NEC 23" IPS EA231WMi

Well, after weeks of narrowing my choices I finally was down to this monitor and the Dell u2311h.

Elektrodragon's review made up my mind and I bought 2 of these NEC's for NVSurround (I have a 24" Westinghouse TFT 1920X1200 in between them).

I think Dell must have read that excellent comparison as well, because they have a sale going on the u2311h so it is $100 less than the NEC! Yikes. Oh well, that's how it goes I guess.

Anyway, I am very happy with these monitors so far. The quality of construction, the ability to swivel/tilt/raise/go portrait is amazingly flexible. I think my TFT has a better picture, but I am considering switching it out for a 3rd NEC (I will wait until black friday and hope to get lucky).
 
Would you have gone with the Dell if it were that cheap at the time? I just ordered the dell, but after reading the official Dell U2311H thread I'm considering the NEC instead. The NEC is about $90 more and it might be worth it over the dell's QC problems, but if I get lucky and get a good dell lcd then i'll be happy... I just don't know if it's worth to cancel my order.. :(
 
Both of my NEC's are perfect. I don't have the super expensive calibration hardware but I used the lagom and vanity calibration manual tests and each screen looked perfect. No issues with color uniformity at all (solid colors that look perfect), no dead pixels, no gaming lag, no issues (once I figured out how to stop the self-correcting brightness).

Anyway, these are expensive monitors, but perfect so far in my eyes. If I need to replace my middle 24" I would definitely get a 3rd NEC.

However, I do not have them right next to the Dell 2311h, so I cannot compare them. This is where I relied on Elektrodragon's review.
 
the_real_7 said:
does anyone use this forum for light gaming , does it have any problems with the 14ms
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Yup works great for me. I've played metro 2033, BC2, Need for Speed Shift, and Fallout 3 all in triple screen and it looks fantastic. :)
IPS may not be as fast as TNs, but these monitors have exceptionally low input lag at 8ms so I don't feel laggy when I game which really helps!
 
mastercheif said:
Hey! I've been lurking this thread for a while and finally decided to bite the bullet. Should be here tomorrow, got it for 320 shipped on buy.com. Just a quick question. I can rent a Spyder3Elite for a week for ~$40 shipping included. Would it be worth it for this monitor? This is my first "nice" monitor, so I really don't know what I'm doing. Does it need to be re calibrated often enough to justify the purchase of a calibrator?
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I have and use the Spyder 3. Here's what I can tell you - when you are done with the calibration, the software lets you toggle back and forth between no profile and the new calibrated profile. There is very little difference, which is a good thing. If you are editing photos or video (or some such color-dependent thing), I'd say yes, get it. Otherwise, you can set it pretty close without that profile.
 
Those of you who have used this monitor at 75Hz over DVI for a longer period of time, had any problems?
 
jkkhop said:
Those of you who have used this monitor at 75Hz over DVI for a longer period of time, had any problems?
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Only this: if you start a game in a window and switch to full screen, the screen will go absolutely haywire and lose sync. No long term harm though.

If you figure out a way to get 75Hz working without this kind of issue, please let me know!
 
Is it safe to assume that if I'm in 75Hz full screen in a game and I alt-tab back & forth that i'll have that same problem?
 
Yes, that will do it too, but bear in mind that the only way I found to get 75Hz working on DVI was to use PowerStrip. If you get it to work some other way, you may not see this problem. Do let me know!
 
ElektroDragon:

Thank you very much for your detailed review. I had been on the fence about which IPS monitor to choose, the Dell or NEC (I had already ruled out the Viewsonic), but after reading your post, I purchased the NEC.

I had been using a 19" CRT because my vision is bad and all of the TNs that I have tried have been too hard or my eyes, plus, the image quality (color-shifting and the like) have just been unacceptable to me. I really wanted a widescreen monitor though, and more screen space (I was using 1024x768 on the desktop). With the new batch of affordable IPSs, I figured that I would give one of them a shot, and your review helped me choose which one to buy. I ordered from Newegg Monday night with the cheap "three day shipping" and received it yesterday morning.

All I can say is that I love it. It is very easy on my eyes, even at factory default settings. The colors look perfect and beautiful, and I can see no dead/bright pixels or tinting issues. The stand is very high quality, I like the cable management, and at minimum height the screen is at a perfect height on my desk for my eyes. The only changes I've made were to install the monitor drivers from the NEC web site, find a widescreen wallpaper, and change the windows font size to 125% (thank you W7 for making it easy).

I've only played WoW and SC2 on it so far, but both were new experiences compared to the CRT. In WoW, besides the larger viewing area, the graphics seems to be clearer and sharper and to "pop" more. Plus, I can actually read the quest and tooltip text without difficulty. I don't notice any input lag, and the response time seems just fine for the RPGs and RTSs that I play.

