Philips 16B1P3302D Portable Type-C Business Monitor

How Much Does it Cost?

The Philips Business Monitor 16B1P3302D IPS Black is available now from Amazon for £239.99, which is quite expensive, especially given that we reviewed the MSI equivalent recently and that was only £159.79. However, Philips has built theirs quite a lot more robust, with a metal frame rather than plastic, so if you’re looking for something to do some serious travelling with, the extra investment makes a lot of sense for something built to take a few knocks and bumps.

Overview

Philips has a lovely little monitor here, and while it’s not perfect, the ease of use and the overall quality makes it very enjoyable to use. We’ve used it in the office for about two weeks now, and I think Dec summed it up best when asked for his feedback. He said “it did feel exactly like having a second monitor so I guess it did as advertised” and as painfully on the nose as that is for a review, well, it’s still true.

Now, furthermore, we did have trouble getting it to work in portrait mode, as I said, I think it’s not really supported, but if you stand it right and get the cables out of the way it can be done. Largely though, it seems it’s intended to be in the standard 16:9 widescreen portrait orientation.

The Type-C cable worked on our laptop but didn’t work on some of our desktop systems. You need to be sure to use a Type-C that supports DisplayPort over Type-C or Thunderbolt, and there are no other inputs such as HDMI, so it’s USB-C or bust, so keep that in mind.I do love that it runs from a single cable from my laptop though, that makes setup so easy! I can run my Samsung phone in DEX mode too, but that required an additional USB C to provide power to the display; a power bank, plug or whatever USB source seemed to work fine.

The build quality is great, with an aluminium housing and a durable hinge on the base unit, allowing you to set your preferred angle and it stays nicely in place. Plus, the USB ports are on the base rather than sticking out the side of the panel like on the MSI one I tested a while back, and as a result, it looks much cleaner.

Should I Buy One?

A little on the expensive side, but the overall build quality and performance make it a solid investment for those who need a second display that they can take anywhere their laptop goes. For presentations, productivity or procrastination, having a compact display you can rapidly deploy with a single cable is a seriously handy thing to have!