NEC PA302W 30-inch 16:10 Professional Monitor Review
For users lamenting the scarcity of 16:10 screens, NEC is supporting the format with its excellent new 30-inch PA302W. This premium display has a gorgeous wide-gamut IPS panel and a factory-certified calibration for both Adobe RGB and sRGB gamuts.
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Viewing Angles, Uniformity, Response And Lag
To learn how we measure screen uniformity, please click here.
Most of our IPS monitors look like the above. While their off-axis performance easily bests TN and AMVA screens, they are still LCD panels and are therefore displaying polarized light. To the sides we can plainly see a green shift and around 50 percent light reduction with no loss of detail. From above, there is less change in color, but detail will be harder to distinguish due to an altered gamma. Make no mistake though, this monitor looks great from any reasonable angle, and users will have no trouble positioning it for optimal performance.
Screen Uniformity: Luminance
We ran these tests with uniformity compensation off and set to the third of five positions. Even though it raises the black level slightly there is almost no change in black field uniformity.
Here’s the white field measurement.
White field uniformity goes from excellent to record-breaking when compensation is active. But the real reason to consider using the feature is yet to come.
Screen Uniformity: Color
That .05 range of values is not a typo. We ran the test five times to be sure of the result. It’s not just a little better than every monitor we’ve ever tested; it’s the winner by a huge margin. We can’t imagine this record ever being broken. Still, a 2.14dE result is nothing to be ashamed of. It’s still invisible to the eye. But if you want the most perfectly uniform screen on the planet, the NEC PA302W is it.
Remember that these results are sample specific. Other PA302Ws may measure differently in screen uniformity tests.
Pixel Response And Input Lag
Please click here to read up on our pixel response and input lag testing procedures.
Gamers with $2000 to spend on a monitor are unlikely to consider the PA302W. But it’s nice to know that if you want to engage in a little fragging during work breaks, you won’t be plagued by excessive motion blur or overdrive ghosting. Motion processing is perfectly competent here, and only a refresh rate above 60Hz could improve upon any of the above results.
Here is the lag test.
Gamers with quick reflexes will likely be hampered by 79ms of input lag, but my less-nimble fingers had no problems playing titles like Battlefield 4 and Crysis 3. Of course, all of these games look better on a high-Hz screen with adaptive refresh, but I still had fun blowing away a few computer-generated enemies.
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Christian Eberle is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He's a veteran reviewer of A/V equipment, specializing in monitors. Christian began his obsession with tech when he built his first PC in 1991, a 286 running DOS 3.0 at a blazing 12MHz. In 2006, he undertook training from the Imaging Science Foundation in video calibration and testing and thus started a passion for precise imaging that persists to this day. He is also a professional musician with a degree from the New England Conservatory as a classical bassoonist which he used to good effect as a performer with the West Point Army Band from 1987 to 2013. He enjoys watching movies and listening to high-end audio in his custom-built home theater and can be seen riding trails near his home on a race-ready ICE VTX recumbent trike. Christian enjoys the endless summer in Florida where he lives with his wife and Chihuahua and plays with orchestras around the state.
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Nuckles_56 That is a very impressive monitor, especially with the colour uniformity numbers, they are crazyReply -
beetlejuicegr 30 inch and 2560x1600, couldn't it be 2160p? The resolution seems low for 30 inch monitor.Reply -
fordry06 I think to do what this monitor does, making it a 4k monitor would be incredibly expensive.Reply -
Tom Griffin I wish my 27" 16:10 ASUS monitor was still alive. This monitor not only being cost prohibitive along with the previous NEC monitor review for consumers. But TBH, once you have used a NEC monitor for awhile you never EVER want to go back.Reply -
beshonk Where are all the 1440p 144hz IPS gaming monitors? there's only two on the market with horrible quality issues >.<Reply -
kittle
Actually you can probably game on this monitor just fine.18154240 said:Where are all the 1440p 144hz IPS gaming monitors? there's only two on the market with horrible quality issues >.<
I have the 27" version of this one (PA270W). I play a lot of games and watch quite a bit of netflix with no issues. The color accuracy makes the games and movies look great -- exactly the way the designers and filmmakers intended them to look.
The only issue is it puts out a LOT of heat. Im guessing the 30" one will produce a bit more. -
bit_user
60 Hz != 144 Hz.18170301 said:
Actually you can probably game on this monitor just fine.18154240 said:Where are all the 1440p 144hz IPS gaming monitors? -
kittle
True there. my NEC only runs at 60hz. but gaming and movies work just fine18171250 said:
60 Hz != 144 Hz.18170301 said:
Actually you can probably game on this monitor just fine.18154240 said:Where are all the 1440p 144hz IPS gaming monitors?