDMI connection may be used separately to carry the video signal.