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Today we are looking at the latest Philips Brilliance 241P4QPYKES, a 24 inch LED lit LCD monitor with onboard stereo speakers and Displayport connection. It sports a AMVA panel, which is a version of a VA (vertical alignment) LCD panel. There is no shortage of competition in the £250-£300 sector so we will find out if the 241P4QPYKES is worthy of your money.
On paper, the Philips Brilliance 241P4QPYKES is a capable screen. The company rate viewing angles at 178 degrees with a 6 ms response time and static contrast of 5,000:1.
With DVI, VGA and Displayport support it is ideal for partnering up with the latest graphics cards.
General specifications |
|
|---|---|
| Display Type | LED-backlit LCD monitor / TFT active matrix |
| Diagonal Size | 24″ |
| Built-in Devices | Stereo speakers, USB Hub, 2.0 megapixel camera |
| Panel Type | A-MVA |
| Aspect Ratio | Widescreen – 16:9 |
| Native Resolution | 1920 x 1080 at 60 Hz |
| Pixel Pitch | 0.276 mm |
| Brightness | 250 cd/m2 |
| Contrast Ratio | 5000:1 / 20000000:1 (dynamic) |
| Colour Support | 16.7 million colours |
| Response Time | 6 ms |
| Vertical Refresh Rate | 75 Hz |
| Horizontal Refresh Rate | 83 kHz |
| Horizontal Viewing Angle | 178 |
| Vertical Viewing Angle | 178 |
| Backlight Technology | WLED |
| Controls & Adjustments | Volume, brightness |
| OSD Languages | Chinese (simplified), English, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish |
| Features | Sync on Green, sRGB colour management, HDCP, Lead-free, Eco-Mode, PowerSensor, SmartContrast, SmartImage |
| Colour | Black, silver |
| Dimensions (WxDxH) | 56.5 cm x 22 cm x 51.8 cm – with stand |
| Weight | 6.4 kg |
The Philips Brilliance P-Line 241P4QPYKES arrives in a plain brown box, which can be easily lifted with one arm. With the box it weighs just under 9kg and measures 605mm x 442mm x 252 mm.
The bundle includes a user manual, driver disc and various cables, including a DVI, USB, audio and power cable.
We normally don't comment on the packaging of a monitor, but Philips really do deserve some credit in this case. The stand ships assembled and rests on top of Styrofoam, between panel and stand. This is a completely tool-less stand which is a great idea.
The monitor is protected between two pieces of Styrofoam and the panel itself measures 565mm x 352 mm x 55 mm. Without the stand it weighs only 4.2kg.
The stand snaps into place and can be removed by simply pushing a button on the back of the chassis. Not a single screw is required for assembly. The stand increases the weight to 5.9kg.
The Philips Brilliance P-Line 241P4QPYKES 24 inch LED monitor is quite attractive, although I would have preferred a plain black fascia, rather than silver. Sadly I think it looks a little like a budget monitor due to the finish.
The stand is a chunky design which supports the monitor well.
The stand can be adjusted between a range of 130mm. You simply pull up or push down to raise and lower the height level.
The stand can pivot throughout a 90 degree radius and can swivel between -65/+65 degree and tilt between -5/20 degrees. It really is one of the best stands I have seen in recent years.
At the rear of the screen on the left there is a power socket and audio in socket. On the right side is a DisplayPort, DVI port and VGA port. I personally would have preferred Phillips omitted the VGA port and replaced it with an HDMI port.
Along the bottom of the screen is a headphone jack – which will be welcomed by many.
The power switch for the Philips Brilliance P-Line 241P4QPYKES is on the rear of the screen, and is actually quite easy to miss.
Along the top of the screen is the ‘ErgoSensor' which is an intelligent display that can advise you how to sit in an ergonomically correct position at your computer screen. ErgoSensor advises users on how to sit in an ergonomic position at the computer with a corrective feedback on optimal viewing distance, ergonomic neck angle and a time break advice. It also saves up to 80% energy consumption if user is not present on the seat by powering off the monitor.
Along the bottom of the screen is the headphone jack which has a symbol visible from the front. At the right is the main control panel for the onscreen display, which we will look at in more detail shortly.
In the middle is a power on light which is white – very attractive.
On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source.
The menu interface of the Philips Brilliance P-Line 241P4QPYKES is positioned bottom right and is touch sensitive.
It isn't the best interface menu system we have used, but it is adequate.
The Ergosensor menu can be disabled completely, or a demo can be shown explaining how it works. As mentioned earlier in the review ErgoSensor advises users on how to sit in an ergonomic position at the computer with a corrective feedback on optimal viewing distance, ergonomic neck angle and a time break advice. It also saves up to 80% energy consumption if user is not present on the seat by powering off the monitor.
