Philips 273V7QDAB monitor – Specs, Pros / Cons: We Have A Budget Banger!

Philips, the last member of the European technological ‘Old Guard’, has always delivered reliable products. Even at the office, we’ve got a 19-inch Phillips monitor from 2010, and it hasn’t skipped a beat. Today we have another Philips screen, this time a bigger 27-inch unit, the Philips 273V7QDAB. It brings a Full HD IPS panel with a 60Hz refresh rate and a 4ms response time. There’s no fancy FreeSync or higher refresh rates, however, our Display Profiles still manage to make it perfectly accurate for any designer.

This monitor might be a hidden banger, provided it shows good results in our color coverage tests. It also offers a decent port selection and comes with built-in speakers, which is rare to see on more affordable screens.

You can check the current price of the Philips 273V7QDAB here: Buy from Amazon.com (#CommissionsEarned)

Contents


Specs sheet, Assembly, Drivers, OSD, Design, Connectivity

Screen size27 inch (68.58 cm)
Refresh rate75Hz
Response time4ms
Panel typeIPS
Backlight typeLED
Screen finishMatte
Resolution1920 x 1080 (Full HD)
Technologies
  • Contrast ratio: 1 000:1 (Static)
  • Brightness: 250cd/m²
  • Viewing angles: H/V° 178/178
  • Tilt: -5 to 20°
  • VESA mount: 100×100
  • Measurements (with stand): 205 x 503.08 x 611.58 mm
  • Power consumption (Idle): 15.4W
  • Power consumption (Stand-By): 0.50W
  • Built-in speakers: 2x 2W
I/O
  • 1x HDMI
  • 1x VGA
  • 1x DVI-D
  • 1x Headphone jack
  • 1x Microphone jack

What’s in the box? Assembly

The display cables can vary between regions, so always check with your local retailer. At the least, you should have the monitor itself with the stand, as well as a power cable, and display cables (either one or more).

In terms of the assembly, everything clips together into place, so you don’t need any tools to put this thing together.

Drivers and Software

You can find the drivers for the Philips 273V7QDAB on their Support Portal. There are the drivers, as well as the SmartControl Software, which can give you all the OSD settings through the OS, for better ease of use. You can also create layouts for multitasking and splitting the screen so you can creatively fit multiple apps on the screen.

OSD Menu

Design and Connectivity

In terms of looks, there isn’t anything defining the Philips 273V7QDAB. It’s a pretty standard-looking monitor, with a black plastic finish that can withstand the test of time. The plastic feels good and the bezels are on the slimmer side, except for the chin, which is a tad thicker, housing the buttons for the OSD menu and the Power LED. On the back, you have the VESA holes for a wall mount, while on the bottom, there are the built-in speakers.

In terms of ports, the monitor accepts three different signals. There’s an HDMI port, a VGA port, and a DVI-D port. There are also two Audio jacks, one for headphones and one for a microphone.


Display quality, Buy our profiles, Verdict

Now we’ve come to the most important part, the color tests, which will determine whether or not the monitor is useful to creators. It includes a color coverage test as well as a color accuracy test, which shows how much the way colors on the monitor look like their respective counterparts in real life.

The correlated color temperature on a white screen after a Factory Reset in sRGB mode is 6760K (Luminance 150 cd/m2 at 20% Brightness). The average gamma value is 2.18.

Color coverage

Here’s an illustration (Fig. 1). The whole “sail-shaped” map below consists of all the colors we can see, while the black crooked line shows all the colors from real-world scenes and nature around us.

Then, we’ve drawn some of the most important and interesting color spaces, compared to the colors the panel of Philips 273V7QDAB can show:

Standard/For Web: sRGB – widely used color space for most consumer devices, ideal for Web design and development
For Print: AdobeRGB – used in professional photo editing, graphic design, and print
For Photographers/Video Editors: DCI-P3 – used in high-end film production, post-production, and digital cinema
Premium HDR: Rec.2020 – the widest consumer ITU color standard, covering a massive 75.8% of the visible spectrum, a benchmark for premium HDR content

Philips 273V7QDAB: the yellow dashed triangle (– – – – – –) represents the range of colors this monitor can display. In our tests, we calculated the total color coverage of the monitor at 91% of the sRGB color gamut.

 

(Fig.1) Philips 273V7QDAB covers 91% of the Web colors (sRGB) 

This means that if the Philips 273V7QDAB tries to show any color outside of its triangle, it will show the closest color to it that’s inside the triangle.

Color accuracy

Now let’s see how big is the difference between the real colors and the one you’ll see on the Philips 273V7QDAB. We measure that distance in DeltaE – the bigger the number, the more different they look.

For the next illustration, we’ve chosen 24 common colors like dark and light skin, blue sky, green grass, etc.

Values below 2.0 are considered suitable for color-sensitive work. Before our calibration of the Philips 273V7QDAB, the Average color accuracy was 3.4 dE (Fig. 2), and with our Web Design and Office Work profile, it lowered to 1.7 dE (Fig. 3). This means that the monitor becomes twice as accurate as it was before, as well as being ready for Creator work.

(Fig. 2) Philips 273V7QDAB in its factory condition
(Fig. 3) Philips 273V7QDAB with our display profiles

Comparison in the sRGB color space (primaries and D65 white point specified in ITU-R BT.709, sRGB encoding curve).

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Design & Gaming Profile

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom-tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate (they may seem strange at first but after a few minutes our brain will start recognizing them as accurate ones – that’s how Health-Guard differs from alternatives like f.lux).

Pro Tip: As the Health-Guard profile simulates paper and has as accurate as possible colors, it could be a great tool for prepress designers!

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Health-Guard Profile

Gaming and Movies

We also have a third Gaming and Movies profile, which regulates the black colors, making dark areas in games and movies appear more visible, thus giving you a better viewing experience. Shooting at your opponent first can be a make-or-break moment, so make sure you’re best prepared with our profile.

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Design & Gaming Profile

BUY OUR DISPLAY PROFILES

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for the Philips 273V7QDAB.

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Here’s how to prepare thе monitor for our profiles:

1. Open the OSD menu (On-Screen Display)
2. Factory Reset: Choose the ‘Yes’ option.
3. Brightness: Navigate to Image ➡️ Brightness and set it to 65% for optimal viewing.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Verdict

The Philips 273V7QDAB is a banger budget monitor, with the features to match. The Full HD panel over the 27-inch diagonal might mean you lose some detail when you get up close and personal with it, but considering its price, what you’re getting is pretty good. The design features built-in speakers and different ports so you can choose what to use depending on the tech that you’re working with.

As for the effects that our profiles have on the monitor, just watch. The Web Design and Office Work profile makes the monitor two times more accurate, with a dE value of 1.7. Add to that the 91% sRGB coverage and you’ve got yourself a Creator monitor for a low price. The rest of the profiles improve the user experience outside the creator or office field. The Gaming and Movies profile makes darker scenes in games and movies appear more visible, so you know who (or what) is hiding in the shadows (it’s Batman). Lastly, the Health-Guard regulates the Blue light exposure and any flickering that there might be. Both Blue Light and PWM (Flickering) can tire out your eyes, which can accumulate over time, damaging your sight.

You can check the current price of the Philips 273V7QDAB: Buy from Amazon.com (#CommissionsEarned)

Pros

  • 91% sRGB coverage
  • Our Display Profiles make the monitor 2 times more accurate (dE 1.7)
  • A bunch of ports


Cons

  • Stand doesn’t offer a lot of adjustments

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