 Today I have something to unbox that I and as far as I know pretty much everyone else knows almost nothing about. This is a product that is so brand new that this is the first one in Canada. And I don't mean the first retail one in Canada, I mean the first one. This is the first one in the country. So our BenQ contact was able to give us the hookup to bring this to you pretty early. This monitor actually isn't even going to be available at retail for probably around the end of August, so at least another month. Okay, and let's get started here. So this is a VA panel. It is LED backlit. So between those two qualities right there off the hop, we should be looking at a monitor that exhibits exceptional color reproduction. It is a 27 inch 1080p monitor. So it's a very very good size. So what I found about 24 inch, I personally use a 30 inch monitor at home, and what I found about 24 inch is it's a touch small. Especially for people who have trouble reading text when you have a very high pixel density. So 27 inch was something that I found was a very good balance for people like my parents, who don't see quite as well as they used to. So you've got that same 1080p resolution, which is 100% ready for all HD content, but you've got a little bit more size to it. So it looks a little more blown up. Okay, so let's start with the base. Ooh, very nice. Check this out. So we've got a brushed metal finish, but I can tell from here there's either- Oh, okay, yeah. We have a plastic cover on it. So let's see what it's gonna look like when we remove that, because it's got some bubbling under it. There we go. Ooh, that's more like it. Okay, so that looks like a brushed stainless steel. It's got a very very slick look to it. See how fingerprint proof it is. Hey, not bad actually. That's not bad at all. Very nice. One of the problems I have with brushed aluminum, which this really doesn't look like, is that from time to time you can get brushed aluminum finishes that as soon as you touch them once, indelible fingerprint is on there forever, because the acid in your fingers will etch it. So hopefully we don't have that problem with this one, but it looks so far like the oils are not staying on it. So if you have certain coatings or if you have brushed steel, for example, it's much more resilient than just a bare brushed aluminum finish. All right, so let's get some of the packaging removed here as well. Like I said, guys, I'm flying blind here. I know almost nothing about this thing other than that it's a VA panel. It's 27 inches. It's LED backlit and it's actually pretty slick looking. Okay, so let's get, let me get it assembled on the stand and I'll be back in a minute. So guys, I've assembled it now. This is a premium product, so aesthetics matter, okay? Period, they matter. So let's have a look at the overall aesthetics of this particular monitor. Let's start with the base, which we looked at already once. Now, what it appears is that the base is a brushed metal finish, as is the stand. But what is actually the case is that if I tilt the stand more and more and more, you're going to see, there you go. Here, look at it, look at it straight on. It's actually just a chrome sort of very ultra shiny finish. So what happens is when you're sitting in front of the monitor and you look at it from the front, it appears to completely match the finish of the base, which is kind of a neat little effect. However, when you look at it from the back, you can clearly see the super shiny finish that is this little rectangular stand right here. So I actually like that. It's a nice touch. It's something a little bit different, but it's not something different that's bad, which you see so often on monitors these days. All right, the panel itself has a black frame that is edged by just, I'm going to take this off and then we'll look at it separately in a minute, but it's kind of detracting from the overall look of the monitor right now. So it's got a black bezel, not a super thin bezel, but this is a large screen, likely not intended to be used in a multi-screen environment. Most people don't have room for two or three 27 inch monitors on their desk. So I would consider that just fine. You've got a bit of a silver edge around it. And then on the bottom, you see a thicker silver edge. Now, what this does is it's houses the power button. All the on-screen display controls are touch sensitive here on the side. And then the other thing that the bottom part houses is speakers. So you can see we've got stereo speakers. I love the stealth implementation of the speakers because I really hate seeing them on the front of the monitor. I prefer something that I'm going to be looking at to be something that I look at, not something that I can see it makes sound. So having them down here, even though it's going to hurt audio quality a little bit, I still very much prefer. And let's face it, if you're using the speakers built into your monitor, how concerned are you with audio quality? Buy some real speakers if you want good audio quality. So I actually really like to see that. Let's move around and let's have a look at the back of the monitor once more. So you can see we've got a very glossy finish on the back. In terms of fingerprint proofness, yeah, it's about, I'd say it's about middle of the road. You can see the fingerprint, but you can also wipe it off quite easily, even without a cloth, so that's not bad at all. And I said those were touch sensitive on the side there. Actually, it looks like the buttons are on the back. So that's