Overall, this is a great monitor, and well worth the money. I am extremely pleased with my purchase.
 
Glad I could be of help, Spectrum!

I think you're like the 5th person to go with NEC after that review... where's my royalty check, NEC? :D
 
Hey, so I recently picked one of these up and I'm really liking it so far. But the glow and I think blacklight bleed is pretty noticeable.
Is this more or less normal?:
CavRe.jpg


30Bdi.jpg


uHPdn.jpg


The last two pictures are little exaggerated, but the first picture is pretty accurate. The bleed is even noticeable in the bottom left corner looking straight at it on the black background.

Oh and those dots on the screen are just artifacts from the camera, not dead pixels :)
 
bonecandy, the first picture looks like possible backlight bleed, but the last two look like normal IPS off angle white glow. Do not confuse the two. One is a defect, the other just a limitation of the technology.
In order to measure backlight bleed on an IPS like this, first, don't set your brightness to more than 50. Second, in a pitch black room, look at the monitor DIRECTLY HEAD ON ONLY. If you see white patches at this angle and they annoy you, ask for a replacement. Look at my big review pics for reference from a few pages back. One of them shows the monitor with no backlight bleed at about 70 brightness. The other shows what the off angle white glow looks like (next to the Dell purple glow).

We have two of these monitors, mine is perfect with no bleed, my wifes has some very minor bleed but only in 1 spot and nowhere near as bad as picture 1. You may have gotten a lemon. Try Buy.com, I've had great luck with them and monitors.

Hope this helps!
 
Where does the Samsung PX2370 come into the EA231WMi vs U2311H debate? I saw it in a Best Buy was surprised how thin it was, being a LED.

Should any other 1080p 22"-24" monitors be considered currently?
 
zeroARMY said:
Where does the Samsung PX2370 come into the EA231WMi vs U2311H debate? I saw it in a Best Buy was surprised how thin it was, being a LED.

Should any other 1080p 22"-24" monitors be considered currently?
Click to expand...

Well, why don't you read the side column in the Samsung review at:
http://www.digitalversus.com/samsung-syncmaster-px2370-p357_8191_36.html

Then come back and tell me where you think a crappy TN panel fits in the EA231WMi vs U2311H debate. :D

As for your the second half of your question: Only the Apple 24" Cinema Display, which has some serious limitations such as: price, lack of DVI, VGA, or any other sane connector, lack of height adjust.

The PVA based BenQ EW2420 and VW2420 might be worth considering, but they're not out yet, and PVA tech is inferior to IPS. You're still going to get off-center contrast issues.
 
ElektroDragon said:
bonecandy, the first picture looks like possible backlight bleed, but the last two look like normal IPS off angle white glow. Do not confuse the two. One is a defect, the other just a limitation of the technology.
In order to measure backlight bleed on an IPS like this, first, don't set your brightness to more than 50. Second, in a pitch black room, look at the monitor DIRECTLY HEAD ON ONLY. If you see white patches at this angle and they annoy you, ask for a replacement. Look at my big review pics for reference from a few pages back. One of them shows the monitor with no backlight bleed at about 70 brightness. The other shows what the off angle white glow looks like (next to the Dell purple glow).

We have two of these monitors, mine is perfect with no bleed, my wifes has some very minor bleed but only in 1 spot and nowhere near as bad as picture 1. You may have gotten a lemon. Try Buy.com, I've had great luck with them and monitors.

Hope this helps!
Click to expand...

Yeah, now that I've tested it some more the main problem with this display is the backlight bleed and uneven brightness. About 1/3 of the left side of the screen is very slightly darker and the bottom two corners have fairly noticeable bleed. But, the IPS glow and tinting is light years better than my old two U2311Hs. Actually, the backlight bleed on the NEC is much preferable to the tinting and glow on the DELL.
Anyway, do you know if NEC will accept exchanges based on uneven backlighting and backlight bleed? Even if I didn't buy it directly from them?

I got a really good deal at Amazon ($272 refurb) and I'd like to keep it that way :)

Edit: Here are some other examples of the uneven backlight (grey screen)
93Hxa.jpg


W6Pt2.jpg


mKKU3.jpg
 
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I have a BenQ G2400WD (one of the best gaming LCDs in its time) and I was thinking of buying another 24". Seeing as 24" 16:10 monitors have gone the way of the dodo I have to settle with a 16:9.

So this NEC EA231WMi (an IPS monitor for 289 €) caught my eye. Is it really that good? Good enough to replace my G2400WD as my main (gaming) monitor?
 
