I recently upgraded my work monitor to a Samsung UN40HU6950 40-inch/4K monitor; and, although it had some issues, I was willing to live with them for the additional screen real-estate.

After getting used to the 40" monitor at work, my 30"+20" setup at home was definitely feeling too small. (It's amazing how awesome these 40" 4K monitors are!) I would have upgraded to another Samsung at home if it were just me; but, I knew some of the issues wouldn't fly at all with my wife - who uses that PC when I'm not home.

When I came across a chance to pick up this new Philips model, I jumped at it - even though I knew it was a small risk since there basically isn't any warranty support until this is officially available in the U.S.

Fortunately it's working perfectly - and I'm very happy with it!

In fact, it works so well that I purchased 2 more - so both myself and the other programmer in our company can both use one. He commented yesterday that it's absolutely amazing how much more productive he can be with the larger screen (instead of multiple smaller screens); which is the exact same experience I had.

[*** Screen Size ***]

I remember when a 21" CRT seemed giant! Then it seems like everybody migrated to 20" LCDs, 24" LCDs, and then either multiple monitors or 30" LCDs.

Since I've been using a 30"+20" setup for several years, I thought that was the pinnacle for software development - but a 40"/4K setup blows it out of the water!

It's interesting that there are smaller 4K options available from several PC manufacturers - but I really don't get the point of a sub-40" 4K monitor. The 40" size is perfect to truly take advantage of the added resolution without having to deal with scaling.

Having said that, there are a couple of things to keep in mind:

1) For some reason (probably because of the smaller 4K monitors that are available), Windows 8 automatically turns the scaling up to about 200% with this monitor. I would highly recommend bumping it back down to 100% to take full advantage of the size. (This can be done by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting 'Screen Resolution' - then click 'Make text and other items larger or smaller'.)

2) If you're used to multiple monitors, you'll want to install a window manager. I use 'Winsplit Revolution', which is an excellent free tool; but, it's been discontinued. I suspect you can still find copies of it (or something similar) on the web somewhere.

Honestly, now that I've seen the light, I'm looking forward to 50"/5K monitors in a few years (hopefully with a curved screen).

[*** Picture Quality ***]

I'm not very picky in this area; but, I'm not a graphics artist either.

From a non-graphics-pro perspective, I think this looks great! (It's definitely better than the Samsung - especially with the lingering 4:4:4 color space issues on the Samsung.)

[*** Mounting/Stand ***]

The stand that's included with this monitor isn't that great - and it's not adjustable in any way. I will say that the 'open' design of the stand is kind of nice so it doesn't eat up as much desk real-estate as some other stands I've used.

I mounted the first one to the wall; but, the second and third are working fine with the included stand.

The one that's mounted to the wall uses a low-profile wall mount and the monitor looks absolutely fantastic! It also buys me more desk space since the monitor is completely off the desk - and it allows the monitor to sit back about 3" further (toward the wall) than it does with the stand.

[*** Ports ***]

This is an area where the Philips leaves a lot to be desired.

It has a built-in USB hub - but the ports are positioned in the back of the monitor. In other words, it's pretty much completely useless... Personally I ended up using an external 7 Port USB 3.0 Hub instead of the one on the monitor.

The power cable comes straight out the back - which is horrible for mounting this to a wall! I ended up having to pick up a right-angle power cord so I could mount this flush to the wall. (It's fine for the 2 that are sitting on cubicle desks.)

I'm used to having an SD card reader built into my monitor at home - and this does not include that feature. Once again, it's not a huge deal since good card readers are inexpensive.

At least the video inputs face the side instead of the back; but, they're located on the top/left of the monitor. Not really ideal for running cables up from a desk. I ended up having to run a 10' DisplayPort cable instead of the previous 6' cable that worked fine with the ports on the bottom of my previous monitor.

In fact, because of the poor placement of the DisplayPort, I ended up having to use longer video cables for 2 of the 3 monitors.

[*** Price ***]

I know the price is going to drop fast - especially once it's officially released in the U.S. In fact, I paid a few hundred apiece less for the second and third just 6 weeks after the first.

Having said that, if you shop around, you can already pick this up for quite a bit less than some of the 30" options on the market.

Keep in mind that you may end up having to upgrade your video card as well if you want to run a 4K monitor. Any video card with a DisplayPort output that supports 4K resolution will work for desktop apps; but, you'll need something a lot higher end if you're a gamer.

[*** Conclusion ***]

If you're looking for a 40"/4K monitor, this is FAR better than the 'TV' options on the market. The color, refresh rate, and overall usability are much better on the Philips.

There are definitely some issues to keep in mind; but, this is currently the best option available. There isn't really anything that competes with it at all; although, I suspect that will change quickly.

Personally, I would highly recommend this monitor! If you're looking for additional screen real-estate for maximum productivity, then this is the absolute best option on the market.

