[Kachongui]

Hi everyone. This year I received a scholarship and I would like to invest part of it in improving my workflow; I am a translator and I work with text continuously. I always need to see the original text, the translation and a web browser for dictionaries and glossaries, which is difficult with a 19″ screen (a ten-year LG Flatron W1934S that has never have any problem, but I have to use ALT+TAB continuously to switch from window to window), so I think investing in a larger monitor would be the best for my future work.

Also, if my laptop allows it (AMD A10 CPU) I would like to use my current monitor as a second screen. The maximum resolution offered by the APU is 1920×1080 60 Hz.

Since I consider it an investment, I’m looking for a monitor that lasts as long as possible, in terms of operation and functionalities, prepared for the future without having to buy another one.

I am looking for the following: UHD resolution 4K 60 Hz, 27-32 inches, no TN panel, VESA mounts (I want to use a double mount to clear my desk because it is small) and good panel quality. I would like to avoid the BLB as much as possible, I don’t need the monitor for graphic design beyond some Photoshop and Inkscape and I don’t care if it’s curved. In my work environment I have a 53 cm (21 inches) deep desk and I usually use my current monitor at a distance of 60 cm (24 inches) from my eyes. In addition, if it had any effective measure of reducing eyestrain would be great. Budget: € 400 maximum.

I have seen many reviews from this website on YouTube and you even answered all my questions in the comments section of several videos. However, I think this is the appropriate place to develop the topic.

These are the main candidates, following your recommendations:

1. Philips 276E8VJSB (https://pcmonitors.info/reviews/philips-276e8vjsb/)
IPS panel that offers good colour accuracy and good viewing angles, but a low contrast of 1000: 1, with a BLB more pronounced than VA panels. I do not like at all this effect on my current monitor in dark scenes, although it does not suffer from black crush. On the other hand, it does not have holes for VESA support. Price: € 230, $ 257, £ 196.

2. Philips 328E1CA (https://pcmonitors.info/reviews/philips-328e1ca/)
VA panel that offers a high contrast of 3000:1 (2500:1 actually) and it should have less BLB than IPS panels (although it is a lottery, as can be seen in the product comments on Amazon UK). It has a slight black crush effect, but according to the review it does not seem worrisome. It is a curved monitor, but I don’t think it is a problem, in this case with holes for VESA 100 mounts. Price: € 419, $ 468, £ 360 (in the UK recently lowered € 50, few units left).

Other cheaper 32″ candidates seen on Amazon:

1. BenQ EW3270U: 32 “UHD monitor, HDR (Eye-Care, VA Panel, AMD FreeSync, Brightness Intelligence Plus). Price: € 350, $ 391, £ 299.
2. LG 32UK550-B: 32 “4K UHD VA panel. Price: € 345, $ 386, £ 295.
3. Samsung LU32R590CWUXEN. Price: € 330, $ 369, £ 282. Based on your answers on YouTube, I should discard this monitor because of the unsatisfactory quality of the panel.
4. Samsung LS34J552WQUXEN Ultrawide: WQHD (3440×1440). Price: € 388, $ 434, £ 332.

From my point of view, maybe I should opt for the Philips 328E1CA, even if I go over budget and it could have excessive BLB, even if it is a VA panel. You also assured on YouTube comments that it is worth the extra cost of this monitor in Europe. The price in the UK has fallen by € 50 (£ 43), maybe it will also fall in Spain and I could buy it cheaper.

I hope you can help me. Thank you very much for your time, you provide very good information on this website and YouTube.

[PCM2]

Hi Kachongui,

Thanks for constructing such a nice thread with a clear focus. It’s also helpful to bring things out of the small YouTube comment boxes, which can be very restrictive.

I’m sure you know what my answer will be, but I would indeed recommend the Philips 328E1CA for this. But it’s not a definitive recommendation as I’ll come onto in my second paragraph. As mentioned in the review, I feel 31.5″ is something of a sweet spot for using a 3840 x 2160 (‘4K’ UHD) monitor with little or no scaling or application-specific zoom. The relatively strong contrast of the 328E1CA gives a somewhat bolder/inkier look to text compared to IPS or TN models. And the screen surface is less grainy than on the flat alternatives with the Innolux panel. Say nothing to the significantly worse gamma and saturation shifts on that flat Innolux panel. UltraWide alternatives like the Samsung S34J55 series are an interesting alternative and that could actually work nicely for 3 side by side windows. But the ‘desktop real-estate’ of a 31.5″ UHD model is simply better whichever way to cut it.