I've got three of them and I really like them. You may want to buy/rent a calibrator for them though. Out of my three panels one was spot on, one was just a tad blue, and the other was noticably red.
 
Man, I love NEC. Emailed them about my backlight issues with a few attached images of it and now they're sending me a replacement as well paying for the return shipping of my current display :D. And I didn't have to wait for half an hour to speak with someone in Bangalore who didn't know anything anyway.
What a great company.
 
Raudulfr said:
It'll be weird having a 16:9 and a 16:10 monitor side by side.
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I use to roll like that, but with only a 20.1" 16:10 monitor.. It wasn't too bad. Now I have a 24" 16:9 (Asus) and a 23.6" 16:9 (Dell) and it is so weird; you wouldn't believe how much bigger the Asus looks over the Dell.
 
Wendig0 said:
I use to roll like that, but with only a 20.1" 16:10 monitor.. It wasn't too bad. Now I have a 24" 16:9 (Asus) and a 23.6" 16:9 (Dell) and it is so weird; you wouldn't believe how much bigger the Asus looks over the Dell.
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I posted this a while back in this thread, but here it is again if anyone is interested. My 2405FPW on the left and the NEC on the right. You can definitely tell a difference when they're side by side.

Dell 2405FPW and NEC
 
decided to keep my second EA231WMi after seeing the dells . . .


but my screen keeps going darker and lighter and i turned off all the autos help please
 
ok now remembered set to dynamic ... can someone share there setting so i can compare to mine
 
Hi.
I have read the entire post O_O, and I have success to use the .inf over displayport to get 75hz, but actually I want 72hz.

Since I have an ati 5770 I can not use PowerString to use the configuration that ToastyX puts in page 21
Horizontal active: 1920
Horizontal front porch: 88
Horizontal sync width: 44
Horizontal back porch: 148
Horizontal total: 2200

Vertical active: 1080
Vertical front porch: 4
Vertical sync width: 5
Vertical back porch: 11
Vertical total: 1100
​
So, if anyone could make a .inf to get 72hz (fuck**g 24p!) I'll be very gratefull.

And the other thing is, How harmful for the monitor is to overdrive it to this settings?

I'm quite concerned about using 60hz+ for this reason.

Thank you.

P.S: forgive me if I have spelling mistakes, I'm not english.
 
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Damn, why are there no deals on this and tons on the Dell U2311H? :/

Edit: I sold my old monitor so I needed a new one asap, so I just went ahead and got it through Amazon for $329 since I have Prime with free 2-day. I checked the page a few hours later and they lowered the price by $22 dollars to $307! So I hit up live chat and bitched, and the rep quickly refunded the difference. They say it's a one time favor every time!
 
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This happened after 4 days of use:
img0014oo.jpg


!!! uggg
It's not a cable or graphics card issue, checked all that.

Return to Amazon or RMA through NEC?
 
Which one of 3 DVB-T2 Freeview HD receivers will work best with this monitor and which will put my computer under the least stress.


Nanostick T2 290e’ HD USB £59.99 720p
http://www.ditii.com/2010/09/05/hauppauge-pctv-nanostick-t2-290e-hd-dvb-t2-tuner-for-pc/

TVST200 USB £69.99 1080i
http://www.tvstick.co.uk/products/productinfo.asp?catid=1&prodid=38&gclid=COCigpCAh6UCFc0_4wod31oaQg

BGT3620 PCI £109 not sure if it is 1080i or 720p
http://shop.blackgold.tv/epages/BT3159.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/BT3159/Products/BGT3620


My computer is
Zotac GeForce 9300-ITX
2.33 Quad Processor
4 GB Ram
Jou Jye NU-528i-B Case
 
I bought a DVI/DisplayPort cable from Monoprice. Plugged the DVI end into my GeForce 460, and the DisplayPort end into the NEC...

Nothin... can't get the monitor to display anything on the DP input. Bad cable or am I doing it wrong?
 
Attn: CANUCKS

Best place to buy monitors? I'm a little worried about picking up a lemon and being stuck with it. I see a large variance in price for this NEC anywhere from $270Cdn to $350Cdn in online stores but I don't mind paying a bit more (though probably not $350) if it'll be easy to return just in case.
 
Just an FYI, Macmall.com has these for $223.99 right now. Seems like a great deal!
 
I just received my EA231WMi and was wondering if it's standard for the screen not to start right at the left and right? There seems to be a small gap on mine, almost as if the frame isn't cropping to the edge of the screen. It's just on the right and left though not on the bottom and top. Is this normal?

I'm not so sure about the slight gradient either. From what everyone else said, it isn't really noticeable but I guess I must have sensitive eyes, because it is really bugging me.
 
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