$800 for a massive and beautiful computer monitor? Why not?! That's already cheaper than Apple's 27" Thunderbolt display.

Cables in the box: power cord, audio, HDMI, USB3, VGA, some sort of weird RS232 thing
Notably missing: any kinds of DisplayPort cable, which you need if you want to go 60Hz

Really, 40"? Yup. The pixel density is roughly 109dpi, making it similar to many other computer monitors you may have owned. Side-by-side with my old Apple 27" Thunderbolt monitor, everything is about the same size, there's just more of it. This monitor is so big that there's no reason to ever mess with a dual-monitor setup again. It's everything you'll ever need, all in one place.

Side-by-side with the Apple 27" Thunderbolt monitor, the Philips has a mild anti-glare coating on it, so you don't get the sharp reflections of the glossy Apple monitor. That's a big win. On the flip side, the Apple monitor is just loads brighter. You only really notice the difference when you have them side-by-side, but wow the Apple monitor is just very, very much brighter. The Apple monitor also has a bunch of things that are very appealing if you have an Apple laptop, like a Magsafe charger, built-in Ethernet, etc. All you get here is four-port USB3 hub and an analog audio jack. Paired with my MacPro desktop machine, this is no big deal.

Complaints: I've got two. One that's easy to work around and the other that effectively precludes the use of this monitor with older versions of OS X.

- I have a wood desk. I can see the reflection of that desk in the bottom few inches of the monitor. This reduces contrast / readability of text that's at the bottom of the screen. A non-solution would be to jack the monitor up higher with a VESA mount stand. It's already at a perfect height. I'm considering finding myself a square meter of black felt, which I'd put below the monitor, to reduce the reflections. If you're the sort of person who works in a dark cave, you'll love this. If you work in a bright white environment, you'll have complaints.

- When you aren't using the computer for a while and it puts the monitor into power-saving mode, it doesn't wake up properly. You either need to yank the DisplayPort cable or power-cycle the monitor. Every. Time. There's a lot of discussion on this issue if you poke around the web. My observation was, with OS X 10.9, it didn't work. I just upgraded to OS X 10.11 ("El Capitan") and that seems to have solved the problem.

Setup: After much dorking around with the settings, here's how to optimize things.

- Sound through the HDMI or DisplayPort cable never seemed to work. Sound through the analog audio jack seems to work fine. I don't need high-fidelity in my office and the built-in speakers are "good enough" for videoconferencing and the odd YouTube video. I got a cheap Logitech webcam (Logitech HD Portable 1080p Webcam C615 with Autofocus), which perches nicely on top.

- Turn on "pixel orbiting": this allegedly helps with screen burn-in issues (not that the manual actually says this anywhere). Also, make sure you've enabled "DisplayPort 1.2", so you can get 60Hz video.

- Set your sharpness to "50" and leave brightness and contrast alone at 100 and 50, respectively. Likewise, turn off all the "smart" things. You just want this to be a big dumb monitor. The only "smart" thing you do want is "SmartUniformity". Somebody at the factory supposedly measures each and every one of these monitors and loads it with a just-for-you profile about where the screen is slightly brighter or dimmer; the "SmartUniformity" setting uses those measurements, dimming the brighter parts so it all comes out the same.

- I wanted this monitor to look the same as a standard Mac monitor, which means calibrating it for a 6500K whitepoint. The native whitepoint is much higher (i.e., it's insanely blue). You can set this in the menus getting you close-but-no-cigar. I instead did a "manual" setting with R/G/B set to 100/100/100 (maximum brightness) then ran a color calibrator (XRite Colormunki Display) to get a proper D65 setting. What, you don't have a color calibrator? Here's an ICC file that you can load into your ~/Library/ColorSync/Profiles directory and then select in the "Displays" preferences. (http://www.cs.rice.edu/~dwallach/philips-bdm4065-d65.icc). Are you using a PC? Dunno, can't help you there.

Summary: It's big, it's cheap, it's beautiful, it works. It could be brighter, and there are goofy issues with older versions of OS X, but for the price it's the right solution.

This is literally the ULTIMATE monitor for computer professionals (I have software engineering in mind as that is my profession, but this applies equally to anyone else who uses computers extensively in the office). I have never enjoyed a monitor for work more than this.

I have two Dell U3014 30" 1600p monitors at work, and am seriously considering buying one of these to replace them. It's an incredible deal, if you think about it. Each Dell U3014 costs ~$1100, making two of them ~$2200. For just $800 for the Phillips, you get more pixels, more screen surface area, and overall a much better experience since it's just one continuous panel, and fills your field of view more naturally.

In terms of display quality, I have absolutely no complaints. I understand that generally good IPS screens can have better color quality, but I honestly don't notice anything worse. In fact, the VA panel of this monitor actually looks better overall to me, since IPS screens have a notorious inability to display deep blacks (they look a dark gray glow instead). That makes this monitor also excellent for movies and video games.