Mon, 14 Apr 2008 NEC 20WGX2 Pro Review

Originally aimed at gamers, the 20WGX2 Pro is now trying to get more mass-marker interest. First impressions suggest there’s nothing special about the design. With a thin silver bezel and black plastic hardware it’s not trying to stand out, and the on-screen display (OSD) controls and buttons don’t add to the effect. But it’s easy to forgive the slightly awkward styling when it’s powered up.

The 20in 1,680 x 1,050 S-IPS widescreen panel with glossy OptiClear coating provides impressive output for both static and moving images. The coating adds punch and saturation to the high-quality panel, and you can also switch in additional dynamic processing, which further enhances contrast. The result is that blacks are deep and whites are brilliant. Colour linearity
is also very good – in native mode there’s very little deviation from a perfect straight line, with only a hint of a stepping at the very top of the brightness range.

We did see some subtle flicker from the backlight, but it’s not clear if this was a review model fault or a side-effect of the dynamic enhancement – it shouldn’t really be there, but it’s not obvious in most applications. The mini-joystick OSD is also worth a mention. It’s very much more accessible than the usual button maze, because you can intuitively scroll up, down and through menus. There are also standard quick-click buttons for source switching. It’s not quite perfect, but it’s a thoughtful and mostly successful attempt to make an OSD that works.

In terms of both technology and image quality there’s a lot to like about the 20WGX2 Pro. It’s around £100 more expensive than other 20in models, so it’s worth asking if it’s worth the extra money when you could get a reasonable 22in display for a similar price.

You won’t usually get more resolution with 22in, but you will get a bigger viewing area. If you work close-up you may not find the size difference significant – horizontally, it’s around an inch and a half. But the difference in quality will be obvious, and the 20WGX2 Pro is a versatile no-compromise all-rounder, ideal for video, gaming, photography and web use.