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With its effective viewing area of 596 x 335mm one can display three virtually full size A4 pages alongside one another or a massive spreadsheet and, in all cases, the 2560 x 1440 Quad HD resolution ensures that small type is extremely readable. In addition, it enables one to present photos and other images in high quality with good colour rendition. The wide viewing angle of the IPS screen is ideal especially when a number of people need to gather around the screen when using Skype using the built-in 2W speakers and microphone.

As well as there being VGA, Displayport (normal and mini) and HDMI inputs there is also a Displayport Out so that displays can be be cascaded. (Not that I have been able to try that out.). The USB3.0 connectors -- input plus three outputs one of which is fast-charging -- are accessible behind the left hand side of the monitor.

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Once connected and switched on the first thing I had to do was to go to the on-screen display buttons on the underside of the monitor and reduce brightness quite a number of steps -- even then, the display on my own monitor sitting sitting alongside it looked grey in comparison.

One can access “SmartImage” via the display buttons. This provides a series of presets that optimise the display for different types of content: office, photo, movie, game, economy, low-blue mode (which is intended to reduce eye strain) and Off where the individual settings setup elsewhere are applied. I found this was quite effective although I must admit that, except when viewing photos, I used the economy setting most of the time.

The black bezel of this monitor is less than 1cm on the sides and top. This minimises the amount of wasted desktop space and, with only a small amount of dead space, provides a far better experience and virtually seamless viewing when using multiple displays in extended mode. The spring-counterbalanced stand provides over 12cm of vertical movement and can be tilted over the range -5 to +20 degrees. However, in order to use the built-in pop-up webcam the screen needed to be in the vertical position if one’s face is to be within view. This was a nuisance but not insurmountable.

Being built-in the webcam avoided the the inconvenience that one experiences with an external one that is hooked onto the top of a monitor which can fall off at the most inconvenient time. Furthermore, as the webcam can be retracted when not in use, it does not pose the potential security risk that there is someone out there looking in.

With the 272B7QPTKEB monitor Philips has aimed at producing a premium business monitor which ticks all the boxes -- including a power sensor which, it is claimed, can reduce power consumption by up to 80% by automatically reducing screen brightness when it senses that no one is sitting in front of the monitor. As can be appreciated there are 27inch monitors on offer at prices lower than the £499 list price of this unit (but possibly available cheaper on Amazon), however, many busy professionals to whom time is a valuable commodity need a monitor that will meet their every need and so will be prepared to meet the price.