The Samsung Syncmaster 275T has a low-keyed design esthetic that most people would describe as utilitarian or understated. The 27" monitor is housed in a simple black plastic frame that looks just as nice sitting on a desk as it would hanging from a wall in an office or living room. Thankfully, there isn't a single square inch of glossy black plastic anywhere on it. I don't know about you, but I've found glossy black plastics don't hold up to use very well. If it isn't the eternal struggle against fingerprints and smudging, it's microscopic scratches from trying to buff out the former.

Looking at the front of the Syncmaster 275T we see the screen is nicely framed by a simple, flat, 20mm wide bezel of non-glossy black plastic. The control buttons are black with white lettering that makes them legible in low light, and the power button is ringed in chrome and the power symbol back-illuminated with a blue LED.

The control panel has all the major keys at finger's ready - menu, magicbright, brightness, source select, auto adjust and Picture-in-Picture. MagicBright has preset scenarios for internet, gaming, text, sports, movie, custome or dynamic content.

The Samsung logo is silk screened in a not very distracting light gray at the center of the display. I've seen a few LCDs that have really flashy lights around the keys or a logo that just stands out too much, and I find this distracting when watching a moving on the screen or doing work. Understated is the way to go.

Along the left hand side of the screen, and set back about 90mm from the edge are two USB2.0 ports and the Component Input jacks (Y,Pb, Pr). The monitor-based USB ports are pretty convenient, if you know they are there in the first place, and you have space to rotate the screen around to gain access to them. Another potential sticky point arises with bulky USB thumb drives - the two USB ports are stacked too closely.

The rear of the Samsung Syncmaster 275T is pictured here. The panel measures 48mm thick at the edge, but increases to about 80mm thickness towards the center where the ports and power supply are located. The two side USB jacks (at right) are set back 90mm from the edge which makes them a little hard to reach at times. It's impossible to see if any USB devices is currently plugged in. Good for when you're watching a movie, not so great for work if you constantly swap out USB keys like we tend to do.