Good budget monitors 1080p/1440p, 120Hz/144Hz

[Devmarta]

I'm considering upgrading my current 1080p 60Hz monitor that I use for gaming with something better.

I like the appeal of running <60fps for smoother fast paced games, and I like the idea of <1080p because I'm really noticing the pixels in comparison to my laptop which is 2560 x 1600. However I don't think my GTX 780 will run most of the games I play at 1440p with 144FPS.

There are lots of things that make a monitor better or worse, the details and jargon of which I know little about. But I can tell when a screen presents colours or contrasting brightnesses or blacks poorly, however I don't know which monitors will be better or worse at this.

My current monitor is the Dell 2407WFP https://www.amazon.com/Dell-2407WFP-HC-WideScreen-Resolution-Monitor/dp/B000NKU5H0

 

So in short, could anyone please recommend me some monitors that are nice, or if you have some advice on what resolution and refresh rate I should go with please give me your 2 cents. What monitor(s) do you have? What do you like/dislike? How much should I spend, to get something decent (or better than I have) but reasonably cheap because I only use this for gaming.

 

Additional thought: I am a music producer and would like to use this monitor as a second screen for my laptop when editing. My laptop is a 2015 Macbook Pro and I have thunderbolt and HDMI, or is it possible to connect to a monitor wirelessly? Would this affect my monitor choice?

 

All advice appreciated!