Eizo FlexScan SX2762W review

Where consumer monitors merely have to be good enough, the rigours of professional and semi-professional use demand on-screen colours are picture-perfect, a requirement that often comes at considerable cost. With the FlexScan SX2762W, Eizo is aiming to give photographers a slightly more affordable step up into its range of colour-accurate displays.

At £1,075, the SX2762W is significantly more expensive than its most obvious rival, Dell’s UltraSharp U2711 (web ID: 362749). On paper, however, it matches its rival – a generous resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels stretches across the 27-inch diagonal, and as all those pixels are lit by a wide-gamut CCFL backlight, the SX2762W displays a claimed 97% of the Adobe RGB colour space.

As with its Dell counterpart, the SX2762W’s 10-bit H-IPS panel is actually an 8-bit panel with Frame Rate Control, but it’s still capable of allowing each red, green and blue sub-pixel to display a range of 1.07 billion shades. It goes one step further, however, by permitting hardware calibration of its 16-bit look-up table when used in conjunction with Eizo’s EasyPIX kit – a £125 exc VAT optional extra.

Even without any calibration, the SX2762W delivers sterling image quality. The monitor displays the trickiest of images and tonal transitions with consummate ease, and photographs are rendered with uncanny accuracy thanks to the panel’s superb colour handling.

Testing with our X-Rite colorimeter reinforced the quality of the SX2762W's performance. Gamma averaged at a perfect 2.2 across the brightness range, while colour temperature was just a smidgen away from perfection; a result of 6234k measuring just 4% off the ideal of 6500k.

Colour accuracy is excellent, and with an average Delta E of 1.2 and a maximum deviation of 3.4 in the blue-greens, the Eizo’s performance is almost faultless. Engaging the SX2762W’s sRGB mode was initially a bit disappointing, with an average Delta E reading of over 4, but uninstalling Eizo’s monitor driver soon rectified matters, with the average Delta E dropping back to an excellent 1.4.

Look to the Eizo’s rear, and the dual-link DVI port is accompanied by both DisplayPort and Mini-DisplayPort, a welcome addition given Mini-DisplayPort’s presence on an increasing number of graphics cards. There’s also a two-port USB hub.

The newly redesigned stand is excellent. You need two hands to guide the monitor up and down, but it tilts back and forth, spins smoothly around into portrait mode and has 152mm of height adjustment. It feels wonderfully solid and sturdy, too, planting the SX2762W securely to the desk.

Power saving features such as the presence sensor; which turns the monitor off when you step away from your desk; and the ambient light sensor; which adjusts brightness to suit your surroundings; are useful too.

The FlexScan SX2762W delivers high-end image quality, but it’s the high price that allows competitors to snap at its heels. Now retailing for an almost-affordable £700 inc VAT, Dell’s UltraSharp U2711 is just one such rival, and it only comes up short of the Eizo with its lack of support for hardware calibration. The SX2762W certainly has its charms – not least the prospect of pushing its performance even further with the EasyPIX hardware calibration kit – but despite Eizo's best intentions, it isn't incredible value.

Author: Sasha Muller