As many of us also I have to work from home, due to the reason you know.
My Macbook’s M1 monitor does a very good job, but especially for editing larger Excel files I sometimes wonder if it would make sense to buy an additional larger monitor.
What would you experts out there recommend?
Kind regards –
Walter
Are you willing to spend real money? If so make sure to get a 4K screen to approximate the retina sharpness you’ve become accustomed to.
Do you already have a dock? If not it might be nice to get a monitor that can charge your MB over USB-C.
Personally, I’ve always had very good experience with Dell 27" screens (which I grudgingly admit, I can’t stand the company otherwise), most recently the U2717D (not 4K though). The P2721Q is 4K and comes with USB-C support. It’s $457.
There’s models from LG too. I’m not a huge fan, but TidBITS’ own Josh Centers did a very nice review on one.
Thank you, Simon, very good points!
Yes, I am willing to pay, not too much, but money is not a superior argument – I’m Swiss 
One additional wish is that the monitor is weightless.
My «office» is not really an office, it is the small (dining) table where my wife and I life and dine at.
I would have to move the monitor to the table and remove it afterwards (for dining) 
Kind regards –
Walter
I would have trouble living with the internal screen while editing some of my Excel files, and I also like the external screen for looking at Maps. I would not be without the external screen for home use.
Based on recommendations here on TidBITS, I have an Acer H277HU, perhaps six years old. (I bought it when I was using a MacBook.) It does not match the Retina display, but I don’t do serious graphic things and I don’t consider it deficient. For what it’s worth, I believe I paid almost as much for it as @Simon quoted for the Dell.
Still based on recommendation here on TidBITS, I connect a VAVA USB hub to the MBA and then connect all sorts of USB things to the VAVA hub and connect the Acer display using an HDMI cable. It works for me. I used to connect a MacBook to the Acer display’s USB-C port, but I had some difficulty and a nice person here on TidBITS pointed me toward the VAVA hub.
Huh. I hadn’t even thought of that. Let me know what you find.
I have the Dell Ultrasharp U2718Q 27-Inch 4K and have been quite pleased with it, but I have to admit that I have been using 12” or 13” laptop monitors on a MacBook or MacBook Air before that.
(I notice that the price is now several hundred dollars more at Amazon than I paid last year. I assume because of demand for WFH monitors.)
I bought a mobile pixels TRIO screen for my work laptop. It sticks on to the back of my laptop with magnets, and it plugs in to the USB-C port. There is no additional power cable. I really love it because it is incredibly portable. If I’m working on the dining room table, I just pop it onto the back of my screen and then plug in the USB cable. I can even sit on the couch with the 2nd screen attached. The disadvantage is that it is not retina and nowhere near as good as a powered monitor. But it is so much more convenient.
I am not an expert but I use the LG 5K ultra fine display.
Does anyone using an external display with an M1 MBA have the screen go black for a few seconds? This happens about three times per week. My immediate reaction is to move the mouse or press a key and the screen comes back a second or two later.
Now that I’m typing this, I recall that I have had the internal display go black while using the MBA without the external display. (I don’t use the internal and external displays at the same time. There’s not enough desk space.) In those cases, the screen has not come back despite moving the pointer and pressing keys. Taking the Mac to my study and connecting the external display has fixed it, but I wonder what I would do if it happened while I was on the road.
Any suggestions on what to try?