Philips Evnia 27M2C5500W review – That’s Gaming

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The title is quite a mouthful that I would hate to have to utter every day, so we will just call the entire review the Philips Evnia 27M2C5500W, for convenience! Still, we were happy to test the Philips Evnia, a 27-inch monitor, with 240hz, a curved display and much more. We were allowed to test the monitor extensively and want to let you know about our experiences with this Philips monitor and you can read about it in detail below.

The Philips Evnia is a monitor with 2K quality. However, before you can see this monitor in action, you will first have to unpack the monitor. The Philips Evnia does this in a simple way, where many gaming brands distinguish themselves by putting all kinds of colors on the box, the Philips Evnia is simplistic in its appearance. The box is brown and the box simply shows the display and some specifications. This is a conscious choice in the Evnia line, but let it actually also be unique among all the other brands that actually choose a very distinct look. The unboxing is otherwise fine. Not too much packaging material was used, just enough to protect the display, and recycled plastic was used, making the unboxing experience not only simple but also considerate of the environment. The moment you take the monitor out of the packaging, installing the Philips Evnia is a simple task, the back can be easily screwed on, even someone like me who has had little job experience in his life. You don’t even need a screwdriver for it!

The stand that comes with it is also ideal for managing your cables. The ports can be found at the bottom and that can sometimes be annoying, especially when looking for an input when everything is installed. On the monitor are 2 HDMI 2.0 ports and 2 1.4 DisplayPorts, there are also quite a few USB 3.2 ports, so you can also charge some products. In our eyes there is a USB-C connection missing, that certainly should have been included. Other than that, the monitor looks fine with its black appearance. The only annoying thing about the appearance is the control button behind the screen. Operating the monitor sometimes feels a bit clunky and we had hoped that this button would either be under the monitor or perhaps in front of it. However, you often have to look for the button, which can sometimes cause some frustration. It is important to note that with the HDMI 2.0 ports you will not reach 120hz on the Playstation 5 or Xbox Series X, as that requires an HDMI 2.1 port. So this monitor is really focused on PC use.

The Philips Evnia is not your typical gaming monitor with a straight screen, as it has a curve of 1000R. Furthermore, you can also adjust the monitor, not in height, but whether it is more up, or down. In our experience, this was incredibly nice for some games, but also not for some games. In games such as F1 2022, we noticed that the monitor did its job incredibly well. It gave immerse to the racing because you felt like you were in the middle of it. Still, in some more strategic games we noticed that it is sometimes annoying rather than helpful. You are not focused on the screen and are mostly looking at the corners of the screen. So it is a question of what you want to use the monitor for.

When starting up the monitor, you can set all kinds of things like you are used to with a gaming monitor. The monitor already comes with many options to choose from, choices between an FPS mode to regular mode to work in. One mode is a bit more vibrant than the other, but of course it can’t match a 4K monitor for example. Still, for a 2K monitor, the colors are gorgeous enough that most games look great. The monitor has an 8-bit panel with HDR400. However, in practice, the monitor runs steady at 320 cd/m2, so the HDR400 cannot be fully lived up to. So the monitor is advertised with HDR, but whether you can actually watch HDR content is really a second thing. The Philips Evnia has a VA panel, so the monitor has great contrast in colors, but has to sacrifice viewing angles that are better on an OLED screen, for example. Fortunately, the curved display ensures that you will never really have to look at your monitor from a weird angle, on the contrary, who looks at their monitor at an angle all day?

Then, of course, one of the most important questions. Does the Philips Evnia provide a good gaming experience? Does it deliver on the promised 1MS? The answer to both is yes. The Philips Evnia provides a great gaming experience via HDMI (though with a maximum of 144hz), the screen is incredibly smooth and the screen responds quickly to your inputs without noticing any lag. However, you will have to connect your gaming setup via a display port to fully access the 240hz if you want it. We have not been able to test that mode, but trust that if 144hz already looks so smooth and great, the 240hz will look even better. The great refresh rate, with the low input lag and the great and vivid colors on this screen make for a gaming experience you normally only see on high end displays, while the Philips Evnia is currently available for 419 euros. A great price for what you get in return in terms of gaming performance, colors and convenience.

Still, as a buyer, you have to ask yourself if the Philips Evnia is the monitor for you. If you are primarily gaming on Next Gen consoles, then the Philips Evnia may not be the right choice for you. However as a PC gamer who doesn’t want to play 4K right away, but wants good picture quality with a high refresh rate, then the Philips Evnia might be the monitor of the year. The Philips Evnia delivers a great gaming experience on a beautiful curved display with 2K image quality. Of course, it is important that you love a curved display, otherwise it is obviously not a monitor for you. From That’s Gaming, however, we give the Philips Evnia 27M2C5500W an 8.5 and a must buy for PC gamers who want to use the monitor for gaming and also for the office.