All monitors have HDMI and DisplayPort to connect to a PC (or even VGA if it’s a really old one). Those are the basics. If you want the latest of these port standards in monitors, you’re looking for HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2.1.

More and more monitors nowadays include a built-in USB hub, which can sometimes include USB-A ports, an Ethernet jack, and more. Once you connect over the upstream USB-C (or USB-B if the monitor’s a bit older), you can plug accessories and peripherals directly into the monitor. That’s particularly useful if your laptop doesn’t have many ports, or if you frequently move your laptop and like to keep it as cable-free as possible. Many monitors also include Power Delivery over USB-C, letting you connect and charge your laptop through a single cable.

Some workstation-level monitors take this a step further and also include a KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) switch, which allows you to switch between multiple laptops or PCs, all plugged into the same monitor. Most people don’t need this, but if you run multiple PCs for any reason, it’s a must.

The placement of these ports is also important. Ideally, you won’t have to reach the back of your monitor too often, because let’s be real, it’s a huge pain. Down-firing ports are the hardest to reach and see, but give you the cleanest look. Back-facing ports, meanwhile, are easier to plug in. Some of the new Dell monitors even include a pop-down, forward-facing port module for quick access to USB-C or a headphone jack. Some monitor stands include some built-in cable management to route your cords, which is a helpful feature.

Pricing

There’s a huge range of pricing for monitors, ranging from under $100 to $5,000 for the Apple Pro Display XDR. Most people will likely be shopping in the sub-$300 range, which is what makes options like the Dell 27 Plus 4K so impressive. It’s not a perfect monitor by any means, but in my own testing, it hits the sweet spot in price and quality.

But I love the diversity in the monitor space right now. You’ll have to pay extra for it, but as a product category, it has matured to a point where you’ll always be able to find what you’re looking for, whether it’s a port-filled workstation, a super-fast gaming monitor, a display with smart features that doubles as a television, or maybe even an oversized ultrawide monitor that replaces dual monitors.

There are few certainties in life: death, taxes and massively increased workloads on infrastructures through the unstoppable rise of AI.

And enterprises and connectivity providers know only too well that AI has fuelled an unprecedented surge in network demand. Keeping pace with the next wave of AI growth will require new long-haul networks to enable the rapid scaling of capacity needs in both existing and emerging enterprise setups – especially within datacentres.

The emergence and widespread adoption of agentic AI-enabled applications is reshaping datacentre requirements, prompting a rapid evolution in networking solutions. AI is driving these advancements, with a dual opportunity for network innovation and operational transformation.

Research earlier in 2025 found that core fibre investment is key to future AI growth, but four-fifths of firms delay builds because of network infrastructure constraints. In addition, global network connectivity provider Zayo predicted AI-driven datacentre capacity to grow 2-6X over the next five years while optical comms technology provider Ciena reported that AI capacity doubling every six months, with hundreds of fibres connected to datacentres being lit up.

Looking at the networks of the future, in October 2025 Cisco noted that two major forces are starting to reshape the landscape: AI agents, which raise the bar for scale, security and governance; and AI infrastructure debt, the early warning signs of hidden bottlenecks that threaten to erode long-term value.

Assessing in April 2025 how to solve these issues, leading research firm Omdia observed that to drive the continued growth of the global AI economy, networks will need to evolve significantly to deliver enhanced capabilities. New, advanced optical networks, it said, were necessary to meet advanced application and service requirements and address surging capacity needs within tight capex targets.

As well as supporting business agility to match bandwidth supply to service utilisation, these new nets – such as all photonic networks – also offer with lower power consumption per bit to meet sustainability goals and reduce energy costs.  

And, perhaps most importantly, the benefits of AI in networking can’t be realised fully without considering networking for AI.

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 networking stories of 2025.

“Unlimited” is a funny term. Unlimited cell phone plans often come with a long list of footnotes, terms, conditions, and exceptions. Mercifully, all of the Big Three cell companies have, by now, ditched throttling on their highest-paid tiers, and include 5G data access in all their unlimited plans. Yet there are still many differences in the services they offer, and from tier to tier within each company.

Cheaper “unlimited” tiers do offer unlimited talk and text. But they still have rules on how much unlimited data you get before they start throttling your speed, and some “unlimited” plans may throttle your data at any given time. Data throttling is the practice of reducing your data speeds after you hit a certain threshold of data used in a month or during times of congestion. It’s been a fixture of cell service plans for years.

Below, I’ve highlighted what each of the major carriers offers for “unlimited” individual and family plans to help you figure out which unlimited plan is best for you and your budget.

The Best Unlimited Plan Right Now: T-Mobile Experience More

T-Mobile Essentials, Experience More, and Experience Beyond Plans

The Essentials plan (with autopay, taxes/fees not included): 1 Line for $60/month | 2 Lines $90 | 3 Lines $90 | 4 Lines $100 | 5 Lines $125

Experience More (with autopay, taxes/fees not included): 1 Line for $85/month | 2 Lines $140 | 3 Lines $140 | 4 Lines $170 | 5 Lines $200

Experience Beyond (with autopay, taxes/fees not included): 1 Line for $100/month | 2 Lines $170 | 3 Lines $170 | 4 Lines $215 | 5 Lines $260

T-Mobile has the best 5G coverage among the big three, the highest 5G speeds, the fastest downloads and the best overall reliability, according to analysis from OpenSignal and Ookla. The carrier also makes claims to winning on value, when you take into account perks that include entertainment bundles, airplane WiFi, and access to satellite data in emergencies.

T-Mobile has rebranded its unlimited offerings this year but still offers three unlimited talk and text plans: Essentials, Experience More, and Experience Beyond. Only the two Experience plans offer true unlimited 5G data without any throttling or deprioritizing (i.e., making your phone stand in line for data behind other, more important, phones during peak demand.)

If cost is more important to you than perks, and you don’t travel a lot internationally, the Essentials plan is what we recommend for people with big families. It’s no frills, just the phone, ma’am, with no subscription money going to streaming services or international carrier fees. Your hotspot is limited to 3G speeds if you’re a laptop warrior, an important consideration for many, and video streaming is 480p. But at its price point, Essentials is the only plan to offer premium data (up to 50 GB) that won’t be throttled. If youy’ve got home WiFi, that 50GB should be sufficient for most people. Besides, it’ll teach your teens how to budget, and how to ask for the WiFi password instead of using their own data. But take note: Data in Canada and Mexico will be so slow you might as well have an old flip phone.