Why I Adore My NEC 27" Wide-Gamut Display

2010-08-11 • SEND FEEDBACK |
Related: color space and gamut, NEC, NEC PA271Q, NEC professional displays

I previously reviewed the NEC 27" PA271W wide-gamut color display, evaluating it mainly on its photographic merits. I use it as a second display, next to my 30" NEC 3090WQXi.

There’s one wonderful benefit I hadn’t expected:

The NEC 27" PA271W in vertical mode provides a luxurious web browsing experience which is easy on the eyes and just gorgeous to look at.

You can size up web pages (in Safari, hit cmd-+ twice), and the web page fits the screen perfectly, with ultra-smooth and very comfortable-to-read text. It’s so pleasant to read that way— no pixels, just ultra-smooth text. Very, very nice.

If you’re 25 years old with 20/20 vision, you might not care. But if you are 40+ and/or you want to kick back a few feet away and read with no eyestrain, it’s better 'n sliced bread with potato chips and chocolate.

The NEC 27" can be adjusted in height, tilted, and can be rotated for horizontal or vertical use! Try that with an Apple display, unless Apple finally comes to its senses someday on ergonomics.

Below is a reduced-size view of the standard-size view and zoomed view. Zoomed, you still get a ton of reading real estate, but you also get ultra easy-to-read web pages. I find this a huge productivity tool when I review my web pages, especially around midnight, when my eyes are tired.

I strongly recommend buying the NEC 27" with the bundled calibrator (BK-SV model). You can get one at OWC. Thanks for buying there, or using my other links.

Click for a large (huge) image to compare (scroll left/right to compare).

Which would you rather view?
Screen shots from NEC 27" display in vertical mode