Philips has announced two entries in the best monitor competition as it looks to compete with its rivals.
It should be said up front that both monitors (the Philips 34B2U6603CH, from the Philips 6000 line, and the Philips 34B2U5600C, part of the Philips 5000 series) are premium, as most of the best ultrawide monitors tend to be, so anyone looking for more affordable monitors for working from home should probably look elsewhere.
Both the 34B2U6603CH and 34B2U5600C feature a 34-inch, 21:9 ultrawide display, with a respectable 3440 x 1440 pixel resolution – nothing to write home about in terms of resolution, but solid enough to be respectable among high-end monitors. The curve is rated at 1500R, and the company claims it should help with immersion.
Feel the curve
However, Philips didn't stop there, building both monitors to support a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz and up to 450 nits of brightness in SDR mode for the 34B2U6603CH, which increases to an impressive 550 nits in HDR mode, and up to 300 nits for the 34B2U5600C.
Both monitors include a built-in 5MP Windows Hello-certified webcam for easy login, along with a noise-cancelling microphone and some pretty powerful speakers.
The overall design is quite sleek and professional, with minimal bezels. We liked the fact that the bottom bar is thick and the side bezels are thin, giving more weight to the bottom. The stand also looks great and rotates and adjusts naturally to your preferences and desk.
Ports galore
Philips really went all out with the ports on these monitors, and it's by far the most impressive part of the setup.
For starters, on the high-end 34B2U6603CH model, there's support for DisplayHDR 400, Thunderbolt 4, fast 2.5G LAN, a USB 3.2 port, two USB-C ports (one for upstream and one for downstream), and four USB-A ports.
Philips claims that DisplayHDR 400 “produces stunning brightness, contrast and colours” thanks to global dimming. Anyone who works with images or video will likely appreciate the inclusion of this feature on the 34B2U6603CH. (For the real nerds, the colour gamut includes 101% NTSC and 120% sRGB for extra vividness, and it has great colour accuracy thanks to Delta E.
The company has also incorporated its EyeSafe technology, which basically works to ensure that staring at a monitor (and a very bright monitor at that) doesn't do too much damage to your eyes or cause eye strain. Adaptive-Sync is also available.
The Philips 34B2U6603CH and 34B2U5600C will retail for £599.99 and £439.99 in the UK (other market prices to be confirmed) when they go on sale in mid-August 2024.
