NEC 27" 2560 X 1440 wide gamut color display

Readers know that I’m quite fond of my wide gamut color calibrated 30" NEC display (read more about wide gamut displays)— when you can’t see the full range of color, you can’t adjust it properly and your odds of printing it well are reduced. Today’s DSLRs have very wide color gamuts, but so many people still think sRGB is fine and/or use a limited-gamut display.

Along comes the NEC 27" display. My evaluation unit is gorgeous— if anything it’s a bit better than the 30" model in terms of contrast, and the color gamut is outstanding (especially the reds). The main difference is that instead of being 2560 X 1600, it’s 2560 X 1440, so you do lose some vertical space in landscape mode.

BUT, if you rotate it vertically (takes just a few seconds), it makes an outlandishly enjoyable way to read a web page like this one, or any site with long pages.

The reduced size screen shot below shows the normal-size display of my blog when viewed on the NEC 27 display in portrait mode. Note the huge amount of content that can be viewed at once. This is simply luxurious.

Keep reading below the screen shot...

For those who want “easy on the eyes”, the page can be zoomed to fit (cmd-+ in Safari), resulting in enlarged ultra-smooth highly readable text; mouse over the screen shot above to get an idea of the difference; now imagine it about 3X taller in real life. Yet you still enjoy a very large amount of “real estate”. The text looks like this when zoomed:

You can preorder the NEC 27" at B&H Photo. It is also carried by OWC (thanks for using those particular links!) In about 1-2 weeks the NEC 27" will ship to vendors, NEC has not started distribution quite yet. Be sure to get the “BK-SV” unit with the bundled calibrator. You’ll also want a USB extension cable and a MiniDisplayPort to DisplayPort cable (Mac Pro users can use the supplied DVI cable). I’ve admonished NEC that they should be supplying both cables. I’m using it with the DisplayPort connector, but I also verified it with the DVI cable (dual link DVI). I do NOT recommend an adapter.

I’ll have more to say about the NEC 27", but I have no reservations about it, and I might even acquire one for myself for the sheer pleasure of reading web pages on it (or viewing portrait orientation photos).