The new HP Omen 27i has lights to help you easily access your ports.

There’s not much about the new HP Omen 27i that you haven’t seen on a gaming monitor before, but it’s packed with specs that HP hasn’t offered so far. The 27-inch QHD (2560 x 1440) nano IPS display offers much better accuracy and color contrast than the TN panels used in many of HP’s previous gaming monitors.

HP got this screen with LG’s 16: 9 aspect ratio (it’s likely to be very similar to this LG model). It features 98 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut, a refresh rate of 165Hz, and a response time of 1ms. It also has Nvidia G-Sync compatibility, so you can get more consistent visual fidelity when used with a PC that has an Nvidia GTX 10-series card or higher.

HP

That’s great. However, my favorite addition to the Omen 27i is not the screen itself, but the lighting on the back of the monitor. Near where the monitor meets the hinged mount (VESA compliant if you want to mount it), HP built a section that houses a light that illuminates the ports. The line of ports (including DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI 2.0, two USB 3.0 ports for connecting accessories, and another USB 3.0 port for routing data and power to your PC) are diagonally mounted, making them easy to access and view. Adding a light to that makes plugging in the cables even easier. Granted, you’ll rarely need to mess with ports once you’ve set up your display, but with most monitors, you generally regret the day you need to change something.

A USB-C port for video (or at least charging devices) would have been welcome, but otherwise this appears to be a complete upgrade, especially if you’ve only had a 1080p TN panel before.

The Omen 27i is available starting today at HP.com and Best Buy for $ 499.99.