Philips 234EL2SB 23-inch Full HD 1080p LED Monitor, HDMI, Speakers (Glossy Black)

After spending quite some time researching for a new 23" monitor I came across this Philips 23" LED backlit display. I was looking at about five different brands of monitors and it seemed that every time I found a monitor that had good features, it was let down by poor build quality.

The reason I spent quite a lot of time researching monitors is because I don't just need a computer monitor. I was after something that would look good with an Xbox connected with HDMI and my Macbook Pro connected with DVI (Since there's no advantage running a Macbook Pro with HDMI at present). I was also after a monitor that would look good for watching films from my Macbook or Xbox.

My first impression of this monitor was that it is much better built than any other monitor in this price range that I've seen. I took a gamble on this since when I was looking at other similar monitors I went and looked at them in shops first, and I didn't get to see this monitor in person, prior to purchase. The gamble payed off because it's a very sturdy monitor, none of this horrible wobble that some other brands have from flimsy stands.

It's not overstated in it's looks and it does the job perfectly. There's nothing fancy about the look of this monitor, and I see that as a positive thing because I'd rather be paying for a well built display rather than fancy, quirky designs. The slim and sleek design of the monitor is practical and suitable for what it needs to be.

The only real let down of this monitor are the built-in speakers. They are very poor quality; tinny with no bass. Thankfully I didn't intend on using the built in speakers anyway since I already have Creative Gigaworks speakers (which I highly recommend for good quality/low price speakers).

The monitor comes with calibration software which is PC only - This is kind of to be expected, but still annoying, especially given the amount of people that use alternative operating systems to Windows. Although the saving grace here is that this software is not essential.

The monitor comes with a VGA cable, power cable and instruction manual CD. Some might criticise that the manual is on a disk, but as soon as you plug this monitor in to your computer it will work. You may have to adjust your resolution on your computer but other than that it really is just 'plug and play'.

When I plugged my Xbox into the monitor with HDMI, I immediately had great picture quality. I adjusted the brightness a little on the monitor but that's all. Perfect. The colours looked vibrant and due to the high resolution of the monitor the detail was outstanding.

My Macbook immediately recognised the brand and model of monitor and activated a colour profile specifically for the Philips 234EL2. I then used the controls on the monitor to adjust the brightness and contrast to my liking. This is very easy to do and doesn't require any kind of user manual as the options menu on the monitor is clearly laid out. This monitor scores very highly for 'plug and play' ease of use.

Viewing angles are good with the Philips 23EL2. You can view it from quite extreme angles from the left and right and it maintains the same contrast, however if you view it from too low down or too high up the contrast starts to distort a little. A quick adjustment of the tilt in the stand sorts this out easily.

The touch buttons are fine, although I've never been a huge fan of this kind of technology on monitors and TVs as I don't think it's practical, however the touch buttons on this monitor are very responsive.

Overall I give this monitor 4.5/5.
Pros: Ease of use, sleek design, good picture quality and nice selection of inputs make this monitor great value for money and a very strong competitor in this price range.
Cons: Poor quality built-in speakers.

This is a super piece of kit. I waited quite a while for it to arrive but it was worth it. Philips always make good monitors but they have outstripped themselves here. If you are looking for a good monitor at a reasonable price: look no further. However, although the manual (on cd) promises a dvi cable, what comes is a vga cable so you may need to buy a dvi cable before you can install.

I wanted a monitor with built in speakers to avoid cluttering up my desk with speakers and cables. Options were to buy an LED TV and use it as a monitor or get this Philips 234ELSB. Since I dont need the TV tuner and the Philips monitor was the cheaper option I went for it. Delighted I did. It looks great and works a treat. Crystal clear screen which is easy to adjust with the software that comes with it. It comes with either analogue or digital connections. I bought an HDMI cable to go with it since my Dell PC has an HDMI output. Works a treat. (However needed help from Dell to find out how to make the image fit the whole screen. Easy when you know the setting. Needed to set the overscan/undersscan scaling to zero on the ATI Radeon card) Using the VGA analogue input also worked fine and image fitted the screen no problem. Very pleased indeed with this monitor - and no speakers cluttering up my desk but can watch you tube with sound.