Just set up HP monitor with MacBook Air. Advice/recommendations please.

Hello,

So, I have been a very happy owner of a MacBook Air 13" (early 2014 model) for about two years. For my new home office, I decide to use an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse. I went with the Apple Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse, which were of course a breeze to setup. I am not going with a Thunderbolt Display or other 4k monitor, because A) I don't want to spend that much money 2) I don't do hardcore graphics or video work. I'm a writer, and while I do foresee occasionally editing photos and watching videos on the display, I primarily need a professional/business monitor.

After looking at several displays, I decided to purchase the HP - 24ea 23.8" IPS LED HD Monitor.

I connected the HP monitor to my MacBook Air using the HDMI cable that was included box, and also with a MiniDisplay Port to HDMI adapter from Ugreen.

It was fairly easy to setup, but I have to say I am disappointed with the viewing experience. Particularly, the experience of reading text on the monitor is not crisp. It is not overtly fuzzy or blurry, but is is not a smooth reading/viewing experience that I have experienced on external monitors in the same price range that I've used in the past with PC laptops. I would even say I would prefer to go back to my MacBook Air to work while I'm at home. The display does seem to perform better with Images and videos. However, I've only been using the monitor a couple days and can't give my full verdict on those aspects of the display.

HP has a support page for troubleshooting issues with "Fuzzy text, blurry or stretched images" as well as "General troubleshooting tips for display quality issues." I tried some of those suggestions, but they were not helpful. HP does have a software for the display, but only for Windows. Also, the directions for adjusting the display settings are only for Windows. I went into System Preferences on my Mac and selected Display and noticed it is already set to Default resolution for the display and at 60 Hertz. There are not really any other adjustments I can make there.

Any ideas on ways I might improve the display experience? Could the problem with the MiniDisplay Port to HDMI adapter? The one I am using says it supports resolutions up to 1920x1080, which is precisely the resolution of my monitor. Are there any other ways to adjust / calibrate the monitor settings?

Perhaps I should go with a different monitor. As I stated, the support software and instructions for this HP monitor are for Windows. However, when I read reviews for the monitor, I did see that a number of customers stated the monitor integrated well with their MacBooks. One of the reasons I chose this monitor, besides the good reviews, was the aesthetics -- the silver complements my MacBook Air and other Apple devices.

I am still open to other options for a monitor though. Are there certain monitors that are recommended for use with MacBooks? Like I said, I want a display I can use primarily for writing/research and business tasks, but I also want it to do a decent job with images and video. A 21 or 22" display would be alright too. Perhaps if my initial viewing experience on this monitor was different, I would think differently, but I am thinking the 24" is too much screen space for writing tasks.

Any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Mona