NEC EA244WMi 24" IPS LED Monitor

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agentk7

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MaximumPC reported on a new monitor from NEC that I didn't see any mention of in the forum. Here's a snippet from the NEC website:

The 24” NEC MultiSync EA244WMi is an LED-backlit desktop monitor ideal for corporate environments. Designed to enhance work performance, this widescreen model features IPS panel technology with wide viewing angles (178° horizontal/vertical) and ergonomic adjustability. The LED backlighting of the EA244WMi allows for a slimmer profile, lighter weight and increased power savings compared to previous generation models. ControlSync™ technology allows users to control up to six EA244WMi displays in a multi-monitor configuration. Upon establishing one unit as the master, users are able to control many performance attributes of the multi-monitor setup in unison through the single monitor. Smart sensing technology automatically detects your work conditions to determine the proper display brightness with ambient light and human sensors, while a comprehensive input panel, including HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI-D, VGA and 4-port USB hub, connects users to the latest peripherals and future-proofs the investment.

Source: http://www.necdisplay.com/p/ea244wmi-bk
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Here is the Maximum PC mention.

As the MSRP is expected to be about US $349 according to MaximumPC, it would seem to be in direct competition with Dell's U2412, especially based on general specs.

I'm looking to upgrade my Dell 2209WA with a 1920x1200 24" monitor and was pretty much planning on waiting for the U2412 to go on sale direct from Dell, but this monitor announcement gives me pause.

Anyone have any take on this?
 
I like NEC better but they are probably both e-IPS and W-LED and as you stated very similar. Pick your favorite OSD, I guess. Here is a review of the U2412 NEC business class is usually without much OD and/or some extra input lag. But both EA series and Dell U class are averaging 8-12ms input lag. For me it would come down to panel AG coating. If Dell is using the thick stuff I'd stay far away.
http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/review/2011/review-dell-u2412m.html
 
It's potentially interesting. It depends a lot on what type of AG coating it uses. Usually with business monitors, they slather it on rather heavily.

A semigloss/light coating + 8 bit would be nice, but that probably is asking for too much. Did LG ever update their s-rgb panel at 24", 16:10? If not, I'd guess they are using the same exact panel as the 2412.

My wish list would be this size, 8 bit + glossy/semiglossy AG + no PWM + proper stand + A-TW polarizer + better than avg. contrast (1200:1 or higher). It could be doable in the IPS world, but nobody seems to want to make it.
 
Looks very interesting. Hopefully it doesn't have super bright IPS glow like the u2412m.
 
There are going to be a couple (okay, at least two) new 1200ps upcoming, the dell 2413 and I believe Asus just announced an update too -- both wide gamut, so expect they are using the same exact panel.

What I wonder is if the s-rgb version of the same size panel has been updated too, and if it's using a lighter coating. If all 24", 16:10 sRGBs (IPS flavor), are using the same exact panel (such as on the 2412), then we may be doomed to a heavy coating.
 
Any additional news on what the coating is like on this NEC?
NEC's site gives very little contact information.
Thank you.
 
This monitor is slowly starting to appear online for sale. I think I found what might be the first real review of the monitor, although it's barely more then what's in the marketing brief:

http://www.macworld.co.uk/digitallifestyle/reviews/?reviewid=3425752

Also, in the Any semi-gloss 24" IPS yet? thread, there is mention that there is less agressive AG coating:

willow said:
Regarding the AG coating on the new NEC EA244WMi , here's what Art Marshall, NEC Product Manager & frequenter of these forums, PM'd me:

Hey there! The EA244WMi has a much better IPS panel with a much less aggressive AG coating. I think you'll like it - it's a good improvement over the previous generation of panels.

-- Art
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NewEgg has this monitor in stock for US$389, another site Provantage.com (not familiar with them) has it for $352. I'm tempted to buy this, but I'd prefer to see some more reviews first.
 
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agentk7 said:
NewEgg has this monitor in stock for US$389, another site Provantage.com (not familiar with them) has it for $352. I'm tempted to buy this, but I'd prefer to see some more reviews first.
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I am the same way. Ready to pull the trigger for 3 of them at Newegg (2 of them are cheaper than the one 24" I have now ;_;) but I still want to see some solid reviews first.
 
