This Philips monitor deserves to call itself a professional display. Its irreproachable ergonomics, careful default adjustments, and well controlled brightness make it an ideal monitor for anyone who spends long hours in front of their computer. The display's size and resolution will make aficionados of Excel spreadsheets very happy. The exceptional sharpness will appeal to 2D/3D CAD/CAM professionals. For photography use, the monitor delivers good results, but the black level is not as good as on other monitors. That impacts the contrast of the pictures, especially black-and-white ones. So this isn't the optimum monitor for pro photographers, even if amateurs will find it more than adequate.

As for video games, don't plan on being too demanding. If the action is too intense, you'll be aware of ghosting behind objects. It depends on your gaming style. If you're into MMORPGs, where resolution is more vital than sheer rapidity, this Philips monitor will do the job. But for FPS, you'd better forget it.

Video Games

The video performance wasn't satisfactory. The panel was very noisy, with a lot of sparkling visible on color masses. We had to put a good bit of distance between us and the screen for it to disappear. The viewing angles were good.

Conclusion

In our opinion the 230WP7NS is a good monitor. It's not the best all-round model, but it clearly achieves what its maker intended it to: it's a reasonably-priced monitor for its size, intended for the pro market. You shouldn't ask it to do more that that.