I've just invested in one of the best ultrawide monitors, and I thought at 34 inches it was pretty huge. And it is; I'm looking at it right now and it dominates my desktop. But my display is small potatoes compared to the new Philips 45B1U6900C, which is 44.5 inches from corner to corner. That's the size of two desktop displays. Big ones.
With a 32:9 aspect ratio, 1500R curvature and double QHD resolution (that's 5,120 x 1,440) the new Philips looks particularly good for creative apps: I'd love to get my hands on one for when I'm working in Logic Pro X, which always feels like it needs more screen space than I can give it.
Wide thing! You make my heart sing!
The rest of the spec sheet is pretty impressive too. The Philips includes a USB-C docking hub with an RJ45 connector, enabling devices without wired networking ports – such as my M1 MacBook Pro – to join your wired network, if you have one. It also provides up to 100W of power via USB-C PD and has USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports running at up to 5Gbps, making it a really good option for ultra-thin laptops that sacrifice pluggability for portability.
There's DisplayHDR 400, Eyesafe RPF certification for its low blue light emissions, 178-degree viewing angle and an integrated KVM switch to connect and switch between multiple devices. But my favourite feature is probably the most low-tech one: that sticky-out bit you see on the left hand side of the monitor is a hook for hanging your headphones on.
Sadly I'll need to hang my headphones elsewhere for the time being, because this display is a little beyond my budget: the Philips 45B1U6900C is on sale now with an RRP of £939.99.