I got one for the review. First surprise - it's SEMI-GLOSSY (or semi-matte, what do u prefer). Just like Samsung S24A850DW (PLS) or Dell U2713HM. And it's very price competitive (here in Czech rep.), cheaper than Eizo EV2436 and little bit cheaper than HP ZR2440w.

I will finish review in couple of days.
 
ufoncz said:
I will finish review in couple of days.
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Well, I'll be looking forward to it!

Please look into the aspects mentioned in negative feedback that has already surfaced among some [H] users. Like this:

U53r said:
Yea I bought one too but I'm regretting it, the color's dont have the pop of a nice IPS display they're kinda dull and thats at 85% brightness, any lower and I find they get really dull and everything just looks dull, the light bleed and ips glow is really bad and it completely ruins dark scenes in videos and games.

I find text isnt very sharp either and thats after playing with cleartype. Its missing a panel rotation stop so you just have to guess at where it's level so it never really is unless you put a level on it.

The panel is not properly set along the top bezel and if you touch it it cracks and pushes away from the bezel.
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I've just finished all the tests, now "just" to write the review.

the color's dont have the pop of a nice IPS display they're kinda dull and thats at 85% brightness
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? The colors are very accurate to sRGB in factory setting (avg. dE < 3), with ICC profile is avg. dE < 2,8. Best results with R100, G96 and B97. Contrast ration is more than 1200:1 in the range from 8 to 350 cd/m2 (and this is very good for IPS)

I find text isnt very sharp either and thats after playing with cleartype
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Right now I have EA244WMi right next to HP ZR24w and the sharpness is totally equal.

Its missing a panel rotation stop
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It's true and it's typical feature of more expensive models.

The panel is not properly set along the top bezel and if you touch it it cracks and pushes away from the bezel.
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Not in my case, maybe that user had totally bad unit. I think that quality control of the cheapest lines of NEC is similar to other brands (read: near zero). You can't await panel uniformity for this price and there is always chance for backlight bleeding. In the case of my sample there is little backlight bleeding and the uniformity is little bit worse than in the case of (one concrete) tested HP ZR2440w. But still better than in the case of Samsung S24A850DW.

There is PWM regulation and it's little bit tricky. If my osciloscope tell me truth, switch to the User or Color temperature color mode. PWM runs at 266 Hz there. In the modes called Native, sRGB and Programmable PWM runs at 90 Hz.

Dithering tests seems to be similar like 8-bit panels, but there is light effect of "snowing" in the dark gray areas. I'm not totally sure, but I think it's FRC. So probably 6-bit + FRC.
 
I'm really curious about this monitor's gaming performance, do you have a way to test its input lag?

Much appreciated.
 
ufoncz said:
I've just finished all the tests, now "just" to write the review.



? The colors are very accurate to sRGB in factory setting (avg. dE < 3), with ICC profile is avg. dE < 2,8. Best results with R100, G96 and B97. Contrast ration is more than 1200:1 in the range from 8 to 350 cd/m2 (and this is very good for IPS)



Right now I have EA244WMi right next to HP ZR24w and the sharpness is totally equal.



It's true and it's typical feature of more expensive models.



Not in my case, maybe that user had totally bad unit. I think that quality control of the cheapest lines of NEC is similar to other brands (read: near zero). You can't await panel uniformity for this price and there is always chance for backlight bleeding. In the case of my sample there is little backlight bleeding and the uniformity is little bit worse than in the case of (one concrete) tested HP ZR2440w. But still better than in the case of Samsung S24A850DW.

There is PWM regulation and it's little bit tricky. If my osciloscope tell me truth, switch to the User or Color temperature color mode. PWM runs at 266 Hz there. In the modes called Native, sRGB and Programmable PWM runs at 90 Hz.

Dithering tests seems to be similar like 8-bit panels, but there is light effect of "snowing" in the dark gray areas. I'm not totally sure, but I think it's FRC. So probably 6-bit + FRC.
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You must have gotten really lucky or gotten sent a reviewer unit because I've had 2 of them and the first is just OK, the second was complete garbage and had terrible contrast, was not able to reproduce light shades of violet/purple and had really dull color.

