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Having a 16:9 aspect ratio IPS panel with WLED backlight it offers 1920 x 1080 resolution and is mounted on a stand that provides a full range of movements. As well as DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort inputs there is also a traditional 15-pin VGA so the 27P1 can easily become the standard monitor in an office with PCs of varying ages. Furthermore, it incorporates a 4-port USB 3 hub.

Sitting on a 205mm square base the screen can be slewed through almost 360 degrees, its spring-counterbalance provides a 150mm height adjustment range from about 65 to 215mm and can be tilted from -5 to +35 degrees. Hence, the user can adjust the monitor to a position that best suits their own needs and then move it to a position where its wide viewing angle allows it to be conveniently viewed by a number crowding around their desk. Removing the stand provides access to the 10cm VESA mount on the rear to cater for those who want to wall mount the unit.

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The 27P1 is 63cm wide and has narrow bezels to minimise the space it takes up on the desk. They are 15mm on three sides and less than 25mm on the lower edge. The five push-buttons (one of which is power On/Off) and the power LED are clearly visible at the RH end of the lower bezel. In addition to controlling the onscreen display the buttons acted as hot keys to select choice of input, up/down volume and Clear Vision which is aimed at providing the best image viewing experience by converting low resolution and blurry images into clear and vivid images.

Conveniently accessible on the RH side at the back of the monitor is the built-in USB 3 hub. This provides a very convenient way to connect both keyboard and mouse and so reduce the number of cables running around the desk and back to the PC. Three of the type-B upstream ports are, as one would expect, coloured blue while the fourth is coloured yellow and is marked with a flash to show that it is a charging port. I could not, however, find in the manual any reference to the amount of power that it could provide.

The features and use of the OSD (On Screen Display) are described in the manual which is on the provided CD. Looking at the available options in this manual makes it easier to set up the monitor to best suit one’s needs. The CD also contains some additional software: i-Menu, e-Saver and Screen+.

It is easy, however, to navigate through the various OSD options -- many of which are the standard ones for luminescence, image setup and colour setup. For example, one can set up Red, Green and Blue colours separately as well as there being Warm/Normal/Cool/sRGB/User colour temperature settings with one of the other options being the LowBlue mode which reduces the amount of light at the blue end of the spectrum which may be very harmful to the eye.

I found that overall the 27P1 gave good colour rendition and a wide viewing angle and that it was easy to set it up to view various types of input from straightforward text in both documents and spreadsheets through to high res. photos. In fact, the luminance Eco mode sub-menu offers a choice of Standard / Text / Internet / Game / Movie / and sports modes while Overdrive enables one to adjust the response time.

The i-Menu software supplied on a CD is provided as an alternative to using the OSD. Also on the CD is the Screen+ software which is described as “a desktop screen splitting tool; it splits the desktop into different panels and each panel displays a different window…”. Unlike the e-Saver power management software, which I think that many people will find convenient for setting up the screen saver etc. timings, I am not convinced that Screen+ will be of interest to many users.

In view of the fact that computer monitors cannot inherently provide high sound quality those keen on music would probably find it advantageous to use external speakers even though the built in speakers are perfectly adequate for skype and similar applications. In line with its business credentials, the monitor has an “A” energy rating with, under normal operating conditions, an operational power consumption of around 30W and about 0.5W on standby. Overall, having a manufacturer’s recommended selling price of £209 the 27P1 and available on Amazon it could well figure on many a short list.