NEC LCD3090WQXi review

NEC's LCD3090WQXi is a high-end 30in monitor that’s a grade above the likes of Apple’s 30in Cinema HD Display and Dell’s UltraSharp 3008WFP.

Both the Apple and Dell monitors have proved popular recently, since price cuts have placed them in the reach of most creatives. The specs and price of the LCD3090WQXi are closer to Eizo’s FlexScan SX3031W though.

Thirty-inch displays offer higher resolutions than smaller displays: NEC’s LCD3090WQXi supports 2,560 x 1,600 resolution – 78 percent more than the 1,920-x-1,200 resolution offered by 23in to 26in monitors. This gives you much more screen space, and also allows you to work on HD footage at full resolution.

NEC’s LCD3090WQXi is pricier than Apple or Dell’s monitor, but this is explained by the much better colour reproduction and accuracy it offers. Behind this are some sophisticated technologies providing a wide colour gamut. There’s an IPS LCD panel, and a 12-bit LUT (Look Up Table) to ensure that the colour output by your graphics card is correctly translated for output through the panel.

We tested the LCD3090WQXi using an X-Rite i1Display2 monitor calibrator. We found it to have a gamut on a par with the Eizo’s FlexScan SX3031W – and way larger than Apple or Dell’s displays. It was also a match for the SX3031W for colour accuracy. Both before and after calibration, NEC’s monitor delivered excellent representation of our test images – bright colours were vibrant and subtle shades were smoothly shown.

The monitor also has some innovative functions. There’s Auto Luminance, which uses a sensor on the front bevel to check the ambient light in your room. It then adjusts the backlight of the display to compensate. There’s also ColorComp technology to feedback and fix slight variations in colour uniformity across the panel.