Review on NEC PA271W-BK 2560x1440 27-Inch Monitor by Phil Miller

NEC271W is a professional display. There's so much BS hype in the world of displays scattered in the form of insane contrast ratios, response times, memory card readers, 7 different input types including one for your toaster, and more. Anyone who buys a display based on a list of features to share with your friends shouldn't look at this display, as there are many Dell-class displays that give you all of that. If you're a serious professional designer, photographer or prepress where color accuracy and control is critical, this is your display. This is especially important for you if you constantly have to work with different color spaces, as you can switch the display between AdobeRGB, sRGB and native full gamut via the front panel. The amount of control that NEC provides for this display is amazing. NEC lets you calibrate this display to match the white point of the paper used in the printer, and even adjust the CMYK values displayed so that what you see on screen matches what's printed almost perfectly . NEC tests every P-IPS LCD panel used in these displays and only uses panels with the best overall uniformity. Any minor uniformity is factory calibrated and stored in the display hardware. There are no hotspots here and blacks are surprisingly deep, but that's to be expected with P-IPS panels. These are the best LCD panels on the market as they are native 10-bit panels which offer an exceptionally wide color gamut while traditional LCD panels use 8-bit and cannot display as many colors. What people in the professional world might not like is the aspect ratio change from 16:10 to 16:9 on this display. Resolution is the same width as a 30-inch display, but when you zoom out 3 inches, dots per inch increase dramatically, as does sharpness. The compromise is the 1440 vertical resolution, which loses a bit of screen height compared to a traditional 30-inch 16:10 format. That's not a problem for me, but it might bother someone, but in the world of design professionals, it doesn't take much to get their panties into a stalemate. This is a DVI and DisplayPort based display for inputs and requires a dual link DVI graphics card. If you're using a newer Mac, you'll have Mini DisplayPort, but you'll need a full-size to mini adapter. I would normally suggest buying a cable that does this, but there seem to be issues with the manufacture of the cables at Monoprice and you'll find some at Revain. The bottom line is that many displays and graphics cards ignore the wrong connection and everything works. This NEC works strictly by the rules with newer ATI (AMD) graphics cards that cause all kinds of sleep/wake problems. The solution is to use the included DisplayPort cable with a Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort dongle. Check this issue for more information, otherwise use DVI if you can. It doesn't have HDMI inputs, which is good. This display is almost twice the resolution HDMI can support, and it requires an in-display hardware scaler that turns this pro tool into a consumer toy. Anyone looking for HDMI, composite, component, etc. should look elsewhere in the professional or consumer display lines. I can work much better with this display. Amazing colors, viewing angles, sharpness, screen real estate, and a staid bezel not littered with flashy logos are my quick stunning moments, but anything beyond that with multiple gamma and unrealistic controls is pant-worthy as a design pro. I'm in love and it's a great upgrade over the NEC LCD2690WUXi2 I had previously.