Bottom Line
The Philips 27E2F7901 is an affordable 27″ 4K IPS Black monitor yet it offers premium features, including a 4-side bezel-less design, wide color gamut with Delta E < 2 factory calibration, rich connectivity options (USB-C 96W PD, KVM) and much more!
If you’ve been looking for a 4K UHD monitor for color-critical or productivity work, the Philips 27E27901 offers exceptional value for the price – here’s why!
Image Quality
To start with, the Philips 27E27901 is the most affordable monitor with LG’s IPS Black panel, which provides you with a high 2,000:1 static contrast ratio for noticeably deeper blacks than that of regular IPS displays with a contrast ratio of ~1,000:1.
The IPS Black panel also offers the same 178° wide viewing angles that ensure the image remains consistent regardless of the angle you’re looking at the screen.
On top of that, the monitor supports 10-bit color depth via dithering for 1.07 billion colors with smooth gradients and has professional-grade Delta E < 2 factory calibration, making it fit for color-critical work right out of the box!
The Philips 27E27901 has a wide 98% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage for vibrant colors (~135% sRGB gamut volume, 100% sRGB coverage) as well as dedicated color presets for different use-cases, including Display-P3, DCI-P3, DCI-P3 (D50), sRGB, Adobe RGB, Adobe RGB (D50), Rec. 2020 and Rec. 709.
The Adobe RGB color space coverage is around 89%, so the monitor is not ideal for printing work – in this case, we recommend the ASUS PA279CRV instead.
Next, the monitor has a high 400-nit peak brightness, meaning that it can get more than bright enough to mitigate glare even in well-lit rooms.
It supports HDR10 and HDR HLG formats, but while it can accept and display the HDR signal, there’s no full-array local dimming (or an OLED panel) for proper HDR support, so you can ignore it.
Moving on, the 4K UHD resolution provides you with a high pixel density of 163 PPI (pixels per inch), resulting in plenty of screen real estate with sharp details and text.
Keep in mind that you’ll need to use scaling in order to make small text readable, though most applications nowadays handle scaling just fine, so it shouldn’t cause any issues. If you’re using older software for work, you may want to look into how it handles scaling before going with a high pixel density (110 PPI+) display.
Another thing to note is that 4K UHD is quite demanding on the GPU in video games, so check how your graphics card will handle your favorite video games. Thanks to upscaling technologies, such as XeSS, DLSS 2 and FSR, even mid-range GPUs should be fine for 4K gaming nowadays.
Performance
The monitor has a maximum refresh rate of 60Hz, which won’t appeal to gamers.
However, IPS Black panels with a higher 120Hz refresh rate are currently only available in 27″ 1440p and ultrawide form factors.
So, if you want a 4K IPS Black display, 60Hz will have to do for now.
The Philips 27E27901 monitor has a 4ms GtG pixel response time speed, which keeps up with the 60Hz refresh rate, so there’s no ghosting behind fast-moving objects.
There are four response time overdrive modes: Off, Fast, Faster and Fastest. The last two modes add too much overshoot, so we recommend using the Fast mode.
Input latency is also low at around 10ms of delay, which is imperceptible at 60Hz.
Variable refresh rate is supported, but only over HDMI, which is definitely odd. So, you will only be able to use VRR if you have an AMD FreeSync-compatible graphics card. On this monitor, VRR is not supported when using NVIDIA GPUs.
The monitor’s backlight is completely flicker-free and there’s a low-blue light filter mode as well.
Features
At the back of the monitor, there’s a directional joystick for quick and easy navigation through the OSD (On-Screen Display) menu.
Besides the standard image adjustment tools, the Philips 27E27901 also offers some advanced settings, including five gamma modes (from 1.8 to 2.6), sharpness, saturation, automatic input detection and aspect ratio (16:9, 4:3, 1:1, overscan).
The Philips 27E27901 also supports SmartUniformity (improves brightness uniformity at the cost of contrast ratio) and Picture in Picture and Picture by Picture modes.
Design & Connectivity
The stand of the monitor is sturdy and offers full ergonomic support, including up to 130mm height adjustment, +/- 90° pivot, +/- 45° swivel, -5°/20° tilt and 100x100mm VESA mount compatibility.
The screen features a 4-side bezel-less design and has a light (25% haze) matte anti-glare coating that efficiently diffuses reflections without making the image too grainy.
Connectivity options are abundant and include DisplayPort 1.4, DisplayPort 1.4 output for daisy-chaining, HDMI 2.0 and a USB-C port with DP Alt Mode and up to 96W Power Delivery.
If ‘Smart Power’ is disabled in the OSD menu, Power Delivery is limited to 65W. You can achieve higher power delivery by enabling Smart Power, but the maximum power delivery will depend on screen brightness (0 – 20 for 96W, 21 – 60 for 85W, and 61 – 100 for 80W).
Other ports include four downstream 10 Gbps USB-A ports, a downstream USB-C port with 15W PD, an upstream USB-C port with 10 Gbps and a headphone jack.
The monitor also has an integrated KVM functionality.
Price & Similar Monitors
The Philips 27E2F7901 price ranges from $300 to $330, which makes it the most affordable IPS Black monitor.
On top of that, it has 4K UHD resolution, extensive connectivity options, an exceptional design, a wide color gamut with excellent factory calibrated and various color modes and additional useful features!
If you want an IPS Black panel with a higher refresh rate, you’ll have to invest over $750 for an ultrawide model, such as the Dell U3425WE.
The next cheapest 27″ 4K 60Hz IPS Black display is the Dell U2723QE for ~$450 yet it doesn’t offer any extra features, besides an Ethernet port.
For more options and information, check out our best photo/video editing buyer’s guide.
Conclusion
Overall, if you don’t need a high refresh rate, the Philips 27E2F7901 is one of the best value displays available for the price thanks to its IPS Black panel, wide color gamut and a plethora of features.
Specifications
Screen Size | 27-inch |
Resolution | 3840×2160 (Ultra HD) |
Panel Type | IPS Black |
Aspect Ratio | 16:9 (Widescreen) |
Refresh Rate | 60Hz |
Response Time | 4ms (GtG) |
Adaptive-Sync | AMD FreeSync HDMI (40-60Hz) |
Ports | DisplayPort 1.4, DisplayPort 1.4 output, HDMI 2.0, USB-C (DP Alt Mode, 96W PD) |
Other Ports | Headphone Jack, 4x USB-A 10 Gbps, 2x USB-C (10 Gbps, 15W PD) |
Brightness | 400 cd/m² |
Brightness (HDR) | 400 cd/m² |
Contrast Ratio | 2000:1 (static) |
Colors | 1.07 billion (8-bit + FRC) 98% DCI-P3 |
HDR | VESA DisplayHDR 400 |
VESA | Yes (100x100mm) |
The Pros:
- High contrast ratio
- Wide color gamut, Delta E < 2 factory calibration, dedicated color modes for different color spaces
- High pixel density
- Fully ergonomic design and rich connectivity options, including KVM and USB-C 96W PD
The Cons:
- IPS glow (expected drawback of this panel technology)
- VRR not supported over DisplayPort