The NEC Multisync LCD2690WUXi is a 26-inch widescreen monitor with some remarkable capabilities that color pros will love, as well as a somewhat slow response time that gamers will hate.

The LCD2690WUXi uses a matte LCD panel that has a native resolution of 1920X1200 pixels. This is the same native resolution found in 24-inch LCD displays, which means the LCD2690WUXi will show you the same amount of content, but at a slightly larger size. If you find yourself squinting at the text on a 24-inch display, a 26-inch display will be a giant leap forward. This unit has a respectable contrast ratio of 800:1 and a brightness rating of 400 nits, which you may need to ratchet down a bit for more comfortable viewing. The 16ms pixel response time is a bit on the slow side for viewing video or playing fast-action games.

The LCD2690WUXi's image quality is truly impressive; NEC claims this monitor provides a 91-percent NTSC color gamut and 93.8-percent coverage of the Adobe RGB color space. (If those terms are Greek to you, then you're probably not the target market for this display, something that you may also ascertain from its price tag.) The large palette of the LCD2690WUXi makes it an ideal display for both print and video professionals. To further sweeten images, NEC uses ColorComp and GammaComp to ensure color accuracy; ColorComp produces uniform white levels across the entire display panel, while GammaComp uses a 12-bit lookup table to select 16.7 million colors from an available palette of 68.5 billion colors. GammaComp is also user-programmable.

The NEC Multisync LCD2690WUXi is mounted on a stand that offers height, tilt and swivel options. It also supports rotation between landscape and portrait modes, but the included software doesn't automatically detect rotation so you'll need to manually tell your graphics card that the image has been rotated. The back of the stand sports an assortment of hooks for cable management, which is a nice gesture, although we didn't find the seemingly random array of hooks to be all that helpful.

Connectivity is provided by three types of video connections: VGA, DVI-D, and DVI-I. The two DVI inputs are HDCP compliant and can work with most graphics cards that include a DVI connector.

Overall, the NEC Multisync LCD2690WUXi provides superb color accuracy and rich, vivid images. Fast-moving images are prone to some blurring, but NEC does offer a display mode that removes some image processing to increase pixel response time. The LCD2690WUXi is a good choice for photographers, graphic artists, and video professionals who need color accuracy at a reasonable price.


Pros: Accurate color, crisp text, good image detail, fully adjustable stand, three video inputs
Cons: Slow pixel response time, strange cable management system

Warranty
3 years, parts and labor (including backlight)