Philips 20" LCD monitor review
The Philips 200P4 is the latest 16ms response time 20" LCD monitor using a new high performance S-IPS panel. With a native UXGA (1600 by 1200) this lovely monitor offers brightness, color accuracy and a very wide angle for viewing. However gamers are better off with TN based 16ms since high frame rate games suffer from jerky motion.
Philips 200P4" monitor review
If your looking for a beautiful bright monitor with a wide viewing angle...
The Philips 200P4 doesn't live up to the hype
High end gamers have been clambering to get their hands on a fast response high resolution monitor for ages. While the Philips 200P4 is an almost affordable $1000 gamers will be disappointed with it's FPS performance.
However it still must be said that this is one of the best LCD panels money can buy at the moment. It offers top of the line viewing angle, brightness/contrast and pretty good color accuracy as well.
The Philips 200P4 will endear it to graphics professionals (although those who do graphics for print will stick to CRT) and spreadsheet professionals and those who spend a lot of time surfing the web, lol.
For your money you of course get a DVI input and standard VGA input. What is surprising is that you cannot adjust the height of the unit and there's no USB hub. The one ergonomic bonus is that the power adaptor is located inside the base making things look a little better.
In terms of performance expect most games to be very playable except for high actions games such as Quake 3 and Unreal. If you were using a CRT before, you'll find it hard to change to this LCD for FPS games. We just have to admit that the images would be much better on monitors that cost only half as much.
So if you're looking for a pure high action gaming monitor and you spend a lot of time fragging people an LCD is still not your best choice and the Philips 200P4 is certainly not your best LCD choice. If you have your heart set on an LCD then take a look at the 16ms fast response monitors from Hitachi or Samsung that use TN based panel technology.
Another big disappointment was DVD movie playback. Slight color changes (fluttering images) ruins what should be a fantastic experience. Although this monitor supports 8 bits per color, it uses dithering for 10 bits. This is done to smooth the images, it does improve the quality of photographs but unfortunately it's disastrous for movies.
Philips 200P4 20" LCD monitor specifications:
- 16ms response time
- Normal VGA (D-sub) plus DVI
- Contrast ratio 400:1
- Brightness of 250cd/mē
- 20" 1600 by 1200 native resolution
I don't want to be too negative about this monitor since it does perform very well in almost all fields. As long as you're not planning on using it as part of a multimedia or entertainment center then you won't be disappointed.
Our conclusion on the Philips 200P4 20" LCD monitor
The price is not out of line with it's performance. With good color reproduction, great brightness and overall solid desktop performance this monitor is worth the money.
Unfortunately it is hamstrung by poor game and movie performance (for it's price). So if you need a workstation monitor then this makes a great choice but if your looking for a game display look somewhere else.