The Intel Extreme Masters in Katowice, Poland is the prototypical esports event: massive screens replaying crisp headshots, a huge arena with a screaming crowd, and (presumably) a few hundred thousand Polish złoty worth of on-stage pyrotechnics. But I wasn't there for the love of the game: I was there for the hardware.
As exciting as watching IEM’s Counter-Strike 2 pros go head-to-head is – and even as someone who has historically been pretty ambivalent about esports in general, it is genuinely exciting to watch live – my focus was on the kit those competitors were using. In order to prevent any unfair advantages, the players must compete on standardized displays, and in the case of IEM Katowice, the official monitor of the event is the Zowie XL2586X+.
