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At this size I suspect it will be used mainly for those who connect external devices via the two HDMI sockets but as it has a VGA port you can still connect it to a PC, Notebook or Netbook and use the 1920x1080 resolution.

The height when vertical is 64.5cm mounted on its base. The width is 47cm while the depth at the base is 20cm before you insert any cables so for those you would need around another 6cm of clearance at the back of it.

The screen is 64.5x35.5cm and the viewable area is 60x34cm, the thickness of it is 2cm. The diagonal imperial measurement is 27inches.

For something so big even with the full back tilt of around 10degrees it is still very stable as all the weight is in the base, a 31x13.5cm 305gram plate that clips onto the base of the unit and is secured by a single twist screw. The total weight of the unit when assembled is a tad over 5.8 kilos. Not having the weight all in the attachment makes it more stable as it would be very bottom weighted if just the screen detached from the base plate.

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This is all the assembly required. Just above this plate are six buttons on the side of the arm and these control all the actions. The top is the ‘e’ empowering button, then the ‘auto’ display, next the ‘menu’ button to control the on screen display, next is the ‘<’ and then the ‘>’ and finally the on/off button. While these are marked in the non shiny silvered finish it was a case of explore as while there was a Quick Start Guide explaining this and more finding out how with something like this is the best way to learn.

The leads supplied were the 13amp lead and that fits into the AC/DC adapter and the total length of this lead is around 3.3metres. There is also a standard 15 pin VGA cable of 1.8metres and a 1.9metre long 3.5mm sound cable.

It does come with a CD-ROM that has in Acrobat format the Quick Start Guide, User Manual and a copy of Acrobat Reader. For anyone purchasing this panel because of poor eyesight they would need the on screen Quick Start Guide as the three pages in English in the printed guide are in a rather small font size that is not that easy to read with reasonable sight.

The rear of the unit has just above the base has all the connections a line of five, two HDMI ports, VGA port, 3.5mm jack socket and the power adapter input. Beside these is the built in 2watt speaker which naturally faces forward. While the output from this is not huge in a quite room I was able to watch a DVD or three with no problems.

I used this with both a notebook and a PC at the 1920x1080 Full HD resolution and it was fine but for me anyway a screen of this size needs more distance than even a 20inch or 22inch display. Of course using it with a Blu-ray or DVD player you are naturally positioned further away from the screen and here I was quite happy with the picture quality. There was plenty of contrast available but little extra brightness from the default settings.

If you use it via HDMI you do not need the sound cable attached as both sound and video go down the HDMI.

While there are two HDMI as well as VGA certain PC’s come only with a Digital connector and having this might have given extra options. So do check what you have before embarking on this purchase.

Doing my Internet searches found the Acer 273HL available from the link below for £378.78.

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Acer_S273HLbmii_Ultra_Thin_Monitor_989523.html

http://www.acer.co.uk/