Philips 288E2E 28" Frameless Monitor, 4K UHD 3840x2160 IPS, 120% sRGB, FreeSync, Height Adjustable, VESA, 4Yr Advance Replacement

Fantastic value if you get it under $300 (I managed to get it on sale for $215). Even at $300, it's a healthy contender for display quality and color balance with monitors even in the $400 range. Of course, there's a reason it's cheaper than those monitors, namely 60Hz, no USB-C (i.e., sorry Macbooks), no additional USB ports and no speakers. It also uses an AC Adapter, rather than integrated power supply. If you're fine with those caveats, you are going to have a hard time finding a better quality display at this price point. If your heart is set on the missing features, then check out the Samsung U28R55 or Asus VG289Q; both use the exact same 28" Innolux panel. However, according to other reviews, Philips seems to have the best factory calibration for color balance and white levels. Out of the box, my Spyder 4 Pro (yeah, yeah, I haven't upgraded that yet) found it quite accurate, although it was a smidge cooler with the default 6500K with Gamma 2.2 setting. A quick calibration fixed that and brought the sRGB level to full coverage, 87% DCI-P3 and 82% Adobe RGB. For comparison, the Philips' DCI-P3 and Adobe values are about 6% higher than the $300-ish Asus Proart PA278QV. So for most color work, it's very good. (If you need higher percentages, you're in the wrong price bracket). Don't forget to install the drivers from Philips' website, along with SmartControl (yes, it's actually useful - you can do all the monitor adjustments from Windows so you don't have to reach around back to use the joystick). After calibration, there's a tiny bit of saturation in the reds, but it's not super obvious and it makes for a very pleasant image that pops, but it's not over the top and unrealistic. The panel coloring is pretty even, although I can tell it's a tiny bit cooler on the far left than the far right side, but I have to really look for it. For this price point, it's stellar.The stand is surprisingly rock solid and heavy. Making adjustments is easy and it feels very sturdy. I was pleased to see the monitor had vertical adjustment, going as low as 1" above from the desk surface. Vertical and tilt adjustments were solid and I really like the stand, but it is a bit bulky so I mounted it to the wall with a standard 100mm VESA. Overall construction is very solid, even if it's mostly plastic. Philips didn't skimp on the important things like durability. My only gripe (and it's minor) is the lack of an integrated power supply. But, as a result, the back of the monitor is very thin, so there is at least an aesthetic gain from this design decision. The cord for the AC adapter is long enough to hide it out of sight.While it came with an HDMI cable, I used a DisplayPort cable and Windows 11 recognized it instantly and even adjusted the scaling to a recommended 150%. With this setting, this monitor is a Goldilocks size, with very sharp, readable text and a lot of space to work with. For me, the boost from a 1080 monitor to 4K was fantastic. My only regret is that I didn't make the switch sooner. Everything is so much sharper and easier on my eyes, especially if you do a lot of reading/typing. If you're on the fence, definitely consider this monitor. As to long term, I hope it lasts, but from what I paid, it's about half of what I was expecting to pay for a decently color-balanced monitor with 4K. Go for it!1/23 Update - Still going strong 7 months later and no regrets or new annoyances!

Buying a budget 4K monitors apparently is like doing physics, there are very few good choices unless you're a millionaire and the budget choices avail are extremely poor. Funny how 43" 4k tvs are going for the same price as 15-27" 4K? It's ridiculous. Anywho from the avail choices in 2023 this Phillips 28in 4K monitor spec wise is probably the best choice we got, the vesa mounts are not blocking anything and the screen is an inch bigger than the 27" which makes a big difference in esthetics (looks nicer than 27"). It has 2 HDMI's and a Display connection too. The frame is super thin so it has a smooth look, the picture is bright enough that you never have to worry about brightness and the picture and color are simply amazing. I know 4K tvs, monitors and 4k portable monitors and the picture on this monitor is worth every penny of $250 the price I got it for, once you use this monitor you won't go back to 1080p for sure. I would recommend this monitor because it's cheap good quality and I highly recommend Philips brand since their LEDs are long lasting and very sharp. I also have a 53in Philips 4k and I've never had a better tv. Ive owned Vizio, TLC, Sony, Fire Tv and non of them can outlast or provide a better natural picture color accuracy and brightness than my Philips 53". I also use Philips hd light bulbs which have lasted me over 5 years already and going and I use Philips bulbs in my projector too. You can't go wrong with Philips lighting ever, trust me, I haven't bought lightbulbs in years. Def grab this monitor it's worth it and stop throwing away money on other brands. Obviously this is a budget review, so this is not a rich people review, they can buy the best of everything anyway. This is a review for people on a budget looking to save money on a 4K monitor. Recommended very good can't go wrong !

Bought two. One has no issues but the other only glitches when I wake it up... Either a scrambled screen or glitching back and forth in a stuttering movement. Once I turn it off and on again its fine, it's just annoying because it happens 40%-50% of the time. That same monitor also had a weird issue where I couldn't scroll up using the "joystick" button on the back and the color was off but that seems to have gone away when I got a new display port cable. That shouldn't matter but somehow it fixed the "joystick". I'm running it all off a brand new dell workstation with a brand new RTX 3070 so all should be good.Also The power button on the back must be held for a few seconds to turn off/on. It might sound dumb but at night you just kind of want to hit something and be done with it. Most nights I just leave it to go off on it's own which could be annoying if people are in the room. Overall picture is amazing and it's not expensive so I would buy more. Just hope you get two perfect ones...