So I took a chance and decided to buy it from TigerDirect.ca. It was delivered within 4-5 business days which was part of a free shipping promo they had last week during the holidays.
Anyways, it had the features I wanted (24" display, HDMI, on paper a good viewing angle 176(H) and 170 (V) degrees, built-in speakers) all at a price that was pretty much unbeatable.
It also has a nice glossy look, a 4-year warranty (wow), and SmartTouch controls (which means no physical buttons on the front, just sensors that detect your touch). I think this is my first Philips purchase...But, so far it's all that I hoped it to be and I'm glad I picked this monitor up.
Update: After having this monitor for a couple more weeks I'm still happy with it. But, I also decided to add a few more comments after seeing how many people have stumbled on this post—It seems that there is quite some interest in this monitor.
Not a single dead pixel that I've noticed yet, however one corner (bottom left) of the screen seems to be slightly brighter than the rest—as if it has a hard time blocking out the backlight. This is noticeable when the screen shows anything dark in that part of the monitor. Maybe it's just my unit.
Also, the speakers are better than I expected them to be...But perhaps it's because I had really low expectations (they're not great, but waaaay better than the speakers on my old Thinkpad laptop)
Update 2: Product leaflet is here just for convenience; if anyone wants to look up some specs for this model.
Official picture from Philips...
And my pics of the monitor...
Some higher rez pictures of the Philips monitor (including one of the back)...HDMI cable on the right, power cord on the left...Click to enlarge...
A commenter also posted some of his own pictures, if people want another look...
