NEC MultiSync LCD 1525S

There's a general perception that LCD flat panels are all pretty much the same, and it's something the manufacturers want to dispel. With little room for differentiation on quality, competing on price is hard in this rarefied high-end environment, so there's an ongoing battle to win the novelty war.

The 1525S is a dinky number, with a 15.4in screen delivering a native resolution of 1,280 « 1,024 - not the first 15in panel we've seen to manage this resolution but still a relatively new feature. If this was a CRT monitor, there'd be no way you could sensibly work at 1,280 « 1,024 with such a small screen, but the pin-sharp definition of LCD panels makes it very feasible.

The unit is very compact: the footprint of the base is just 197 « 158mm (W « D), with the low mounting of the screen enhancing the diminutive feel. Being so low, however, it will need to sit on a raised surface to conform to current advice on minimising eye fatigue. For optimising your viewing comfort, there's a smooth tilt and swivel action to make it easier to adjust.

The 1525S' compactness makes it easy to manage: just sit it on the desk and you're away. There are two D-SUB inputs at the back for connecting two separate systems, and also two upstream USB ports complementing the four downstream ports. Switching between video inputs via the dedicated front panel button also switches between upstream ports, so you can use the same USB keyboard and mouse as well as any other USB peripherals with two systems.

The 1525S is manufactured with an analog signal interface, taking its input directly from the analog output of a standard graphics card. This means the analog video signal has to be matched with the discrete pixels on the panel, and it can be time consuming and difficult to set up if a panel has no automatic adjustment. Fortunately, the NEC's auto-adjust function worked perfectly, producing a display that was hard to distinguish from a unit with a digital interface.

Running at a resolution of 1,280 « 1,024 at 60Hz refresh, the NEC's image quality was less vibrant than others we've seen, notably ADI's 9L (reviewed issue 62, p198). Screen illumination was less than perfect, with discernable vertical bands across the display. However, these problems are minor and there's little to criticise compared to most of the competition. Viewing angle was average, limited to roughly 40 degrees either side before colour performance and contrast became unacceptable.

One of the flaws with LCD screens is their inability to handle resolutions other than the native resolution for which they're designed. The 1525S is particularly bad in this area, using simple pixel mapping in lower resolutions rather than trying to anti-alias the image. Running the unit at 1,152 « 864 resulted in a corrupted display with the top of the screen image overlapped at the bottom, so this failing is worth considering if you need to run lower than 1,280 « 1,024 for any reason.

If you want an ultra-compact, high-resolution panel, the 1525S is a competent display, and the dual input, dual USB feature makes it a choice for the power user or systems administrator with two machines to manage.

Author: David Fearon