NEC MultiSync 24WMGX3 review

The life of a technology journalist is fraught with dangers. From losing your soul to corporate PRs to being crushed under the weight of obsolete products stacked around the kit cupboard; it's a tough life.

The biggest danger though is when you get to use products that would ordinarily be way out of your price range but that you come to love and fear the day they have to be sent back. To the people at NEC then I say this: from my cold, dead hands.

That is the only way you're wresting this lovely slice of pixel-perfect panel from my desk.

Expensive

At £650 it's a hell of a lot of cash, especially in these days when the global economy is getting mentioned everywhere. And particularly when you can pick up equivalent sized screens for a fraction of the cost.

But you have to remember that your monitor is the one component that you're using every single time you do anything with your PC, so it's well worth spending the money making sure it's a decent one.

Because no matter how fast your processor you see, no matter how many ROPs your GPU is sporting, you're not getting the best out of them in general computing use such as editing a document or browsing the web, both simple operations that are always improved by a quality panel.

Basically everything you do with your machine is improved by a quality panel like this new beauty from NEC.

The perfect size

At 24" it's hitting the sweet-spot in terms of size; you really don't want to be messing around with anything under 22" these days and the extra screen real estate and full HD resolution options the 24" panels offer is a definite boon.

The 24WMGX3 is designed to be the ultimate, high-end 24" monitor and that's largely down to the imaging technology powering it.

Thanks to the Advanced Multi-Domain Vertical Alignment (A-MVA) panel technology the viewing angle on this screen is incredible, with the colours remaining as crisp and vibrant side on as they are when you're sat right in front of it.

This makes it the perfect bedroom companion for your high definition videos and a quite beautiful vista for gaming. The picture response is excellent and so is the colour quality, with deep blacks and vibrant greens and reds.

It's a big one

In fact our only problem with this gorgeous monitor is the surrounds itself. From the front it's fine - and given that's the angle you'll be most often looking at it's not much of a gripe - but it really is a chunky beast with a base that stretches back the same distance as an old CRT stand.

The wealth of input connections is set in a functional area at the side, with the very industrial look you get from digital signage. But as I said it's the front you'll be looking at and believe me, it's going to take a lot to drag your eyes away from it.

Which is lucky considering that it's pretty much the most expensive 24" panel on the market. It is a beautiful screen though, and one that we are going to be most jealously protective of when NEC come to reclaim it. If you can possibly afford the outlay this panel will be pleasing your eyes for years to come.