NEC MultiSync LCD2180UX 21.3in TFT review

The people at NEC/Mitsubishi kindly dropped by the other day and left this rather big LCD on my desk. Very kind of them indeed, I thought, and it’s a real shame that they’ll be back to pick it up soon. Anyway for now I’m not complaining since this is the first opportunity I’ve had to spend some quality time with a 21.3in LCD capable of a native resolution of 1,600 x 1,200.

Now, in anyone’s book that’s a lot of desktop real estate and because I lean towards the photographic and image editing side of things, I found working on several open images in Photoshop a real breeze, without the need to repeatedly minimise and maximise them.

Anyway, I’ll come back to the performance of the panel itself later and for now let’s look at the design. Looks-wise NEC/Mitsubishi has stuck with the same overall chassis we saw in the 2080UX+. It’s a rather angular, boxy affair that will appeal to some and not to others. Personally, I quite like the sharper corners and the square base as this makes it stand out from the curvy, moulded look that in the same way has afflicted so many of today’s modern cars. It’s chunky for sure, but rather than looking ugly the 2180UX manages to invoke a business-like, workhorse presence that will no doubt appeal to the corporate and professional markets. Well that’s my judgment and subjectivity will always be an issue here.

One aspect I really like is the very narrow bezel. It’s got to be one of the thinnest I’ve seen at only 17.5mm along the sides. This, along with the black colour, really makes the picture stand out and ultimately a pleasure to look at. The stand also features everything you’ll ever need in terms of movement. First, the display can be effortlessly raised through 115mm thanks to the telescopic, spring-assisted neck. Secondly, the whole stand can be swivelled through 170-degrees both left and right from centre, and finally the clever ball and socket arrangement between the neck and the back of the panel casing not only gives a tilting arc of 30 degrees, but also allows a full 90 degrees of rotation for a portrait view. Just click on the picture opposite (showing the ports) to see the funny angles you can get. However, remember you’ll have to rely on your graphics card’s driver to rotate the picture accordingly, as NEC/Mitsubishi does not include any third party software for this.

As for cable routing, this is probably the weakest part of the stand design. There’s no cable loops and instead NEC/Mitsubishi has gone for a basic detachable cable cover that clips on the back thereby offering channels to loosely retain the cables. Nevertheless it does the job adequately and the cables can be positioned so that they remain out of sight when viewed from the front.

On the subject of cables NEC/Mitsubishi helpfully provide two of them – a D-SUB to DVI-A cable and a DVI-D-to-DVI-D one. No D-SUB-to-D-SUB I hear you cry? Well that’s because you don’t really need one because the 2180UX is what NEC/Mitsubishi calls an ‘Ambix’ compliant monitor. Derived from the word ambidextrous, the fact that this monitor comes with a D-SUB, DVI-D, and a DVI-I port means that you have a full range of connection options. For example, the DVI-I port can accept a signal from either an analogue or digital card and at the same time you can opt to attach another PC, again with either an analogue or digital graphics card to one of the remaining respective ports. In other words you’re pretty much covered for any scenario, so future proofing is well catered for here.