This particular model has three inputs, DVI, VGA and DisplayPort. Sadly no HDMI.
The picture section of the menu interface controls the format, brightness, contrast, Smartcontrast, Gamma and Overscan.
The audio menu allows the end user to adjust DisplayPort audio and Standalone audio. The speakers are unfortunately quite weak with no bass response (rated at 1.5Wx2), although they would be perfectly fine for alert noises within an office environment.
SmartImage presets are available via a button on the interface panel.
To test today, we are using a LaCie calibration gun along with specific software to accurately measure the readings. We tested the 2D elements of the Philips Brilliance P-Line 241P4QPYKES via a high end Core i7 Precision laptop featuring Quadro 4000M discrete graphics w/ DisplayPort out and a desktop system powered by a GTX670 graphics card.
We measured the Gamut out of the box and the 241P4QPYKES returned a reading of 2.19 which is excellent. We manually adjusted the gamma to 1.8 and the panel returned a 1.8 result which is reference.
Colour response is excellent at the default settings with a well saturated range of tones. Text focus was also sharp and backlighting quite consistent across the width of the panel. There is some bleeding at the edges which is expected at this price point.
Panel linearity is also well above average and perfectly fine for all but the most demanding of tasks.
Black Definition is impressive with dark blacks presented in a very convincing manner. Philips claim their SmartContrast is 20,000,000:1, which is a dynamic rating and for the most part we think it works well. Blacks could be slightly better, but for the price point, we have little to complain about. The edges of the panel shift from around +5% to +12%, but again this is very impressive.
We watched several Sci-Fi Blu-Ray films with the Philips Brilliance P-Line 241P4QPYKES and felt it was as good as we have seen in the £200 sector. Images produced were clear, with high levels of contrast.
White purity is a weak point of this model and I found it a little disappointing as achieving a very bright, pure image was difficult. The overall Brightness of the panel could be better, rating around 245 nits in our test. The panel fluctuation rated between +5% and +15%. To be fair this is not really noticeable unless you are viewing a high definition media file displaying very bright outdoor situations. The corners of the panel were the worst, and we recorded two sections of ‘pooling' close to the center point of the screen offset to left and right.
Panel uniformity is very good with only slight distortion, closer to the sides. Colour accuracy is also commendable, although we would be careful when using some of the preset modes as they can dramatically change the settings. Gradients were reproduced very closely with only minimal banding evident.
Viewing angles were slightly disappointing on both horizontal and vertical planes, falling short of the best IPS screens we have looked at this year. Pixel response rated between very good and excellent.
I can't say I noticed any motion blur problems during some gaming sessions, so no concerns in this regard either.
This is an extremely efficient panel, demanding only 33 watts after we calibrated it. With very high (unusable) settings it demanded 50 watts at the socket.
The Philips Brilliance P-Line 241P4QPYKES is a very capable 24 inch monitor which will appeal to a wide audience who want an upgrade from a basic TN panel.
The general consensus on image quality is positive. The Brilliance P-Line 241P4QPYKES is able to resolve significant detail from fine text and it displays a well saturated image with strong vibrant colours and very little gradient banding. It is a great choice for a photo editor on a budget, able to deliver punchy, appealing images with high definition bluray discs.
While black definition was excellent I found the white purity to be slightly worse than I expected – partially related to a disappointing brightness level. This means that some images set in very bright outdoor environments can look slightly murky and less than clean.
It might not be that big of an issue for some people, but I noticed it mainly in the corners, with a few sections of pooling in the central area.
Viewing angles are slightly disappointing and I don't really like the appearance of the unit either. While it is well built and the stand is fantastic, it does look a little like a budget model.
Currently the Philips Brilliance P-Line 241P4QPYKES can be picked up from Ebuyer for £265 inc vat. Overall, I feel this screen deserves a ‘WORTH CONSIDERING' award. There is a lot of competition at this price point and while I do like this screen there are plenty of excellent alternatives around the £300 point.
If you are looking for an inexpensive monitor for photo editing and want to lower your electricity footprint then this definitely deserves a shortlist.
Pros:
- The tool less stand is fantastic.
- image quality.
- Excellent colour saturation.
- Black levels.
- Low power demand.
Cons:
- brightness is lacking.
- white purity is not great.
Kitguru says: A good all round monitor facing stiff competition in the £250-£300 price sector.
I think illyama and dell do better screens just under £300, not bad though
It looks like a budget screen ive seen in pcworld. silver is awful, can you not buy it in black?
WTF ? Who the hell designs such monstrocities !?!
The curvy bulge on the lower bezel is utterly disgusting.