Philips Brilliance 201P

It wasn't so long ago that the average PC came with a 14in monitor that would make an optician wince. But as competition and manufacturing volume has increased, the standard has advanced to the point where we only see monitors smaller than 17in with the cheapest of PC systems. This, and the recent flood of 19in monitors, has meant we've seen little movement in the 21in market of late. To plug the gap, Philips has added the 201P to its Brilliance range.

The 201P is something of a bruiser and will look imposing on any desk. Beyond the bulk, its looks are noteworthy, with a sweeping line along the bottom, slightly bowed sides and softly rounded corners. I liked the power button being on top of the unit, as it kept the front clear of clutter, but it may not be to everyone's taste.

Connection to the 201P is achieved via the traditional 15-pin D-SUB socket or the row of five BNC sockets. Interestingly, the Philips uses USB (universal serial bus) to control the setup options. Just connect your PC to the USB Hub at the back of the monitor, let Windows run its plug and play routine and install Philips' bundled CustoMax software. This is comprehensive and, as I was running Windows 98, detection and connection was easy. Once you've got the package running, you're presented with an interface that's logical, simple and powerful. There are options to adjust all the major geometrical factors, some more exotic adjustments such as corner correction and vertical linearity, as well as a series of test cards to help you fine tune the monitor.

Colour settings are also comprehensive, with test screens of solid white, red, green, blue and vertical colour bars. As well as helping you to get the balance of contrast and brightness right, there are options to adjust the colour temperature. If you don't have USB, the 201P has an easy-to-use on-screen menu, driven by a button on the bottom right of the fascia and a wheel below it.

As you're probably gathering, this is a serious monitor aimed at high-end users, a fact reflected in the quality of the screen. In particular, it features an excellent anti-glare coating and a horizontal dot pitch of 0.22mm. The Philips will run at resolutions up to 1,800 x 1,440 if you're prepared to delve into user-definable modes. However, this isn't a VESA standard setting, as I opted to test it at 1,600 x 1,200, running a highly respectable vertical refresh of 85Hz.

On close inspection, the image quality with these settings was more than acceptable, and the picture was rock-solid. However, I did detect a slight problem with its ability to focus perfectly in the corners, particularly in the extreme bottom left, where pixel-wide white lines showed minute hints of pink. The lack of convergence controls also meant I couldn't do anything about it. As for the 201P's power-saving ability, the monitor consumes 160W when fully cranked up and only 5W when running in standby mode.

The Philips 201P is a competent 21in monitor at a decent price of £999. It's well featured, easy to control and has an excellent anti-glare coating. It's just a shame the good all-round picture quality was undermined by some minor corner convergence problems.

Author: Martin Cooper