Philips LCD monitor 243B1
Affordable and versatile 24–inch display with USB–C
$269.99 From Philips, philips.com Features 24–inch display, 1920x1080 resolution, USB–C, four USB 3.0 ports, Ethernet
It’s taken a while, but USB–C is now being adopted for a much wider range of devices, and it’s a particularly good option for monitors such as the new Philips 243B1. When hooked up to a late model Mac, it enables you to improve your connectivity options — more ports is always a good thing.
The monitor itself is fairly straightforward, offering a 24–inch display with 1920x1080 resolution. Admittedly that’s a relatively modest resolution these days, but it’s fine for a monitor of this size, and perfectly adequate for streaming video at home or working on documents in the office. Image quality is good too, with a crisp, detailed image and nicely balanced colors. The display has a non–gloss finish to reduce glare, and includes “flicker–free” and “low blue” features that are designed to reduce eye strain, so it should be comfortable to look at all day long.
The stand allows you to adjust the height, and to tilt and swivel the screen for comfortable viewing. You can also rotate it into the upright (portrait) position as well. There are sensors built into the display that automatically adjust the brightness to match the light levels in the room around you, and there’s even an infra–red sensor that can tell when you move away from the monitor and lowers the screen’s brightness to reduce energy consumption.
The real strength of the 243B1, though, is the impressive set of connectivity features that are made possible by the use of the
USB–C interface. It does have traditional HDMI and DisplayPort interfaces to carry the video signal from your Mac — however, owners of most recent Macs will be able to use the monitor’s USB–C port for the video connection as well. This allows the monitor to act as a hub, so that your Mac can use all the additional ports and connectors that are built into the display.
There are four standard USB 3.0 ports for connecting peripherals such as a printer or a hard disk for your Time Machine back–ups. The monitor has a small set of stereo speakers built into it — these are only 2W each, and sound a bit tinny, but there’s an audio connector as well so that you can connect a larger set of speakers if you so desire. The monitor even has an Ethernet port so that you can use a wired network connection if you need to.
If all you need is an affordable 24–inch display for watching YouTube or Netflix then there are cheaper options around. But if you’re going to be using your display in an office or for working at home — as so many of us are doing these days — then the versatile connectivity features of the 243B1 will ensure that it really earns its keep.
THE BOTTOM LINE. It’s not the cheapest 24–inch monitor you can buy, and the 1920x1080 resolution is a little low, but the USB–C connectivity of the 243B1 makes it a really useful companion for a MacBook or Mac Mini.