NEC AccuSync LCD24WMCX

NEC's newer AccuSync LCD brand. While not yet up to that lofty standard, the $534.99 AccuSync LCD24WMCX is nonetheless a competent monitor with laudable input flexibility. Be sure to slip on a pair of sunglasses before you fire up the LCD24WMCX. This is possibly one of the brightest displays ever to land on our desktop, and it was not a pleasant greeting.

Granted, with a 400 candelas per square meter (cd/m2) brightness rating, you should expect the 24 inch monitor to shine especially in comparison with the usual 250 cd/m2 to 300 cd/m2 ratings found in this category.

Still, that brightness shouldn't cause as much washed out colors and eye squinting as it did. Fortunately, it's an easy problem to fix and you have at least two options to help you take care of it. The first is via the traditional onscreen display adjustment buttons that adorn the lower front bezel.

They're black buttons on a piano black panel and labeled in a pale white that identifies their functions so that they're nearly readable. Even if you don't have a flashlight handy to offset the screen glare as you try to read them, NEC has printed a facsimile on the page it uses to protect the screen. The display has a response time of 5 milliseconds, a dynamic contrast ratio of 2,000 to 1, and a native resolution of 1,920x1,200 full 1080p high definition.

Those specs make this monitor a good solution for both double page graphics and high definition video and gaming. Just as important, the LCD24WMCX offers lots of inputs : VGA, DVI, HDMI, and component video. Two speakers are integrated into the monitor, and at 3 watts, they're not concert level, but they provide reasonable audio fidelity. Once we had fiddled a bit, our DisplayMate testing found no big problems with the display.

We did notice a small amount of flaring at the very bottom of the screen from the backlighting, however, but that didn't translate into any major defects in image renditions. Both gray and white saturation levels were within expected norms. There was no ghosting or blurring, and colors were clear and distinct, although not impressive. The only concern we had was that the most clearly discernable text was 7.5 points or larger other monitors we've tested deliver crisp text down to 6.8 points.