Designed with Microsoft’s Xbox Series X in mind, the Philips Momentum 279M1RV is a quality gaming monitor designed to fully take advantage of the latest generation of consoles and PCs.
Built with all the bells and whistles in mind, the latest Phillips panel comes with everything you need to push your gaming setup to the absolute max. 4K, 144Hz, VRR, the works, it’s all here and accounted for, but how is it actually implemented?
Priced at around £730, the Philips Momentum 279M1RV is a premium display that costs substantially more than the Xbox it’s designed to be paired with. Whether you’re rocking one of the best gaming laptops or a high-end console, Phillips’ monitor is unbeatable for its price.
Coming in at 27-inches, the Momentum 279M1RV’s 16:9 4K Nano-IPS panel is a fantastically pixel-dense display. At this size and resolution, pixel-dots are imperceivable, no matter how close you get, offering crystal clear visuals for movies, videos and, of course, games.
Alongside its brilliant panel, the new device also comes with no shortage of ports. Three HDMI 2.1 ports, a Display Port 1.4 and USB-C slot give you plenty of options for connecting any manner of device; each port also comes with a compatible cable in the box.
With its Xbox Series X branding, the Momentum 279M1RV is a perfect fit for Microsoft’s high-end console. HDMI 2.1 support allows you to game at 4K 120Hz with 600-nit HDR colours and brightness. Running high-framerate games such as Halo Infinite at a buttery-smooth 120fps results in crystal clear visuals, with none of the smearing of a VA panel.
Alongside its beautifully crisp display, the Momentum gaming monitor comes with two 5-watt DTS-graded speakers for those who don’t have an external speaker setup or permanent headphones. Unfortunately, these speakers are by far the monitor’s weakest aspect with slightly muffled audio that, while far from awful, fall below similarly sized speakers in high-end laptops or even Apple’s iPad Pro.
Audio quality is fine for the most part, but you will want to pair this monitor with a set of headphones to really enjoy yourself. While muffled, the speakers are still rather on the bass-heavy side, prioritising gunfire over dialogue, drums over horns. It’s fine, and most monitors these days have equal-if-not-worse-quality speakers, but it feels at odds with the monitor’s flawless display.
The Momentum 279M1RV also comes equipped with Phillips’ proprietary Ambiglow technology, allowing a bright strip of LEDs to flash and glow to the video — or audio — of whatever is playing on the display. When you’re gaming, the LEDs flash brightly alongside the action, blasting red light around itself as explosions go off, firing in bursts alongside your assault rifle.
Of course, Ambiglow isn’t necessarily suited to every genre of game. Playing a dark horror game such as Alien Isolation results in a constant green glow despite the edges of the screen being draped in darkness. However, when you set off a quick blast of your flamethrower against a quickly approaching Xenomorph, the LEDs bursting to life with a bright red do help to sell the already-tense immersion.
Gaming on the Philips Momentum 279M1RV is an absolute delight, especially if you can push your games to their most fluid performance. Competitive shooters such as Modern Warfare 2 (the new one) or Star Wars Battlefront 2 (also the new one) look and feel their best on a panel of this quality. Even smaller, less action-packed titles such as The Touryst pop with vibrant colours and flawless visuals on a screen that is truly impossible to look away from.
Importantly, the device’s slim bezels and simple, thin base make it easy to fit on a small table, cluttered desk or anywhere else. Viewing angles are also superb, allowing you to still see all of your content from the sides, even though you’ll likely be looking at the display head-on.
If there’s any true negative to be said about the Philips Momentum 279M1RV, it’s the state of its controls. Following most modern monitors, the device uses a meek rear joystick to control its menus, one that is finicky to use. It’s a far cry from standard buttons and a pain to use with the sheer amount of options available within the device’s basic UI.
With that said, finicky controls are a small price to pay for a monitor that offers some of the best pixel density on the market. It’s a gorgeous panel that lets you play at high resolutions and high framerates, and one that’s hands down the best partner for your Xbox Series X. If you’re on PC, there are a few other, far more expensive, options that can provide even better experiences. Still, at this price point Philips has absolutely nailed what makes a gaming display so great.
As far as 27-inch gaming monitors go, the Philips Momentum 279M1RV is the cream of the crop at its budget level. At £700, you’re not going to find a panel any better than this, especially not one that comes with the array of ports and features found here. While its speakers are lacklustre and its controls are finicky, these are minor distractions from an otherwise brilliant product.
