20WMGX2 Comparisons

I recently got a 20WMGX based on the comments on this forum, and I thought I'd share some comments about the monitor.

I'm not going to reiterate the reviews I've seen on this site, save to say that I generally agree with them. The NEC has very vivid colors, and a very clear presentation. It's also extremely well-built, and uses materials commensurate with its $600+ pricetag.

I've owned a bunch of other LCDs, so I'm going to make some quick comparisons which, hopefully, somebody will find useful:

MacBook LCD: This is of course a one-sided comparison, but it does highlight some useful points. The NEC has a generally similar presentation to the glossy LCD in the MacBook. Both have vivid colors and a clarity that stems from the glossy coating. The similarity is nice, because the NEC is my external monitor for the MacBook. Of course, the AS-IPS in the NEC outperforms the TN-panel in the MacBook in pretty much every metric.

HP L2335: I had an L2335 for about a week while shopping around for monitors. It's a very good, all-around LCD. Good color balance and reasonable blacks. Compared to the NEC, its clear that both are on the same part of the technology tree. The NEC is brighter, more vivid, and has deeper blacks. Whites are substantially better on the NEC, and text is much cleaner. On the other hand, the deepest black shades are better-controlled on the HP. On xtnight's grayscale tester: http://xtknight.atothosting.com/tools/blacktest.htm, I can see all the steps in the scale on both monitors, but the first ten steps seem better distributed on the L2335.

Intel Mac 20": The presentation of this LCD is very similar to the L2335, which makes sense given that they are from the same family of panels. The newer panel in the iMac is brighter than the L2335, and its text rendering is cleaner. Color quality is similar. In fares similarly to the L2335 in comparison with the NEC, though the NEC's text rendering is clearer still than the iMac's.

Dell 2405FPW: I owned the 2405 for a year and a half. It's a good monitor, but it has some substantial flaws. It's washed-out in comparison with the L2335 and the NEC. The wash-out at small angles is a very annoying effect, especially when I ran with a solid-brown background, which resulted in the edges of the monitor appearing a very different color than the center. It has an overly-strong backlight, like the NEC, but it doesn't respond as well to reduced brightness settings. Whites yellow substantially at lower brightness settings. On the other hand, the Dell has better blacks than any of the panels mentioned above.

The one thing I've noticed comparing these LCDs is that glossy LCDs are awesome. I spend all day staring at text, and the elimination of the matte coating just gets rid of a layer of haze that reduces text sharpness. Yes, they act like mirrors in poor lighting conditions, but with the indirect incandescent lighting in my office area, they look great.

In summary, the 20WMGX2 is definitely worth its price-tag. Yes, you can get get 30% more pixels for just $100-$200 more, but the quality probably won't compare.

Thanks for the review. I'd still like to see this monitor VS a decent CRT in a dark gaming/movie situation.

The advanced DVM feature is what I'm particularly interested in:


I'm certain that it still doesn't compare to a CRT in respect to blacks, but advanced DVM is a step in the right direction.

Awesome, thanks for your review. I was kinda iffy about buying the NEC when I could buy the 2407WFP for a little more, but not now.

Edit: How is the 20WMGX2 for TV/Movie viewing from like 10ft away?

The output from the built-in NTSC tuner is decent, though the scaler is not in the same league as a good dedicated HDTV. Also, the sharpness of the display doesn't flatter poorly compressed DIVXs (my Deep Space 9 rips look better on my MacBook's LCD, because I can't see the compression artifacts as easily). 720p HD content, like Apple's HD trailers, look superb.

The screen is perfectly suitable for a few people sitting at 10' watching a movie. You can certainly make everything out and the size isn't distracting. However, its still a 20" screen, and so is smaller than a 24" screen. I personally find the quality improvement worth the moderate loss in size, but if I was just using it for gaming and watching movies, the difference in quality probably wouldn't outweigh the difference in size.

As it is now I have possesion of a new Dell 2007FPW and a 5 month old Acer F-20. I totally agree with you on the glossy vs anti-glare and that is the sole reason I'm getting rid of the Dell. I seriously considered the 20WMGX2 but the cost at the time was prohibitive. I've always been a fan of NEC's engineering..when I was researching to buy a plasma display I almost went with an NEC panel simply because of their meticulous engineering but I went with a Panasonic instead because I couldn't find a place nearby to see a NEC panel in person.While I have no doubt that the 20WMGX2 is the best 20" Widescreen available right now from a technical standpoint..the asthetics kill it for me. I love the glossy panel but I am not fond of the slightly bulging silver bezel and the control button panel that hangs down below. The optional soundbar that is a different color altogether (black) also seems pretty tacky to me. Add to that a stand which shows no design flair and looking from the back it looks like a cheap tv. These things simply don't do it for me....if NEC can put the innards of the 20WMGX2 in a case that approaches the style of the F-20, Asus P201W or even the 2007WFP then I would probably not balk at the price so much and have one in front of me right now.

I'll agree with you on the asthetics. The bezel pictures on the web look decent, but it looked much worse seeing it in person. The good news is that the new 23" model appears to have gone with a solid black design.

Scyles said:

I'll agree with you on the asthetics. The bezel pictures on the web look decent, but it looked much worse seeing it in person. The good news is that the new 23" model appears to have gone with a solid black design.

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What new 23" model? How much is it?

I may have been mistaken, it seems to be a 24" instead of 23". Also, I've only seen a picture of the new 20" with the A-TW-IPS panel.

From travbomb:

Second week of december the 24 and 26 inch will be available

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And here's the black 20" model: http://www.dnn.hu/en/business/professional_lcd_monitors/nec_multisync_lcd2090_uxi_bk

I cannot seem to find travbombs post where he mentioned the price, but I remember the 24 and 26 inch were going to be expensive. Like, $1450 for the 26 and around $1250 for the 24, maybe. Don't quote me on that, travbomb will probably come by and set things right.

si0dine said:

What new 23" model? How much is it?

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I would kill for a 23" NEC with a high quality panel (glossy) and some time spent on style/ergonomics. And above all...a reasonable price.

Well, its already been said that the 24" will not have a glossy screen, so that is disappointing to some and a joy to others.

Dude I just got it for 550... But now having seen it's quality when calibrated right....

I would pay 700$ for a new one if this one got stolen. maybe even 800. And that's coming from a broke guy.

Scyles said:

Well, its already been said that the 24" will not have a glossy screen, so that is disappointing to some and a joy to others.

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There will most likely be a 24 inch glossy in May or so. The 24 inch coming out next month just isnt glossy.

Also there wont be a 23 inch since 23 inch panels have all gone EOL for the most part.