20-Inch 2560 x 1600 NEC Monitor Has High Color Accuracy

Consumer monitors make the news more often, mostly because they are in higher number than others, but most of them aren't really outstanding in terms of image quality and color gamut coverage.

That honor is reserved to high-end professional displays, used in image editing, video creation, basically anything that falls under CAD (computer-aided design).

NEC has just released a monitor for graphic designers, pre-press operators, photographers, video editors, etc. It is called MultiSync PA302W and has a screen diagonal of 30 inches.

The GB-R LED backlight is the main reason for the 10-bit active matrix AH-IPS panel succeeding in covering 99.3 percent of the Adobe RGB and 100 percent of sRGB color spaces.

Add to that the 340 cd/m2 brightness and 1000:1 contrast ratio at 44 percent less power than CCFL, and there isn't much room to complain.

Then, there's the 14-bit programmable 3D lookup table (LUT), the AmbiBright ambient light sensor (automatically adjusts the displays' brightness based on external lighting conditions), and the SpectraViewII Color Calibration technology (software and colorimeter to provide automated monitor matching and calibration).

"The PA302W gives graphic designers, pre-press operators, photographers, video editors and other professionals a greater color gamut and even better color control," said Art Marshall, product manager of professional and medical desktop monitors at NEC Display Solutions.

"In addition, users can now update the factory calibration using an external sensor when they have SpectraViewII."

PA302W-BK and PA302W-BK-SV (in black), and MultiSync PA302W and PA302W-SV (in white) will sell from this month onwards (September 2013) for $2,399 / $2,649 (€1821 / €2,011). The SV models are the ones with SpectraViewII.

All four will have DisplayPort, mini-DisplayPort, HDMI and DVI-D ports, plus built-in USB hubs (2 up, 3 down). They will even ship with optional accessories if buyers so choose: Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable, display hood, NEC custom colorimeter, 2W USB sound bar.