Color Management: PA241W-BK-SV: Anti Glare Coating / sRGB Mode:

[holograham]

At the present time this monitor seems to fit into what I was looking for; however, I was looking for someone that has had some actual experience with it in regards to graphics work as opposed to people who simply test it one day for a review and never use it on a daily basis.

1. Anti-Glare Coating: I've seen several couple people complaining about this coating which is suppose to reduce glare in a brightly lit room. Apparently it causes a "pattern" to be displayed over your images when working with white, gray, or other light backgrounds under certain lighting conditions. This apparently is a problem on some other lcds also.

How bad is this? I've not seen any pictures of it posted anywhere, although I am uncertain if its possible to take a picture of the problem. One poster suggested just sitting further back from the screen to solve it, lol.

A lot of my work will involve retouching images in photoshop on a pixel by pixel basis or precisely drawing stuff in Illustrator (i.e., 400%, 800%, 1600%, etc..) so I really can't have anything that would visually interfere with that.

2. I've seen reviews that the sRGB mode is really good when calibrated - the only drawbacks being that blacks will not be as dark as you might see on crt which I use. One review said that the darkest black was only off one shade from true black when calibrated. I want to work exclusively in sRGB mode with two different computers connected to the lcd so I am wondering if anyone has any long term experience using this mode?

[girlsfather]

Originally Posted by holograham

At the present time this monitor seems to fit into what I was looking for; however, I was looking for someone that has had some actual experience with it in regards to graphics work as opposed to people who simply test it one day for a review and never use it on a daily basis.

1. Anti-Glare Coating: I've seen several couple people complaining about this coating which is suppose to reduce glare in a brightly lit room. Apparently it causes a "pattern" to be displayed over your images when working with white, gray, or other light backgrounds under certain lighting conditions. This apparently is a problem on some other lcds also.

How bad is this? I've not seen any pictures of it posted anywhere, although I am uncertain if its possible to take a picture of the problem. One poster suggested just sitting further back from the screen to solve it, lol.

A lot of my work will involve retouching images in photoshop on a pixel by pixel basis or precisely drawing stuff in Illustrator (i.e., 400%, 800%, 1600%, etc..) so I really can't have anything that would visually interfere with that.

2. I've seen reviews that the sRGB mode is really good when calibrated - the only drawbacks being that blacks will not be as dark as you might see on crt which I use. One review said that the darkest black was only off one shade from true black when calibrated. I want to work exclusively in sRGB mode with two different computers connected to the lcd so I am wondering if anyone has any long term experience using this mode?

I have no experience with this special screen.
I bought a demo monitor from Quatographic that showed similar issue:
I did not like the coating, so I gave it back and took another Quatographic instead.

I strongly recommmend to go and see the screen yourself.

Another idea:
If you buy as a private person you could buy online at amazon
and send it back if you don´t like it...
(at least that is posible in germany)

Good Luck

[andrewrodney]

I have a PA241W (as well as PA271W) and the displays exhibit no such issues you report. They seem like the other matt like LCD screens (non glossy).

[holograham]

Thanks for your input!

I strongly recommmend to go and see the screen yourself.

Yes, I would like to, but unfortunately I live in the Midwest amongst farms and small towns and cities, where the only Apple related products carried in stores are iPods. LOL, no high end monitors around here. I typically need to order everything from online retailers from the West or East coast.

I have a PA241W (as well as PA271W) and the displays exhibit no such issues you report. They seem like the other matt like LCD screens (non glossy).

That is great to hear! Most of the reviews I have seen for the PA241W have been great; however, I've seem some complaining in regards to the whole glossy verses matte screen debate. Most of the people complaining about the matte screens talk about a "grainy" pattern be superimposed over the screen by the anti glare coating on the matte screens.

Interestingly, there seems to be a pattern to the negative reviews I've seen regarding color accuracy - most of the negative reviews are not using Nec's SV and are instead using a 3rd party calibrator. Also some of the negative reviews are from Europe which apparently NEC markets a slightly different version on the PA241.

[andrewrodney]

Originally Posted by holograham

Interestingly, there seems to be a pattern to the negative reviews I've seen regarding color accuracy - most of the negative reviews are not using Nec's SV and are instead using a 3rd party calibrator.

Dismiss such pieces, they are missing the idea behind a SpectraView.

[holograham]

Andrew, I am curious if you opted for NEC extended warranty program on your PA series monitors? These are available for users in the USA (and Canada) and they need not be purchased right away with the displays.

Overview:

http://www.necdisplay.com/SupportCen...rams/#contacts


Terms:

http://www.necdisplay.com/SupportCen.../BWGTCs/#us_ae


Pricing Guidelines (a Excel document):

http://www.necdisplay.com/SupportCen...ter_US_ESP.xls

I didn't see any actual way to purchase these direct from NEC so it appears they are purchased only through their retailer network - a quick search on Google using the NEC warranty product numbers from NEC's price list revealed several retailers who sell them typically below NEC's list price.

From looking through the price list it appears that the PA241W would quality for 4 different warranties:

1 YR EXT WAR EXCHANGE OVERNIGHT:

EW1-LCDB4-EXON EW,1 YR,20"-24" LCD,NEXT DAY EXCHG,YR5 $166


2 YR EXT WAR EXCHANGE OVERNIGHT

EW2-LCDB3-EXON EW, 2 YR, 20"-24" LCD, NEXT DAY EXCHG $300


1 YR EXT WAR - ONSITE OVERNIGHT


EW1-LCDB4-OSON EW,1 YR, 20"-24" LCD,NEXT DAY ONSITE,YR5 $175


2 YR EXT WAR - ONSITE OVERNIGHT

EW2-LCDB3-OSON EW, 2 YR, 20"-24" LCD, NEXT DAY ONSITE $313

The main difference between the plans being:

"With Onsite Exchange, we will arrange for an authorized service provider to un-install the defective unit and install the replacement product." Onsite, not something I really need, LOL

[andrewrodney]

Nope. The only extended warranties I’ll ever consider is for stuff left on 24/7.