The Samsung U32R590C uses the same CELL (panel minus backlight) as the Philips, which I the opposite of what I told you in the YouTube comments section. I had been replying to a user earlier about the Samsung U32J590 which my reply to you also referred to. I misread the model number you’d typed! As for the UR590 compared to the Philips, I don’t think it’s as well-constructed and the OSD doesn’t have as many options (response time modes gamma modes, colour temperature settings etc.) You may not care about these things. The main difference is that the Philips uses a different backlight, with a wider colour gamut. So things appear more vibrant and saturated, plus it has a higher peak brightness. For your uses I’m not sure whether these factors are really all that important, it’s something you could answer. Are they worth an extra €60 or so? The text-based performance on both models is very similar.

[Kachongui]

Hi again, thank you for your reply. Don’t worry, humans are humans and humans make mistakes. I feel that Philips 328E1CA is the right choice if I want to get a real 4K experience but since you mentioned ultrawide monitors are a good choice too I’ve been considering them due to the possibility of being able to work with three windows at the same time.

But if I’m right, every window at 3440×1440 resolution would be 1146×1440, which I don’t know if it’s enough to show text properly. Another aspect I don’t know about is if due to the short height of a 21:9 monitor I had to be continuously scrolling up and down through the documents. Aside from games (I don’t play at all) I really like the immersive experience of using a 21:9 monitor to watch films but I truly feel that a 34” should be curved and not flat (curved ones are more expensive). Furthermore, I don’t know anything about the quality of the panels used on Samsung monitors like LS34J552WQUXE (€ 388, $ 434, £ 332) and LS34J550WQU (€ 433, $ 484, £ 370 – I don’t know the differences compared to the previous one but this one seems prone to fail and show a vertical green line).

About 4K monitors, the Samsung LU32R590CWUXEN looks good too but the OSD doesn’t have as many options, such as response time modes, gamma modes, colour temperature settings and more, so I wonder how important these options are for someone who wants the most eye comfortable monitor without lacking good media usage. The Samsung monitor uses a different backlight, with a wider colour gamut (I don’t know how important it is this spec) but as you said things should appear more vibrant and saturated, plus it has a higher peak brightness (I use my monitor in my room but never in the dark), and no VESA holes (something I’d like to have to make it more ergonomic and free some space on my desktop).

About three windows on 16:9 4K monitors I’ve observed that the windows appear too stretched (1280 x 2160), what it does not look comfortable to work with.

To sum up:

1. Philips 328E1CA: 16:9 4K. Same image quality (I guess, I hope you can tell me about it) as LU32R590CWUXEN. More OSD options (are the useful to obtain the most eye comfortable experience?) and VESA holes.
2. Samsung LU32R590CWUXEN: 16:9 4k. Cheaper than the Philips 328E1CA, less OSD options, no VESA holes, but wider colour gamut and more vibrant and saturated colours with a higher peak brightness, very similar text-based performance on both models as you stated.
3. Samsung LS34J552WQUXE or LS34J550WQU: 21:9 3440×1440. Not curved (which I feel it’s necessary in this kind of monitors), better windows distribution (but less resolution on each one), more immersive than 16:9 monitors, VESA holes, but I don’t know anything about the quality of these panels.

It seems that every day that goes on I have more options on the table!

Thank you for your time and sorry for not replying sooner.

[PCM2]

I’ve re-worded my original post so it’s less ambiguous. To clarify, the part of your post I’ve put in bold is the opposite of what I meant. It’s the Philips 328E1CA that has the wider colour gamut and more saturated look (plus slightly higher peak brightness) vs. the Samsung UR590. For viewing comfort the backlight is a factor (wider gamut is more balanced spectrally, less blue-weighted and some would find it more comfortable), but the other OSD options aren’t really something you’re likely to use. I agree with your thoughts regarding 21:9 being too restrictive in some respects – the more pixels the merrier – and that a curve is a welcome addition. 🙂

[Kachongui]

Oh, I see. Then I end up with two competitors, but the winner for me is finally the Philips 328E1CA. Ultrawides are very atractive but the majority of content is adapted for 16:9 aspect ratio, plus pixel density on a 4K monitor is higher. I’ll wait for the next year (before Christmas in Spain) to purchase it, unless a better competitor than the Philips appears. Is there any possibility to obtain a disscount coupon/code to buy it on Amazon? Thank you very much for your effort.

[PCM2]

I’m afraid I don’t have access to any incentives for users, Amazon runs their own promotions from time to time but doesn’t extend beyond that.

[Kachongui]

Don’t worry, I’ll wait a bit more expecting for a drop on the price. Happy New year!

[Kachongui]

Hi again! I didn’t want to open a new thread just for a question so I’ll post it here. Is there any difference between Philips 278E1A and Philips 276E8VJSB?

[PCM2]

Same panel, likely similar performance. Main differences are aesthetics plus a few features added (VESA holes, ‘SmartUniformity’).

[Spir4L]

Hi,

I have just gotten a Philips 328E1CA following your suggestions! Thanks very much for all the work you do, and for the quite detailed review.