I'm betting you'rs is loose at the top bezel too, its most noticeable in the top left corner, go press it gently I'm guess it will move.

The rotation stop is most certainly not a feature of more expensive montiors, every monitor I have seen with panel rotation has had a stop and there is no excuse for it not being there.

Based on my experience with 2 of these your results will not match the average panel in this model, I wish I got one like you did.
 
simon311A said:
I'm really curious about this monitor's gaming performance, do you have a way to test its input lag?

Much appreciated.
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I've no way of measuring input lag but visually it seems good, I don't notice any input delays, ghosting or artifacts.
 
ufoncz said:
There is PWM regulation and it's little bit tricky. If my osciloscope tell me truth, switch to the User or Color temperature color mode. PWM runs at 266 Hz there. In the modes called Native, sRGB and Programmable PWM runs at 90 Hz.
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ufoncz, do you know how this PWM compares to the Samsung S24A850DW? Sorry that this is sort of off topic, but I think I might go for the Samsung model since it's probably the only other semi-glossy 1920x1200 screen that is still within a manageable price range and not too professional like the U2413, for instance. This NEC screen has my attention too, but the lack of the monitor stop kind of weirds me out. I think I would not like it. Anyway, do you know the PWM situation on the S24A850DW? Is it worse than this NEC model? Similar? Better?

Thank you
 
That review makes this monitor seem really good! Just worried about input lag, only thing stopping me at this point.
 
ufoncz, do you know how this PWM compares to the Samsung S24A850DW?
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Samsung S24A850DW doesn't use PWM for brightness regulation (there's linear regulation of DC - without flickering). But to be honest, 266 Hz PWM (NEC EA244WMi) is not that bad, many monitors have about 183 Hz (and it could be still ok for many people - all depends on sensitivity of concrete man).

Try to read my verdict (last chapter), hope I described the situation in 24inch models with IPS/PLS completely.
 
I'm looking to buy 2 monitors, primarily for web design and development... with some gaming thrown into the mix. I'm considering between this NEC, Dell U2413, Samsung S24A850DW, and Samsung S24A650D (MVA 1080p).

Anybody have any insight into what would be the better buy?
 
If someone has this can they please post a pic of the IPS glow of this monitor, if you have any.
 
Yeah, i read your excellent review, but i wish to know if this high frequency PWM would bother me. That is, how is the performance of this PWM in the screen. When you look at the screen you feel it is flickering? If you do the shaking hand test you can see the strobo effect? How do you feel this monitor in terms of flickering comparing with flicker free monitors like Viewsonic VP2770, new Dell's 2713/2413 and Eizo EV2736?
 
Posivive "hand shaking test" doesn't mean it will be bad monitor for you. It's so individual. I (personally) don't have headache or similar problems with the monitors with PWM @ 180 Hz. But there certainly are people which do.
 
My EA244WMi arrived. It basically does everything that I expected it to.

Semi-glossy. Great colors, high contrast ratio. My unit has barely any backlight bleed. IPS glow is there, but I'm not sure there are any IPS monitors out at the moment that do any better.

I believe it is 6-bit + FRC, but it does gradients much better than my old Asus VS239H-P. 6-bit also means lower input lag, to my understanding. I have no way of measuring the input lag, but seems to be <16ms.

jojo2013, 4a flickers.
 
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You don't see pinkish/blue tint on corners with white background? did you move the browser around for the pixel-walk test? only 4a flickers? Go to http://www.rage3d.com/board/forumdisplay.php?f=2 at the bottom left corner select Dark Rage. Do you see any flicker on the page? For me I see it a bit everywhere, but it's very noticeable in light gray like all the way on the bottom of the page. I'm using the monitor at 60% brightness.
 
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I'm pretty sure I'm going to be keeping this monitor. The biggest thing that bothers me about it is that the right side of the monitor has weaker backlighting, but it's not a massive difference.

For those sensitive to PWM, Benq just announced a 16:10 PWM-free IPS.
 
Looking for an awesome 24 inch monitor for gaming but an IPS Panel with awesome colors.
 
How doe sthis monitor compare to the Dell 24 or the ASUS PA248Q Black 24.1" 6ms (GTG) HDMI Widescreen LED Monitor 300 currently 289 at newegg w/promo
 
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