fine. Having them on the back is okay because you do have that tactile response. So if you were trying to feel around the back for touch sensitive buttons, that obviously wouldn't work very well at all, would it? Okay, let's have a look at the inputs and outputs and all that good stuff. We've got our AC power in. So that's a universal input, 100 to 240 volts. We've got our headphone jack. A line in, so this is pretty good to see. And a line out. So I'm not sure exactly how that works with the headphone and the line out, but it's possible they have an audio switch. If anyone wants to do that research for me and leave a comment under the video, if you guys could all thumbs up so we all know exactly how these work, that would be great. Over here, we can see something fairly obvious. We have two HDMI inputs. So that means you can have your computer hooked up. Well, you could have your computer hooked up by HDMI, then you got your PS3 and your Xbox hooked up, or rather by DVI. And then you can hook up a couple other devices by HDMI. So you have three digital inputs as well as your more traditional VGA input, which I still do find cause to use every once in a while. And finally, there's your USB input because that is going to be powering the four-port hub on the side of the monitor. Now let's have a look at the accessories. So first thing here is we have a little remote. So it looks like we can use this. Hey, okay. Wow, I was even, you know, I was kind of giving it a hard time. I was like, oh, it has a touch panel for the on-screen display. Oh, no, it doesn't. Well, actually it has a remote. So that's a pretty cool feature too. So you can mute, you can change the input, you can use the sensei feature, you can, looks like this changes the scaling. Honestly, I'm guessing right now you can adjust the volume brightness contrast and you can navigate the on-screen menu entirely with the included remote that includes a battery. All right. Next we have the USB cable. So they've included that. You don't need to buy one. Next we have an audio cable. So that'll plug into the back of your computer or the back of your sound card. VGA cable. This is a questionable inclusion. I think if you're buying a nice, true 8-bit, 27-inch, 1080p monitor, you're probably going to be using DVI or HDMI, but at least you have something functional in the meantime while you pick up another cable. And finally, we have a standard computer power cable. So let's see what else they have to say for themselves on this little document that we got rid of. So ultra-high 3000 to 1 native contrast ratio. So that is not a dynamic contrast ratio. That is a true contrast ratio. It's actually, I mean, it doesn't sound that impressive when you compare it to the 100,000 to 1 contrast ratios that are advertised on some panels, but that's a dynamic ratio. So a lot of the time you're going to be compromising on the overall image quality by using that dynamic, intelligent contrast ratio versus just having a panel that is able to display whiter whites and blacker blacks without any voodoo magic. Okay, we've got a true 8-bit color panel. So that would be my expectation for anything that's in this kind of a price range that claims to deliver excellent color reproduction. Awesome to see. We have two HDMI inputs, USB x4. We've covered this dual 3-watt built-in speakers. Yeah, 3-watt. Like I said, if you want great audio quality, maybe get something else, but these will be functional if you just want a nice clean aesthetic like you can see the demo they have here where the monitor is just sitting entirely by itself and has some kind of... Okay, there's a mouse and there's a keyboard. I don't know where it's getting a video input from, but I think they're making their point anyway. And last but not least, it does have a remote control, so you can control all of your inputs and whatnot remotely. Just don't let your little brother or sister get their hands on this because you'll be sitting at your computer and they'll be behind you, changing the input on you every 30 seconds. You'll be like, oh, what's going on? What's wrong with my monitor? You're going to send an RMA to BenQ and they're going to be like, well, where's your remote? And then trouble. So in summary, 27 inches, true 8-bit VA panel, available sometime at the end of August. I should say August 2011 because who knows how long from now you'll be watching this video. It has what would appear to me to be somewhere in between a matte and a glossy finish, and I've actually seen this before and I'm a big fan. I don't generally prefer glossy screens because they're very reflective. If you have a light behind you, it can be distracting and disruptive to your workflow or to the image quality of a game or whatever the case may be. But this is a good balance because you do have some reflection, but it's not a mirror-like surface. So you get some of that extra vibrancy from the colors, from having a slightly more glossy finish, but you don't have quite the same degree of distraction that you would from a full glossy finish. 1080p, two HDMI inputs, and I think that's pretty much it. Thank you for checking out my unboxing and first look at the EW2730 from BenQ. Don't forget to subscribe to Linus Tech Tips for more unboxings, reviews, and other computer videos. One last thing I forgot, sorry guys, is that it does include the mounting holes for a standard VESA mount. So you can just pull this bottom stand right off and you can mount it using an arm or whatever the case may be using the standard VESA mounting holes.