Test: Philips BDM3201FD

When it comes to computer monitors, size does matter. The 32-inch BDM3201FD from Philips proposes to improve your productivity as well as your gaming and viewing pleasure. And it won’t cost you an arm and a leg.
Optical illusion. Philips employed a few tricks to conceal most of the BDM3201FD’s bulk. The display panel is framed by a slim bezel, measuring under 10mm, and the chassis is gently sloped away from the edges creating the illusion of a thin profile. All connections and controls, except for two analog audio I/O at the left side, are positioned at the rear. These are signal inputs for VGA, DVI and HDMI, AC power, and a solitary joystick button for user functions.

Behind the glass. The BDM3201FD is fitted with an LED-backlit 31.5-inch IPS-ADS display with an optimum resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixel at 60Hz and a typical contrast ratio of 1,200:1. As expected with IPS panels, color reproduction is very accurate and viewing angles (in this case 178°) are very wide. The monitor consumes less than 40W in typical conditions and can be powered with less than 19W in economy mode.
Push button convenience. The monitor comes with pre-configured settings, SmartImage, for Office, Photo, Movie, Game, and Economy. These presets provide good starting points from which you can further tailor the display to suit your preference or environment. If you switch from work to gaming to streaming during the course of a day, you’ll find SmartImage really convenient. If you don’t care for presets, SmartImage can be switched off entirely; although I found it difficult to find a happy medium that will work with Photoshop, MS Office, and gaming at the same time.

Sound options. The Philips BDM3201FD is fitted with a pair of 5W bottom firing speakers. Audio from the PC can be streamed through the HDMI cable or a standard 1/8-inch audio connector. A headphone jack is also available for private listening. Unlike most monitor speakers I’ve encountered, the ones on these are quite loud. Sound quality isn’t that great but for general use they are more than adequate.
Ergonomic considerations. If you care about your eyes, you wouldn’t sit closer than one meter from the screen. You’d get headaches quite quickly if you did. Even from that distance, small text on webpages or documents are quite legible. The only downside with sitting far from this monitor is it gets tedious having to reach in every time you need to switch SmartImage modes.
VERDICT
If you’re on the hunt to upsize your computer’s display but don’t want to shell out the cash for a 2K or 4K screen, the Philips BDM3201FD might just be the big monitor for you. You might even have enough funds left over to upgrade your PC—the GPU, for instance.
SPECIFICATIONS