Philips 27B1U7903

One of those products where if you have to ask the price then you can't afford it, but the quality is outstanding

- TIM DANTON

PRICE £882 (£1,058 inc VAT) from uk.insight.com

Normally I might struggle to write a full-page review about a monitor. Not this time. Every cutting-edge technology I can think of is included here, and the result is as awe-inspiring as it is expensive.

Let's start with mini LEDs. Rather than the strips of LED lighting that normally illuminate IPS panels, tiny individual LEDs allow Philips to provide a far more uniform and controllable backlight. There are 2,304 lighting zones here, and Philips can pump up the brightness to 1,400cd/m² in localised areas.

Without wishing to lapse into hyperbole, it looks spectacular. I've watched the intro to the Frozen Worlds episode from Our Planet to test HDR performance on many different monitors, but this is the first time I've made an "ooh" sound as the sunlight catches the ice. It's no coincidence that the Philips 27B1U7903 is the first monitor I've tested to support VESA's DisplayHDR 1400 certification.

Part of the reason it looks so spectacular is the 4K resolution. When packed into a 27in panel, that translates into incredible levels of detail: at 163 dots per inch, everything from photos to Excel documents looks pin sharp.