NEC MultiSync EA273WM-BK 27-inch LED Monitor Review

Name: NEC MultiSync EA273WM-BK
Brand: NEC

by Paul Lilly — Tuesday, February 07, 2012, 11:00 AM EDT

Performance Summary & Conclusion

Performance Summary: Let's get one thing straight. Unlike NEC's MultiSync PA271W, the EA273WM-BK reviewed here isn't a suitable panel in our opinion for graphics professionals or anyone who makes a living doing tasks that require the accuracy of an IPS panel. The EA273WM-BK employs a less expensive Twisted Nematic screen, albeit a large one packed with ergonomic features for the work place. Colors tended towards being overly bright and saturated, though black level and grayscale performance were both superb in our tests. It also proved decent for watching Full HD movies and playing games without being annoyed by ghosting or other artifacts induced by low quality panels.

Where the MultiSync EA273WM-BK really struts its stuff is in its blue collar work ethic. Need to view a webpage or PowerPoint slide in portrait mode? Rotate the screen. And don't worry about tangling all those wires behind the display, there's plenty of room to tuck them neatly away in the arm of the base. We also dig the easy-to-navigate OSD controls, though the choice to implement touch sensitive buttons wasn't ideal.

At a $499 MSRP, NEC's asking a lot for a monitor built around a TN panel, and if this were just a run-of-the-mill monitor, it'd be a tough sell. But the MultiSynic EA273WM-BK isn't a vanilla display. The screen, as mentioned above, rotates from landscape to portrait mode, and the integrated cable management scheme gives you lots of room to wrangle that gnarly mess of wires on your desktop. It has a thin bezel, which is a particularly useful feature if you intend to configure your work space with multiple monitors, and NEC's ControlSync technology will save you the headache of setting each one up individually. Changes you make to a designated 'Master' panel apply to up to five additional monitors, daisy-chained with ControlSync cables (one of which is included).

NEC didn't skimp on connectivity options either, giving the EA273WM-BK a certain amount of flexibility to grow and adapt to your office as you make changes to your hardware. Green workers will also appreciate all of the eco-friendly features and settings, and if you're in charge of your department's budget, the savings over time could help balance the budget sheet, or at least help offset the cost of equipping your workers with $499 monitors.

In this case, price is relative. Home consumers can get more bang for their buck by shopping smaller screen IPS monitors or lower priced TN panels of the same size, but they're not the target audience here. NEC's MultiSync EA273WM-BK is intended for enterprise consumers, and if that's who you are, this is a featured-packed business expense worth exploring.


27 inches of real estate Flexible base/stand that supports 130mm of height adjustment, tilt, swivel, and rotate (landscape and portrait) Easy to navigate the OSD controls Loaded with eco-friendly features Excellent cable management	Produces sometimes overly bright and saturated images Expensive for a TN panel 1920x1080 resolution doesn't take advantage of all that screen real estate