NEC monitors worth the extra money?

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Apr 14, 2011
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I have always been curious how good these NEC monitors are?

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Are they worth double the price of DELL/HP monitors? No one local carries these to witness them in person and it doesn't seem like many people own them(out side of professional uses)
 
They are if you own a good colorimeter or plan on buying one with the spectraview packages and intend to use the calibration features for colour accuracy related work
 
NEC monitors are definitely worth the extra money. I prefer my NEC PA301w over my Dell U3011 and HPZR30w because the picture just looks better and it has a lot more features.
 
FWIW, here is my history with NEC monitors (anecdotal evidence FTW):

1999 - bought a 17" flat-screen CRT from the "Pro" line. It worked flawlessly for years, I gave it away in 2006 or 2007.
2000 - 19" refurbished flat-screen CRT from the "one step below Pro" line. Worked fine for about 5 years, then died.
2002 - 15" TN LCD from the value line, still works. Up until 2009 it was used daily.
2009 - 2490 WUXi, still works *knock on wood*.

Meanwhile I also had a Dell 2405 (PVA, returned because of color shift and ghosting) and Dell 2005 (IPS, bought in 2006, used daily, still works).

In general, a NEC monitor will have better craftsmanship and materials. The plastic feels expensive, the tolerances are tight, there is no give or creaking. Given their long life, I guess the internals are also of higher quality (better panels, power supplies, backlight lamps, capacitors, &c.) -- but I did not actually disassemble them to validate this :) Also, the warranty for the pro LCDs is 4 years, 3 for the value line.

Whether it is worth the price premium is extremely subjective, but my next monitor will most likely be another NEC.
 
I really like my PA271W. For photography/image work the added features over other 27" ones make it worth it, as well as the i1Display and SpectraView integration. Very versatile and capable display.

I had an EA231i for awhile and this is really a cut above. Worth the money I paid.
 
I really like my NEC PA-301W. Great features, stand, picture, adjustments, customer service & I'm not seeing any input lag. NEC has a hefty price tag, but it looks & works great. I have no complaints with my monitor & I think I got my moneys worth out of it so far.
 
From the sound of it the higher end IPS monitors by NEC are a notch better. Last month I tried a 27" TN panel from them and while it had a very nice stand, good features and good color (for a TN) there was terrible backlight/edge bleeding on the right and bottom. As in the worst I've seen in a monitor. Could have been just that individual monitor, but I didn't replace it with another to see (bought a Dell U2412M instead).
 
im still using my original NEC 2490 wuxi for everyday needs, i cant believe how well it performed in gaming when i got it, that was an extra bonus cuz i was going to get an extra monitor for gaming.

I have it for almost 4 years now and its still bright with just 30% brightness in the monitors settings, I think this thing can last for the next 20 years if you ask me, but it cost me $1300 when i got it.
 
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I have a PA271 and two 2090wuxi. They have excellent build quality, excellent picture quality, and a lot of flexibility in terms of settings and ergonomics.

That said, the only way to justify the price difference is if you use them for income-generating activities. I had a lot of problems with colors design work, and the hours saved here and there have certainly made up for the relatively higher price of the hardware.
 
The whole market depends on what LCD panel manufacturers have to offer at the moment.

Keeping that limitation in mind, I can say that NEC unlike any other brand is able to convert the best of the available LCD technology into a real consumer product - the monitor.
Top NEC models are universal monitors with the best color quality, functionality, convenience features for all purpose use at home. Not specificly for color critical work.
Depending on your priorities, there may happen to be a close competitor in a particular area (like the Samsung S24A850DW if you do a lot of text work and reading), but the general rule says: NEC is #1.
 
Their professional level monitors maybe, but I picked up one of their consumer e-IPS, and the quality wasn't super impressive. Then again it was a $280 monitor, so maybe it wasn't as bad as I'm remembering.

If I had the money, I'd probably buy the professional level NEC's. For now I got my cheap S.Korean 27"s for $350ea.
 
The certainty that Spectraview's hardware calibration provides is a too-seldom mentioned clincher. Let's say that you have a collection of displays in service and in the closet. How do you do know that any of them is truly calibrated? If one of them is Spectraview-calibrated, there's your benchmark.
 
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The certainty that Spectraview's hardware calibration provides is a too-seldom mentioned clincher. Let's say that you have a collection of displays in service and in the closet. How do you do know that any of them is truly calibrated? If one of them is Spectraview-calibrated, there's your benchmark.

On the contrary, Monitor Calibration is just 1st part of the color management, which is followed by the Characterization of the Color Management Software/Hardware and the Conversation of the Device Communication between the Display and the Printer .
 
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