Philips 346B1C
A strong all–round 34–inch productivity panel
The stand offers tilt, height and swivel adjustment
£499.99 FROM Philips, philips.co.uk FEATURES 3440x1440 resolution, VA panel, USB–C with PD (90W) dock, KVM switch, built–in speakers
The Philips 346B1C is a very nice package for all-round productivity. While it doesn’t necessarily come top of class for colour accuracy and gamut support, there are plenty of extras like full USB Type-C connectivity for a slick single cable hook-up, a KVM switch, and support for up to 100Hz refresh. It’s also looks good, feels very nicely made, and the stand is stable and offers tilt, height and swivel adjustment.
As for the display itself, the core specs involve a 34-inch 21:9 aspect panel with the obligatory 3,440 by 1,440 native resolution. Dig a little deeper into the spec list and you’ll find that the 346B1C doesn’t make dramatic promises when it comes to colour accuracy. It covers 90% of the Adobe RGB gamut. Likewise, Philips doesn’t quote a figure for the DCI-P3 space at all. Indeed, it uses VA rather than the IPS panel tech preferred for the most colour accurate monitors.
Different aspects
Given the modest 300cd/m2 brightness, image quality is decent but a little dull and lacking in vibrancy. The 110ppi pixel density is also poor next to, say, a 27-inch 4K monitor with a pixel density of around 154ppi. The 346B1C is thus far from the sharpest monitor on the market. That said, the 21:9 aspect ratio is absolutely superb for viewing multiple documents or web pages in parallel.
However, it’s the feature set that makes this an intriguing display. It has full support for USB Type-C connectivity, with up to 90W of charging power, so you can charge your MacBook and connect peripherals, all with a single cable; plus the KVM switch has an easy-access button for using dual Macs with the single wide screen.