Philips Brilliance
Type-c monitor lives up to its name
Whoever came up with the expression ‘Any port in a storm’ clearly wasn’t thinking of the PC market. The last thing you’d want to be doing in a storm is trying to figure out which port you need to plug a peripheral into. Several types of port will end up being replaced by the new USB Type-c format. But if you thought that would simplify matters, you’d better go back and grab your sou’wester.er.
Type-c refers to the shape of the plug and socket. Apple’s new Macbookook Pro, for example, has four ultra-fast Type-c Thunderbolt 3 sockets. You can also plug USB Type-c 3.1 devices into them, but you can’t connect Thunderbolt 3 devices to the USB 3.1 Type-c ports on current PCS. Many screens, however, can connect to both varieties using a simple Type C-to-displayport cable.
This monitor is the first we’ve seen with an actual Type-c input – a connection which is designed to make everything a bit easier by using the same plug at both ends of the cable (which, annoyingly, is not included). Not only that, but the plug fits into the socket either way up. The Brilliance also has a full set of regular inputs for non-type-c PCS, and it just happens to be a rather good screen, whichever way you connect it.
The 25in panel matches the 2560x1440 pixel count of mid-range 27in screens, so although it lacks the sharpness of 4K screens, yyou can still fit a lot of work in. It covers more than 98 per cent of the SRGB colour range, with excellent contrast and brightness, making it suitable for most tasks.
Given that any desktop PC and laptop that have Type-c will probably only have one port, it would be ideal to have a monitor that provided more Type-c ports. But this one doesn’t even have a single pass-through port to daisy-chain more Type-c devices. Instead, the USB signal from your PC goes to a USB 3.0 (not 3.1) hub with three sockets. That’s useful, but not quite what we hoped for.
Still, this is a functional and stylish screen, with narrow bezels, a wide range of height, tilt and swivel adjustment and 90-degree rotation for document reading. If you have a Type-c port to plug it into, all the better, but it’s simply a very good monitor, as long as you’re happy with a slightly smaller panel than 27in rivals.
SPECIFICATIONS
A stylish monitor, with good colour accuracy and USB Type-c connection
25in IPS LCD • 2560x1440-pixel resolution • 2W stereo speakers • 1x HDMI port • 1x USB Type-c port • 1x DVI port • 1x Displayport • 1x VGA port • 3x USB 3.0 ports • 511x571x244mm (HXWXD) • One-year warranty www.snipca.com/22796