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best buy

1 / 4

Our rating

Reviewed price £293 inc VAT

BenQ’s EW2730V is a beast of a monitor: it’s a 27in Full HD monitor with a VA panel, for better colour depth and wider viewing angles. It also has a wide selection of inputs, including twin HDMI ports plus VGA, DVI and component video, both stereo phono and 3.5mm audio inputs, two 3.5mm audio outputs, and a four-port USB hub.

With its stylish design and multiple inputs, it seems to be the perfect multi-media monitor, suitable for use with a PC, games console and Blu-ray player all in one. The only thing we’d say is that it’s worth using an external set of speakers, as the ones in the display are loud, but lack detail and can sound a bit muddy.

Image quality is outstanding, with deep, rich colours and great contrast. With greater colour depth than standard TN panels, objects take on more life, and contrast improves as there are more shades of colour with which to portray detail. In some photos, the display brought out more detail than we’re used to seeing on other monitors, revealing the full depth of the image. It’s the same in games and films, too, displaying every bit of detail in the murkiest darkest parts of an image. We’re pleased to say that while early VA monitors have suffered from complaints of poor response times, the EW2730V’s 8ms seems to be right. Playing games we noticed no signs of ghosting or other glitches. Our one minor complaint is that the viewing angles mean that colour accuracy worsens the more extreme your angle to the display. As such, only the person facing the monitor square-on will get the best picture, so it’s not ideal if you’re planning to watch a film with several people.

BenQ’s menu is clear and there are a host of optional settings, but we kept most to their defaults, avoiding options that processed the image too much, such as the awful Super Resolution option which adds a heavy edge-enhancement effect. Should you want to tweak settings without playing with the fiddly buttons, there’s even a small remote control.

If you want the best image quality and a wide range of inputs, it’s incredibly hard to beat this monitor and the EW2730V wins an Best Buy Award.

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