Dell E1914H 18.5" Black

The Dell E1914H is an 18.5-inch budget office monitor with a 1366 x 768 TN panel and VGA-only connectivity. It's fine for basic productivity if you can find it under $80, but the dated resolution, poor color, and limited inputs make it a tough sell in 2024. Most people are better off saving for a 24-inch 1080p IPS monitor instead.

The E1914H has a 5ms response time, which sounds fine on paper, but this is a TN panel from a generation ago. In our database, its performance lands in the 22nd percentile, which means it's near the bottom of what we've tested. The 1,000:1 contrast ratio is standard for TN, but the 200 nits brightness means you'll struggle in a bright room. And the color story is worse, it sits in the 1st percentile for color, which is basically dead last. The 83% color gamut claim from Dell sounds okay until you realize that's 83% of the sRGB space, not a wide gamut, and the 16.7 million colors are just 6-bit with dithering.

For office work, text is readable and the 60Hz refresh rate is fine. But if you're asking whether this monitor is good for gaming or photo editing, the answer is no. The 1366 x 768 resolution means everything looks a bit soft, and the viewing angles on TN panels are notoriously bad. Tilt your head a little and the colors shift. It's a monitor you sit directly in front of and don't move.

Compared to something like the ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQL5A or the LG UltraGear 27G640A-B, the E1914H isn't even playing the same sport. Those are 27-inch gaming monitors with high refresh rates, better color, and modern connectivity. The Dell is a 18.5-inch office panel with a single VGA port. It's not a fair fight, and we're not going to pretend it is.

Where the E1914H makes sense is against other budget office monitors from the same era. The Acer Nitro XV272U and Samsung Odyssey G5 are both bigger and better, but they also cost more. If you need something cheap and basic, the Dell does the job. If you need anything beyond email and spreadsheets, look elsewhere. The SANSUI 27 inch is another budget option that gives you more screen real estate for not much more money.

Value is a mixed bag. If you can grab this for $65, it's a functional second monitor or a cheap replacement for a dead office screen. At $168, you're getting robbed. The price spread across US listings is $103, which is wild for a monitor this old. Newegg has the better deal on the used side, and we'd say anything under $80 is acceptable. Above that, you're better off saving for something like a used 24-inch IPS panel, which will run circles around this thing in color and viewing angles.

The Dell E1914H is a budget 18.5-inch TN monitor that's been floating around offices and home setups for years. It runs at 1366 x 768, which is HD but not Full HD, and it's built for basic productivity, not gaming or creative work. You can find these used for anywhere from $65 to $168 depending on the seller, and honestly, the lower end of that range is where this thing makes any sense at all.

If you're searching for a cheap second monitor or something to pair with an older desktop, this one does the bare minimum well. It's got a VGA port, a tilt stand, and VESA mounting holes. That's about it. No HDMI, no DisplayPort, no speakers, no USB hub. It's the monitor equivalent of a reliable old sedan, nothing flashy, but it gets you there.

Dell positioned this as an office workhorse, and that's really the only use case we'd recommend. The 16:9 widescreen format gives you enough room for spreadsheets and email, and the LED backlight keeps power draw at a modest 19W. But the display quality is rough by modern standards, and we'll get into that below.

Skip this monitor if you do any kind of creative work, gaming, or if you just want a screen that looks good. The color performance is in the 1st percentile, which means it's one of the worst we've seen for color accuracy. If you need HDMI, built-in speakers, or a higher resolution, this isn't for you either. Anyone with a modern laptop that only has USB-C or HDMI outputs will need adapters, and at that point you're spending more money to make a mediocre monitor work. Look at a used 24-inch 1080p IPS panel instead, you'll get better color, better viewing angles, and modern inputs for not much more cash.

Should you buy the Dell E1914H? Only if you need a basic monitor for basic tasks and you can get it for under $80. It's fine for office work, point-of-sale systems, or as a secondary display for reference material. The VGA-only connectivity is a real limitation, and the 1366 x 768 resolution feels cramped by modern standards.

For most people, we'd say skip it. The user sentiment score sits in the 29th percentile, and while the few reviews we found are positive, they're also from people with very low expectations. The lack of HDMI means you'll need adapters for modern laptops, and the display quality is a weak spot we can't ignore. If you're on a tight budget, save a little longer and get something with at least 1080p and an IPS panel.