The 3 Best Mini LED Monitors - Winter 2025

The best Mini LED monitor we've tested is the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 S32BG85. It's a premium 32-inch, 4k monitor that's great for a variety of uses. It has 1,196 dimming zones, more than most monitors, but the number of zones doesn't guarantee good performance either. Regardless, it has a decent local dimming feature that helps deepen blacks and makes highlights pop against the rest of the image, but very small highlights are muted, and it has black crush. Still, it has great picture quality and displays a wide range of colors for a great HDR experience.

In terms of gaming, it has a fast response time for sharp motion at any refresh rate. It has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, and there aren't any compatibility issues with the Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PS5 Pro. It also offers a high 240Hz refresh rate that's great even for competitive gamers, but you need a powerful graphics card to take full advantage of it. However, if you don't want something with such a high refresh rate, you can also check out the Samsung Odyssey Neo G7 S32BG75, which performs similarly and costs less but can be harder to find.

If the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 S32BG85 is too expensive for you, you can often find the Acer Nitro XV275K P3biipruzx for a lower cost, and it's worth getting when it goes on sale. It's a 4k monitor that's different in a few ways from the Samsung because it has a lower 160Hz refresh rate, so it doesn't feel as smooth, and it has a smaller 27-inch screen. It also has a lower native contrast ratio, which negatively impacts the test results, but this isn't something to worry about once you enable the local dimming feature. It has 576 zones and displays deep blacks against bright highlights, and there's minimal black crush. That said, one of the drawbacks is that there's some blooming around bright objects, like subtitles.

On the plus side, this monitor gets much brighter than the Samsung, so highlights truly stand out, and it's a great choice if you want to use it in a well-lit room. Additionally, motion looks sharp, thanks to its fast response time. However, while it works well with gaming consoles, it has increased input lag with 60Hz signals. This doesn't affect the Xbox games if you set it to 120Hz, but it does impact PS5 games running at 60Hz.

Some Mini LED monitors are becoming accessible at budget-friendly prices, like the AOC Q27G3XMN. The main trade-off of getting this versus the Acer Nitro XV275K P3biipruzx is that it has a lower 1440p resolution, so images are less detailed. That said, if you're after pure picture quality, this monitor punches above its weight, as it includes a good local dimming feature, even better than the monitors mentioned above, despite having 336 dimming zones. It displays deep blacks with very bright highlights, blooming is minimal, and there isn't too much black crush either.

It has a slightly higher 180Hz refresh rate than the Acer, but although it has a fast overall response time, there's some smearing with fast-moving objects. It also lacks extra features like HDMI 2.1 bandwidth to take full advantage of gaming consoles and doesn't have any USB ports either. Still, you have to expect fewer features with a budget monitor. If you can't find this monitor available in your region, consider the Acer Nitro XV275U P3biipx, a similar monitor that costs less if it's on sale but has worse motion handling.