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Philips Evnia 49M2C8900 QD-OLED: Two-minute evaluate
(Picture credit score: Future / Isaiah Williams)
In my expertise, I couldn’t absolutely benefit from the Ambilight characteristic as a lot as I assumed I might, contemplating the size of the show (which might function a praise to how immersive it’s), and sure, I attempted it with out one other monitor mounted on high of it, and got here to the identical conclusion. It’s additionally price noting that the Ambilight characteristic can typically fail at representing correct colours.
That doesn’t imply it’s unhealthy by any means, but it surely made me understand that I doubtless would have loved the characteristic much more on the 34-inch 1440p or 42-inch 4K Philips Evnia fashions. It simply will get to some extent the place you marvel if the 32:9 facet ratio is just a little bit an excessive amount of, however finally, if these aren’t dealbreakers for you, you’ll completely love this show.
(Picture credit score: Future / Isaiah Williams)
On a extra constructive word, although, gaming in titles like Name of Obligation or Battlefield 6 on this show provides you an additional edge and allows you to make the most of a 240Hz refresh price. When you’ve got the {hardware} able to pushing excessive body charges, you’ll reap the advantages with easy gameplay and a 0.03ms Gray-to-Gray (GtG) response time, minimizing ghosting and blur as pixels transition.
It’s not simply multiplayer FPS shooters the place this shines, as that is an distinctive show in narrative-driven motion video games, and actually makes you are feeling such as you’re on the middle of the motion. The elevated standpoint you get with tremendous ultrawide shows, as such, shouldn’t be understated, offering a cinematic expertise to get misplaced in, and I felt that throughout the quite a few single-player video games I examined on this show.
The 49M2C8900 is one other show that highlights how significantly better OLED is when in comparison with common LED and even mini-LED screens. Positive, mini-LED shows can present higher, extra constant brightness ranges, notably as a result of there’s no frustration with ABL. Nevertheless, OLED is just undefeated on the subject of deep black ranges, and you’ll see that in my Wallpaper Engine screenshots beneath – actually fascinating.
Simply to spotlight, in the event you’re a giant fan of horror video games that take full benefit of darkish environments and even these with fixed coloration adjustments like Cronos The New Daybreak, then there’s loads of enjoyable available with this show. The pictures don’t do it sufficient justice, and a few may even counsel there’s main bloom or over publicity, however that isn’t the case in any respect with this show.
It will get even higher when Ambilight is working at its greatest, mixing in completely with jumpscares or sequences in video games the place colours shift quickly on display screen, lending additional ammunition to an immersive visible expertise. I can positively see this being liked by those that aren’t significantly enthused by Ambilight when shopping for this monitor, versus me, who was underwhelmed with its inconsistencies.
Philips Evnia 49M2C8900 QD-OLED: Value & Availability
How a lot does it value? $1,500 (retail) / £799 / AU$1,799
When is it accessible? Out there now (first launched in 2023)
The place are you able to get it? Out there within the US, UK, and Australia
The Philips Evnia 49M2C8900 is an expensive tremendous ultrawide monitor, retailing at $1,500 and round £1,649.99 within the UK, which might have been an on the spot dealbreaker for me and lots of others. Nonetheless, it’s been accessible since 2023, so pricing has inevitably plummeted, that means you will discover it at a lot decrease costs – particularly £799 (round $1,050) – with extra energetic gross sales seeing it drop even additional.
Is it well worth the retail worth it was at beforehand? No, and that’s no shade on the show’s high quality, as a result of $1,500 is a troublesome ask for any gaming monitor. Nevertheless, at its present pricing, I can simply suggest this for anybody who’s adamant to dive into the QD-OLED tremendous ultrawide gaming expertise, with the added productiveness advantages.
Nevertheless, it’s price noting that in the event you do plan on getting this show, it’s greatest to behave quick, as it may be fairly troublesome to search out it at varied on-line shops. It doesn’t seem like discontinued but, however new Philips Evnia screens are doubtless on the horizon to take the limelight.
(Picture credit score: Future / Isaiah Williams)
Philips Evnia 49M2C8900 QD-OLED: Specs
Philips Evnia 49M2C8900 QD-OLED: Efficiency & Design
Once more, on a extra constant foundation, I used to be left joyful utilizing the Philips Evnia 49M2C8900, because it gave me what I wanted for nearly all of my video games (excluding people who don’t help the 32:9 facet ratio).
