PHILIPS 349P7FUBEB

Jack of all trades, master of some

A QUALITY PANEL with plenty of pixels. This is what a decent PC monitor is about. For sure, there are various features and frills that can amp up the experience, but get the basics right, and you’re well on the way to the proverbial good PC monitor.

Enter Philips’s 349P7FUBEB. In an age of 144Hz refresh, HDR capability, and quantum dot enhancement, it’s a pretty straightforward proposition that majors primarily on a quality 34-inch panel. It’s not pitched as an out-and-out gaming monitor, nor is it specified for content-creation professionals. Instead, it’s intended as a high-quality all-arounder.

Of course, this is 2018, so that “straightforward proposition” still makes for some appealing speeds and feeds. For starters, we’re talking 3440x1440 pixels, and a panel that’s both superwide, with a 21:9 aspect ratio, and sports an 1800R curvature. It’s also a modern MVA panel, and thus capable of 3,000:1 contrast and 117.3 percent of the sRGB color space.

Philips has also thrown in 100Hz refresh, adaptive sync, and USB-C. The former doesn’t quite deliver the buttery smoothness of 144Hz, beyond which it’s debatable whether the human eye can appreciate any further improvements, but it is a clear step up in slickness compared to conventional 60Hz monitors. Adaptive sync, meanwhile, is a handy little extra for smoothing out game performance when your graphics card isn’t capable of cranking out triple-digit frame rates.

As for the USB-C functionality, it makes this a great choice for pairing with compatible laptops, allowing a single cable to output the display signal, charge the laptop, and attach peripherals. It’s such a user-friendly solution, you won’t want to go back to the old-school rats nest of cabling once you’ve experienced the simplicity of USB-C.

Philips has done a nice job with the industrial design, too. It’s not exactly showy, but with slim bezels on three sides and a minimalist black aesthetic, it will sit on almost any desk looking high quality and quietly confident.

At this point, you should be imagining a monitor with very good all-around specs, but one that lacks a killer feature. Fire it up, and that overall impression remains. The inherent quality of the MVA panel is obvious. It may not be HDR, and the maximum brightness of 300cd/m2 puts a practical limit on the amount of sheer visual sizzle on offer, but the highcontrast character of the panel makes for a punchy, vibrant viewing experience.

Philips has also done a solid job with the electronics. For starters, the factory calibration is probably beyond criticism, given the 349P’s all-purpose remit. Gradients are impeccably smooth, and there’s no sign of compression at either end of the spectrum, just plenty of detail. The user-configurable overdrive implementation is likewise excellent.

Combine that with its 100Hz capability, and the 349P has some pretty serious gaming chops. The 3440x1440 native resolution is also a good compromise between detail and GPU load. Provided you have a powerful graphics card, you can make the most of the elevated refresh rates. That pixel grid is also generous when it comes to desktop real estate.

Of course, 32-inch 4K monitors with decent MVA panels can now be had for under $400. But that doesn’t buy you 100Hz refresh, adaptive sync, USB-C, or the same polish. If you just want lots pixels for desktop work, the 4K option gives more bang for your buck, but as an all-arounder that’s as great for gaming as it is for lining up a trio of spreadsheets, this takes some beating. –JEREMY LAIRD