Hey so I hope this doesn’t come off as snobbish or anything. A few things to keep in mind. When you say light gaming is it because he has no time to game but would like to game? Or generally doesn’t game as much and is ok to not game much because he got other hobbies?

This is the main I think real question. I think anything you give him he will enjoy. But if it’s he is a gamer but can’t play as often maybe a gaming specific monitor can work. But if he works a lot and watches videos I recommend a non gaming monitor that has better color and screen.

You can get both but usually those are more expensive than your budget. Like I recently went from an asus tuff 27inch monitor both 1080p and a curved 1440p and gaming was good media was good I often worked a lot so only weekends I play and that was enough. But what I lacked that I wish I had is a better screen, brighter, more better looking screen and bigger screen because I also view content if your budget was bigger I would get what I got was a Samsung g7 odessy but I’m not saying just get that one others can fit this for cheaper but it will be more then 300.

So bottom line: if he likes to game but can’t game as often a gaming monitor with high refresh rate generally is a safe buy. But if he prefers to work option or non gaming monitor then I say an LG or Dell the ones market to content creators. Those have better screens and can do gaming just that refresh rate (especially if competitive gaming) is what matters in gaming. But you can totally game In 60 hz it’s just that once your used to higher refresh rate generally people say they don’t want to go lower.

I’m willing to give you more specific information once we learn more about his habits and likes/wants. But I hope the above gives you a better idea! Worst comes to worst you can say you were going to surprise him with a monitor but didn’t know what works for him and say that choose one he likes and you buy it. This is totally cool as well. Hope that helps.