Second Chance Philips 328E1CA

Screen replaces a 27" AOC 4K IPS monitor that broke down after 3 years and a few months. Compared to the AOC, this Philips is a more consistent, better-performing monitor (see the pluses). The 31.5" size suits all applications excellent, thanks in part to the curved screen. The latter took some getting used to, but in practice, at a viewing distance of approximately 75 cm, it works very nicely. The design is minimalistic with thin bezels and a matte black finish that help you avoid the feeling of having a 'bakery' on your desk. The 31.5"/4K gives a large, but bright and clear work surface on which you can easily display multiple applications. Two pages of an A4 document fit perfectly legibly next to each other.
Color reproduction is fine and the contrast is excellent. Hardly any so-called 'VA glow'. The viewing angle is sufficient for normal use.
For general desk-top work (basically what the monitor is used for), the monitor is extremely suitable. Fanatic gamers will choose another monitor, but the monitor holds its own here too and is actually quite good considering the standard 60Hz refresh rate. The larger screen/color/contrast/4K mean that watching a movie on this monitor is not a punishment.
The monitor has two small built-in speakers that perform relatively well given the intrinsic limitations.
Ease of use is fine. Unpack, mount base (screw), connect cables (HDMI and DP included, internal power supply), switch on and get started. The monitor starts up quickly after switching on and is operational in seconds. The settings out of the box are OK, but I found the screen a little too bright. Customized settings in the simple and intuitive OSD system. This works by means of a few buttons at the bottom right of the screen. The OSD has a number of predefined setting options (don't use them yourself). The monitor does not have extras such as a USB hub or something.
The monitor stands on a sturdy, non-solid base. The monitor is tiltable but not adjustable in height. There is, however, the option of mounting a VEGA compatible alternative.
Conclusion: A very good all-round monitor (incl. games). The 31.5" curved screen takes some getting used to, but works very well in practice. With such a screen size, 4K is also an added value. A lesser-known monitor but an absolute must!

I had been looking for an affordable monitor with 4K for a long time.
Unfortunately, prices everywhere went up due to the corona crisis. But because my wife and I both have to work from home, we still needed an extra monitor and so we bought it.

The short installation manual was good and the extensive manual was also clear.
When securing the foot, make sure that you put it on properly.

Connecting to the PC is no problem at all and Windows 10 immediately recognizes the large 4K monitor. Separate drivers for the monitor are available from Philips, for better adjustment, but they are not necessary.
The extra software that you can download from Philips does not add much to the use if you have Windows 10. For older versions of Windows, it may be possible. be useful.
The great thing about this monitor is that there are 2 x HDMI2 connections available.
Most other monitors in this price range only have 1 HDMI connection and we needed 2.
It also contains stereo speakers, which can be set via the OSD settings (sound on/off/louder/softer) or can even be set directly via the buttons at the bottom edge of the screen.

For 'normal' use we set the Windows screen settings to 150%, making the letters and icons larger, because at 100% it is all very small.
For games this is not necessary (just like with Adobe Lightroom) and with old games (legacy) it can even lead to problems. You can solve this by pressing the 'High DPI settings' button on the icon/program properties under Compatibility. On the next screen you can then check "Ignore high DPI scaling". After that, the game will start in the correct mode.

For photo editing (in our case with Adobe Lightroom) this monitor is really very good.
You can literally see a lot more, both in numbers of small photos (Grid view) and the large photos themselves (Enhanced view or Loupe image).

NOTE: If you are considering this monitor, make sure that your PC/Laptop can handle high resolutions and that you have the correct connection for it. Only HDMI2 or DisplayPort1.2 are suitable for these high resolutions on this screen and if your PC/Laptop can only handle HDMI1.x it will not work.

Besides the power cable, a Displayport cable, HDMI cable and sound cable are also included.
TIP: If you now have a monitor, replace the power cable with the new cable that came with this monitor. This one stays in place better than the old one (in our case).