Review: Philips 298P4QJEB superwidescreen monitor

Final thoughts and rating

...the Philips is ideally suited to readers who want more screen real estate without having the encumbrance of an intervening bezel between two cheaper monitors situated side by side.

Most PC users needn't spend more than £150 on a 22-24in, well-specified, high-quality monitor with a native resolution of 1,920x1,080 pixels. Go significantly beyond this outlay and there are two main options: a 27in display with a high-resolution 2,560x1,440 panel or 29in monitors with an extra-wide 2,560x1,080-pixel setup. Philips plays in both fields and the 298P4QJEB is one of two superwidescreen models in its arsenal.

Looking the business with a super-slim design and outputting a high-quality picture in all regards, the £415 Philips is ideally suited to readers who want more screen real estate without having the encumbrance of an intervening bezel between two cheaper monitors situated side by side. The superwidescreen viewing works particularly well for gaming and watching aspect-correct movies, though our concern is that prices will be kept high due to a lack of volume production; it already seems as if 2,560x1,440 monitors are fast becoming the next de facto luxury screens.

Use a superwidescreen monitor and it's hard to go back to a traditional widescreen panel, no matter how impressive the resolution. The Philips 298P4QJEB is a decent example of such a monitor, and we can recommend it to anyone who wants a more natural viewing experience.

The Good

Quality looks
Above-average image quality
Good choice of inputs
Excellent for gaming
Versatile stand

The Bad

Significant price premium
Tinny speakers

HEXUS Rating

Philips 298P4QJEB

HEXUS Awards

Philips 298P4QJEB

HEXUS Where2Buy

The Philips 298P4QJEB monitor is available to purchase from PC World Business.

HEXUS Right2Reply

At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.

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I totally might get this monitor, would be good to find out a specific reading for input lag though.

Now, get 3 of these. That'll be true surround gaming.

Jingee
Now, get 3 of these. That'll be true surround gaming.

My house mate suggested putting one of top of the other (you would obviously have to rotate the top one 180) if you want to go back to a normal aspect ratio :D

I was wondering about the screen coating. It looks like a matt finish but is it aggresive or light?
I dont like the egg shell effect on heavily aggresive screen coatings.

`The stand, which takes but a moment to attach, enables the monitor to be pivoted into portrait mode - though we're not sure why you would want to`

`Problems can arise when viewing web pages, as most websites aren't optimised in spanning to ever-wider displays. HEXUS runs a standard 1,920x1,080-resolution width, and you can see the extra unused space on either side of the Radeon site skin.`

Hellooo?

Answered your own question- try browsing in portrait mode, you won`t go back, I promise you.

Lol.