NEC PA272W Tom s Hardware Review

tomshardware.com

By Christian Eberle

Focus On: NAS

We’ve reviewed a lot of professional-class monitors, NEC's PA272W may be the most accurate and capable

one ever to hit the Tom's Hardware lab. At almost $1300, it’s expensive for a 27-inch QHD screen. But there

are features here you won’t find elsewhere.

Regardless of what your

computer

is used for, it's hard to imagine a monitor with too much resolution. Sure,

you might discover that your graphics card isn't fast enough to drive a 4K screen at its native 3840x2160 in

your favorite shooter. But once you step up from FHD (1920x1080) to QHD (2560x1440) and then to UHD,

it's really, really hard to go back.

We looked at a lot of QHD

monitors

over the past 12 months, each step of the way lamenting that prices

simply refuse to budge. Full HD screens are a dime a dozen. Quad HD will still cost you $600 or more

(potentially a

lot

more), though. For that reason, most vendors are reserving the high-res stuff for their

professional monitor families.

Of course, Tom's

Hardware

readers know that it takes more than just high pixel density for a display to be a

true professional-grade tool. Accurate color, and a high degree of flexibility and adjustability are important

too. I believe that a wide-gamut option is mandatory, and many screens do indeed have this feature. Only a

tiny few, however, include the ability to select multiple color gamuts, white points, and gamma curves (and

then fully adjust them).

Today we're reviewing NEC's PA272W 27-inch QHD

monitor

. It's part of the company's Color Accurate line,

aimed squarely at users needing reference-level accuracy and the functionality to work with multiple imaging

standards.

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NEC PA272W Review: A 27" Professional Monitor

6/16/2014