It’s easy, actually: if immersion is your high precedence and also you’ve by no means used a show like this, I’ve little question this will probably be proper up your alley. I have to admit that I’m an ultrawide fanatic, so I do have a component of bias in direction of these shows. Nonetheless, if something, that finally makes me extra essential of them with nitpicks – however other than the problems with Ambilight and ABL, there are hardly any complaints from me with this show.
When ABL isn’t a difficulty, you actually discover simply how nice excessive brightness is for gaming, and because of the QD-OLED panel, I had no issues with any type of ghosting or smearing, which is one thing you may discover with a VA mini-LED monitor, just like the Cellular Pixels 34-inch ultrawide monitor I reviewed.
(Picture credit score: Future / Isaiah Williams)
It’s additionally price noting that whereas this monitor is FreeSync Premium Professional licensed, it helps G-Sync, so each AMD and Nvidia GPU customers will be capable of take pleasure in screen-tearing-free gameplay.
Talking of GPUs, it might be price investing in a beefy GPU; to present you an thought, I used to be utilizing the Asus TUF RTX 4080 Tremendous OC GPU (the second GPU behind the RTX 4090), and the 5120×1440 show decision provides it a run for its cash, knocking Cyberpunk 2077‘s body price all the way down to its knees round 50 to 60fps with ray tracing enabled and Body Era disabled.
When it comes to design, there’s lots to like concerning the Ambilight characteristic when it’s functioning with out glitches, and, excusing my private points with the width of those tremendous ultrawide screens, I consider many others will admire coloration shifts and results much more than I do.
I didn’t get to make use of a monitor mount, and the stand that comes with it’s serviceable, however I might suggest shopping for a desk mount because the stand’s base takes up an honest quantity of house on the desk – and the display screen itself is already extensive sufficient, taking over a majority of the room accessible.
Philips Evnia 49M2C8900 QD-OLED: Productiveness & OSD
(Picture credit score: Future / Isaiah Williams)
It isn’t simply gaming the place it shines, although, as productiveness was a spotlight whereas testing this show. When you thought that the 32:9 facet ratio would function a detriment to your work-from-home duties, assume once more, as a result of I used to be left more than happy with what the 49M2C8900 needed to provide.
I are likely to multitask lots when working, with a number of browser tabs left open, and maybe some movies taking part in within the background, and that is the monitor constructed only for that. Sure, there are readability points, as you’ll discover with all kinds of OLED shows with fringing round textual content, however this has by no means been a serious subject for me, and it wasn’t the case with this show both.
Whereas my evaluate unit didn’t include a distant management, the addition of 1 is a godsend, and one other facet I don’t see almost sufficient monitor producers contemplating. I haven’t bought my fingers on the distant management in any respect, however I don’t want it, as I do know that something aside from always reaching for the facility button and OSD management behind the show is considerably extra handy.
The OSD itself is serviceable with quite a few tabs on settings for Ambilight (within the Ambiglow tab), SmartImage, and different enter and audio choices. In addition to the choice of a distant management or the OSD management on the monitor rear, the Philips Evnia Precision Heart software program works wonders as a substitute, permitting you to vary settings by way of mouse and keyboard.
Do you have to purchase the Philips Evnia 49M2C8900 QD-OLED?
(Picture credit score: MMD)
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Philips Evnia 49M2C8900 QD-OLED: additionally take into account
How I examined the Philips Evnia 49M2C8900 QD-OLED
I used the Philips Evnia 49M2C8900 QD-OLED for simply over a month, for each work and play, testing quite a few video games and flicks to understand the efficiency of the display screen and the Ambilight coloration capabilities.
This can be a 32:9 show, so multiplayer shooters like Name of Obligation: Black Ops 6 have been examined to take full benefit of the display screen property and enhanced perspective of motion on display screen. It’s extremely ultimate for video games that depend on on the spot reactions and higher views of peripherals, and it’s one of many highlights that I observed constantly.
After utilizing a handful of shows now (significantly QD-OLED), I’ve been in a position to differentiate the professionals and cons of those shows in comparison with common LEDs or mini-LED, which is why I’m sure that that is among the many greatest you’ll ever discover available on the market.
Philips Evnia 49M2C8900: Value Comparability
