Time to Refresh: LCD2490WUXi

E

Eric Carroll

n00b
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Nov 27, 2008
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Well, its time. The trusty and much loved 21" Sony Trinitron is gasping is last breaths as the high voltage section inches closer to catastrophic failure. An LCD is in my future. Soon.

My requirements are for a 24" IPS with on board color management (10/12bit LUT), two DVI ports, preferably LED backlight, excellent color, excellent black level and excellent luminance uniformity, and reasonably low lag. Cost is not a big concern ($ / hours used is a very small number regardless for me - my professional life is my monitor and this will last a few years hopefully).

If I go wide gamut, I need to be able to switch to and calibrate sRGB. If I can't, I will stick with sRGB. aRGB is attractive but only nice to have if it means sRGB cannot be calibrated.

After much thought, I am down to either the NEC LCD2490WUXi-BK-SV, primarily based on the glowing comments in this forum from ToastyX and others, and the AnandTech LCD thread. Or, the HP Dreamcolor LP2480zx despite the dithering issue.

I covet the LP2480zx for its better blacks, 10 bit support, LED backlight, and switchable modes. But the 2480 has no luminance stabilizer. The potential fan noise on the 2480 is a worry too.

I am pretty close to deciding on the LCD2490, but I noticed that NEC is starting to refresh the line - a LCD2690WUXi2 has been announced with better contrast ratio - obviously a newer panel.

The LCD2490 is a bit long in the tooth now - 2 years I think.

So, finally, the question: Does anyone have an idea of when or if a LCD2490WUXi2 might be coming, what the difference would be and whether it is worth the wait? I can't wait very long, but I would hate to miss the refresh by a couple of months.

Thoughts?
 
The LCD2690WUXi2 was released because there's a newer version of the 26" IPS panel.

The newer 24" IPS panels have wider gamuts, so if there were to be an LCD2490WUXi2, it would have a wider gamut, which isn't what you want if you're dealing with sRGB.

I'd just get one now.
 
ToastyX, thanks for the response - I'm sold. I read many of your reviews and postings on LCDs prior to joining the forum, and your contributions have been exceptionally helpful. Thanks for all the work.
 
So, finally, the question: Does anyone have an idea of when or if a LCD2490WUXi2 might be coming, what the difference would be and whether it is worth the wait? I can't wait very long, but I would hate to miss the refresh by a couple of months.
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It's not coming anytime soon. Only the 2690 is getting refreshed.
 
mlewis said:
It's not coming anytime soon. Only the 2690 is getting refreshed.
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The only refresh they could make would be to one of the new wide gamut IPS panels made by LG.Display as they don't seem to be creating any new sRGB ones.
 
ToastyX said:
I'd just get one now.
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Yep. The 2490 was the fifth LCD I bought and I am finally happy. An IPS screen with A-TW Polarizer has the best imaging stage of any LCD on the market.

Having an sRGB color space, means that I really can't see any difference between color managed and non color managed applications (I have it calibrated and profiled) or when I boot in Ubuntu for that matter. It just looks consistently great everywhere.
 
Snowdog said:
Yep. The 2490 was the fifth LCD I bought and I am finally happy. An IPS screen with A-TW Polarizer has the best imaging stage of any LCD on the market.

Having an sRGB color space, means that I really can't see any difference between color managed and non color managed applications (I have it calibrated and profiled) or when I boot in Ubuntu for that matter. It just looks consistently great everywhere.
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you lucky dog i wish i could afford one:p
 
Sathsayin said:
you lucky dog i wish i could afford one:p
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If I was paid by the hour for all the time I wasted on inferior monitors, it would be much more than the price of the 2490. :D

I am just working stiff making a 5 figure salary and this is for personal use, so it took a while before I could justify the price premium to myself, but I have had zero regrets and wish I did it sooner.
 
Snowdog said:
If I was paid by the hour for all the time I wasted on inferior monitors, it would be much more than the price of the 2490. :D

I am just working stiff making a 5 figure salary and this is for personal use, so it took a while before I could justify the price premium to myself, but I have had zero regrets and wish I did it sooner.
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whenever the refurb's start hitting the market widely im gettng one if its around 500-600 are so!
 
ToastyX said:
The newer 24" IPS panels have wider gamuts, so if there were to be an LCD2490WUXi2, it would have a wider gamut, which isn't what you want if you're dealing with sRGB.
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In the meantime, the NEC LCD2490WUXi2 has been released (it's $1100 from NEC's online store, albeit out of stock) and by all indications, it's not wide gamut:
  • the PDF brochure reads "Color Gamut Coverage: AdobeRGB** - 75.2% / sRGB - 96.7%"
  • the Spectraview II FAQ reads "Standard gamut displays like the LCD2190UXi, LCD2490WUXi, and LCD2490WUXi2 are [...]"
  • the Japanese press release mentions "STANDARD" and "sRGB" modes.
 
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They remove the Polarizer from the 2490wuxi2 so if you can find the old version
get it its better then the newer model.
 
This is an old thread. The new version doesn't have the A-TW filter, which was one of the key features of the old version. Other than that, they're not much different.
 
ToastyX said:
This is an old thread. The new version doesn't have the A-TW filter, which was one of the key features of the old version. Other than that, they're not much different.
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I'm pretty sure you know what you're talking about, but the Spectraview II FAQ question "What are the differences between the LCD2490WUXi and LCD2490WUXi2" doesn't say anything about removing the A-TW filter. Is that document making an omission? I did read elsewhere that the documentation can be wrong.

So which is the reliable source for the lack of an A-TW filter in the NEC LCD2490WUXi2?
 
It's actually stated in the FAQ:

QUESTION: Which models use an A-TW (Advanced True White) polarizer?

ANSWER: The LCD2090UXi, LCD2490WUXi, and LCD2690WUXi use an A-TW polarizer. The LCD2490WUXi2, LCD2690WUXi2, LCD3090WQXi and other models do not.
 
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