I was wondering if you would also suggest to modify the colour settings or to use a specific setting for office/text/coding work?

Thanks a lot!

[PCM2]

Hi Spir4L,

I appreciate the kind words.

Refer to the ‘Test Settings’ in the calibration section of the written review. As noted there, individual preferences vary and so do individual units – so by all means use the ‘Test Settings’ as a base, but don’t assume they’re going to work optimally in your case. The main thing is to make sure you set brightness to a comfortable value. You may also find the ‘Low Blue Light’ settings helpful for a more relaxing viewing experience, particularly in the evenings. This is also explored in the review.

I hope you enjoy the monitor once you’ve got it all set up correctly. But don’t worry if you only seem to be making minor adjustments or only really changing brightness, the monitor offers a decent ‘out of the box’ performance in many respects. You’ll benefit from its full capabilities with little to no adjustment.

[Spir4L]

Thanks very much for now. I might come back and ask you a few more specific questions when I will start doing the adjustments 🙂

[Kachongui]

Still a good option for me?

[PCM2]

Certainly. Both Philips models still feature in the recommendations section. The only thing that’s changed since my initial recommendation for you in this thread is that the price has gone down (slightly). There’s nothing new or that I see in the near future that I’d recommend instead for your uses. 🙂

[DougWilsons]

I’m a lawyer and sit at my desk and review and edit documents practically all day. My eyes are generally between 48 – 60 cm from the screen. My most common use case is to edit one document in the left hand of the screen and look at precedent documents on the right hand of the screen. I’d like a little more room to view documents because I often have to look at “track changes” comments in right-hand margin bubbles, and I can’t fit two documents with two sets of margin documents in the screen while reading comfortably.

I also tend to sit closer to in front of one document (the left one) so that my head is relatively straight. I prefer not to strain my neck too much, and so I’m thinking a 32″ curved monitor (1800R) might make sense. My desk is not deep, and so I’ll likely mount it on a wall or desk arm.

Currently I have a 2560 x 1440 Acer B726HUL. My desktop runs an Intel i5-4570R CPU @ 2.70 GHz, with Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200 processor. Here are the specs: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/76640/intel-core-i5-4570r-processor-4m-cache-up-to-3-20-ghz.html

A 29″ UW seems too short, and so I’m thinking either a 32″ 4K or a 34 UW? Would my system be able to run either? or would it stuggle?

I was looking at a AOPEN 32HC1QUR (because of price) or a ViewSonic VX3258-2KC-MHD.

I don’t care about gaming and am looking to spend less than USD$400.

[PCM2]

Hi DougWilsonsSlapper and welcome,

I’ve merged your thread with this one as it’s a suitable place, my advice to you would be the same and I’d like to keep this thread running. Your system should be able to handle the resolution just fine for text-based work and my recommendation is the Philips 328E1CA. It’s within your budget and you would make very good use of its capabilities for your work. Whilst I find 34″ 3440 x 1440 UltraWides good for multi-tasking with two documents side by side, I find ~32″ 3840 x 2160 models better. The extra pixel real-estate (particularly vertically) is very useful in my opinion and with your viewing distance in mind I think you’ll find the pixel density very suitable.

[DougWilsons]

Thank you! I read through the forums and saw you liked the Philips. I’m not a gamer and don’t watch movies on the PC. Just a workaholic at the PC.

Thank you for the opinion on 34 UW vs 32. It’s helpful.

Would you have a flat panel 32″ recommendation as well for me to consider? Is there a 34 UW curved and flat you like for my parameters? Since it would be similar height to my 27″, I might consider one still.

I will let you know where I end up.

[PCM2]

A good flat alternative to consider is the U32J590, simply because it’s relatively affordable for the panel used and all of the flat options use a variant of the same panel. Just note that it is only flicker-free if you set brightness below ’30’ (it’s not a super-bright monitor, so unless you know you like setting monitors to very low brightness settings I wouldn’t worry about it. I would still generally recommend the 328E1CA over this or any flat alternative, however:

– You shouldn’t be afraid of the curve on the Philips.
– The screen surface is lighter/less grainy on the Philips.
– The colour and gamma consistency is superior (not a big deal for your uses, worth noting).
– The pixel responsiveness is slightly better (not a big deal for your uses, worth noting).

For 34″ models there are no models I’d specifically recommend within your budget. The Samsung S34J550 mentioned earlier in this thread is probably your best bet.

[DougWilsons]

Thanks! Very helpful. I’m in Canada — would any affiliate links work for you here?

Edit: I see that your links work for Canada. Thank you.

[DougWilsons]

Have you reviewed anything with less of a curve that you might recommend for my purposes? I.e. less of a curve than 1500R? More like 1800R or more?

I’m thinking I need to up my budget.

[Author]

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