MobileTechTalk Our friends at Philips wanted us to take a look at their 27″ IPS 1440p display and we were only too happy to oblige. With a few tricks up it’s sleeve and a pop-up Webcam, on paper it should deliver, but did it? We take a look at the tongue-twistingly named Philips 272B7QPTKEB.
So I made fun of the name, and they’re not alone in the marketplace for delivering SKU number-length names. However, moving on quickly as this isn’t really a criticism – it’s just not sexy is it!
What is this monitor then? What are its unique selling points and what exactly is it trying to achieve? Monitors nowadays are no longer necessarily the jack of all trades they used to be. There are monitors that are specifically aimed at filmographers and those working with imagery on a regular basis that try to deliver a very wide colour gamut, and then there are monitors that are aimed purely at the gaming community with immersive vibrant displays and high refresh rates. The Philips 272B7QPTKEB is a bit of both really. It has the ability to deliver some quality productivity features, as well as being low latency for those gamers among you.
The first thing to point out when you purchase one of thee units is the packaging. I usually don’t mention it but seeing at this is potentially a particularly fragile product, having it packed correctly is extremely important and something not all vendors get right. Philips do though. A hard foam, but a quality hard foam protection is included and my review unit came double boxed also to avoid anything getting near the lovely display.
Once out of the box the unit is deceptively easy to construct. Three pieces greet you; the monitor, the base and the arm. Turn the monitor over, and simply clip in the arm. Then push the base over the bottom of the arm and turn the key screw. That’s it – done. The easiest construction I’ve ever seen on a premium monitor with height adjustment.
In that package comes the power cable, a USB cable specifically to power the Webcam, HDMI, DisplayPort and depending on region a VGA and a mini DP cable. There’s also a Quick Start guide and a Driver CD.
Walking around the monitor there are a few interesting tit bits to talk about. First up is the pop-up webcam/video calling camera. Centred on the top edge, a simple press on the top reveals the spring mounted camera, and a second press hides it once more. It’s a decent camera for what you’ll be using it for, but nothing spectacular at 2MP. On the left edge are some USB 3.0 pass through ports with one used for USB Fast Charging, and the other an upstream port for the WebCam. On the back panel are the main ports:
- Kensington Lock
- HDMI
- DisplayPort input
- Mini DisplayPort
- VGA
- DiplayPort output (daisy chain)
- Audio input/Headphone jack
- Power input
- Power switch
Now, on to that display. We’re looking at a 27″ display here with an effective viewing area of 59.6 x 33.5cm. For those of us who work from home often and use our monitors for productivity, we appreciate being able to work on documents side by side. This monitor is a dream for this despite not being one of the newly acclaimed “ultrawide” units. The QHD 2560 x 1440 resolution also helps in this regard.
There’s full height adjustment control (15cm of control) over the arm which is very sturdy once connected to the monitor, pivot of the monitor (90 degrees) for portrait viewing, as well as base rotation (up to 175 degrees) to swivel the display as required. I quit liked the implementation here and I was impressed with how well it stood up to my constant, anal, changing of the height almost daily to suit multiple seating positions. When in portrait mode however the popup webcam does look a little ridiculous and might be a pain to use. One final point on the chassis is that it has incredibly narrow bezels. Those wishing to utilise multiple displays will welcome this as there is a near-seamless display when multiple monitors are bumped up against each other.
Once this unit has been turned on you’ll probably have to turn down the brightness. Sitting at 350 nits, we’ve seen higher, but the even tone of the LED panel is that really burned my eyes when I first turned it on. till, good to know it can kick some sunlight’s arse if needs be. The controls to toggle this, and the plethora of other settings are physical buttons underneath the monitor call out at the bottom. The buttons could be a little more responsive for me, but they serve well enough. I’ve always preferred clickable dials to multiple function-based buttons like you get here, but again this could be personal preference.
Once in the settings menu, you might want to check out SmartImage. SmartImage is a set of presets that help deliver the ‘optimum’ settings for a given situation; gaming, office, photo, movie, economy and low-blue mode (reduces eye-strain). I quite liked Office and Movie as my modes of choice when I wasn’t utilising manual controls. I won’t go through all the options but the main options such as colour temperature, brightness, scaling etc are all available. Volume control are available also for the integrated 2W speakers. They’re good for what they are, but if you’re coughing up the cash for one (or more) of these bad boys you’ll no doubt want to use your own speaker setup.
I’m eager to give you my specific use case for this monitor and the round off why I actually loved it. I use my monitors at home (I have a dual monitor setup most of the time) to augment my productivity for work. If I’m not using my laptop I’m using my main workstation with these monitors. The ability to be able to have multiple documents or indeed general windows available is not just a requirement, it’s a necessity. Now, I’ve used ultrawide monitors in the past but I’ve been unable to use them acceptable in my downtime, where I switch into a gaming setup. My current Dell monitors are fine for this, and thankfully the Philips 272B7QPTKEB also delivers good quality in both work and play. A large screen with a large resolution is great for my day-to-day activities, whilst the acceptably fast response of 5ms is sufficient for casual gaming which is perfect for me!
I could prattle on for hours talking about th colour gamut, the fact that it has an sRGB mode which is better for colour accuracy and photography work, or the fact that it isn’t a 1144hz display. The fact is, none of that really matters. All that really matters is how the device looks, and reacts to images on the screen, and I’ve covered both main aspects of use in my review. I didn’t find any real reason to complain in either my work hours of use or gaming.
That said, replacing my current setup with two of these Philips 272B7QPTKEB, whilst compelling thanks to their included VESA mount, would be costly. Going on Amazon currently for £570 means I’d be clearing well over £1000 for two of these. I like them, but not quite that much. However if I’m asked to suggest a god all-rounder, then around the £500 for a monitor that’s going to be used constantly isn’t a bad investment; think of it like a car, and I’d certainly endorse this Philips unit. It certainly didn’t disappoint me and with the selection of input options and the QHD display, I’m sure it wouldn’t disappoint many a “normal” user too.
Philips 272B7QPTKEB
£570
Pros
- Integrated Webcam is nice
- Small bezels
- Good response and resolution
- Great flexibility
- Good all-rounder
Cons
- 2MP webcam is poor resolution
- Expensive
