NEC monitor would be great at half the price

---

Product: NEC MultiSync LCD 1990SXi
Website: www.nec-display-solutions.com
Price: £440

---

IN A MARKET IN WHICH 19-inch monitors can be bought for little over £100, it's difficult to see why anyone would spend four times that amount to buy this one. But when you look at the 1990SXi, NEC has tried very hard to sway your mind.

NEC is firmly entrenched in the premium monitor market and its "90 series" represents its high-end general purpose displays. While LCD screens may look equal, some are made more equal than others thanks to varying screen technologies. Thanks to the S-IPS panel in the 1990SXi, this is a business-oriented monitor which is also quite handy for gaming.

First impressions are one of the minimalist design that has been bestowed upon every 90 series LCD NEC makes. The bezel is so thin (12mm on the sides) that if you lined two side-by-side the bezel would be equal to that found on a single Apple Cinema Display. With what space the thin bezel affords, NEC has made an effort to jazz up the control buttons, aligning them horizontally and vertically along the bottom right corner.

For a business-oriented monitor, the attention to detail is astounding. The spring-loaded stand coupled with a carry handle makes height adjustment a doddle, with tilt movement being akin to silk running through your fingers. There's also easy navigation between landscape and portrait modes with the supplied software, allowing for the image to be automatically rotated. Cable management is also very good with everything hidden thanks to a simple plastic cover keeping everything looking smart.

There's no glossy screen finish, which needn't be a bad thing. Although contrast (and reflection) is generally enhanced by these; the 1990SXi doesn't seem to suffer. Thankfully NEC has foregone the inclusion of tinny speakers which do little either sonically or aesthetically.

The minimalist tendencies disappear when it comes to features. Connectivity-wise, the 1990SXi sports two DVI connectors (DVI-D and DVI-I) along with a single D-Sub input, allowing you to switch between three sources through the on-screen menu system. Surprisingly, with all this impressive visual connectivity, the 1990SXi lacks any USB ports.

The standout feature of all 90 series screens is the built-in light meter which adjusts the brightness according to ambient light. In practice even moving your head to one side can result in the brightness being altered. The graduations are minute, coming in 0.1 per cent so, while differences do occur fairly frequently, you'll be hard pressed to notice them.

The 1990SXi also has an automatic contrast feature, which during standard use didn't seem to do anything at all. NEC says this is for "non standard video inputs", quite which input they mean is a mystery. For all these adaptive technologies, the picture remained comfortable and stable throughout prolonged usage.

Like most 5:4 standard format 19-inch screens, the 1990SXi has a native resolution of 1280x1024. With usual office workloads it's a very comfortable working resolution and when shooting bad guys, it's good because you don't have to spend another £300 buying a graphics card that allows you to get decent frame rates when anti-aliasing is enabled.

As an S-IPS based screen there is some baggage associated with the 1990SXi. Viewing angles are great, measuring at least 170 degrees in typical conditions. The downside of this panel is its relatively average contrast ratio, although in general use you won't find the 1990SXi lacking. Black graduations were certainly very good. Traditionally, response times have been a problem with S-IPS panels. NEC quotes a respectable 9ms for grey-white-grey and 18ms for black-white-black which isn't bad but no where near the faster TN screens you can buy for much less. In real world gaming, the 1990SXi coped well in shooters, real time strategy and MMORPGs.

The menu system is fairly well designed although due to the control buttons; which have a touch-sensitive feel to them, being along spread along the horizontal and vertical bezel, it takes some time to get used to. As the 1990SXi is intended for CAD and image manipulation, there is a plethora of colour options and serious users would be urged to purchase a colorimeter to get the most of out this display. Settings out of the box aren't hopeless but colours were warm. For those who want to forego the expense of a colorimeter, there are presets and while they don't compensate fully, for the vast majority of users, they suffice.

In Short
There's no doubt that this display is an excellent bit of kit. It looks good, even sat next to Apple's aluminium clad Cinema Display. It has a very substantial feature list, excellent image reproduction qualities and is fairly good for gaming too. The obvious downer is the price. You can find it online for around £440 which is a huge amount of cash for a 19-inch screen. This price tag sits on the 1990SXi like a sneezing turkey in a Bernard Matthew's farm. As a piece of technology NEC has produced a wonderful monitor but you would be hard pressed to recommend this screen to anyone but the most serious of computer users.

The NEC 1990SXi; good in parts, better in others but only if you can bare the £400 price tag.

The Good
Excellent image reproduction
Highly configurable
Minimalist design
Three inputs
High quality stand

The Bad
Some may prefer a glossy screen

The Ugly
The cost

Bartender's Verdict