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A little over two months ago, NEC announced new updates across its LCD range. Among these were the new entry-level AccuSync models that have been designed with the consumer in mind, one of which - the 17in LCD72VM - I have here sitting in front of me now.

At the press launch, NEC was keen to emphasise the more stylish appearance of this range and to some extent there have been some changes over the 71VM which it supersedes. The chassis remains plastic as well as two-tone in colour, the back being black and the front silver. The overall look is a little sleeker in comparison to the 71VM, although it still shares many of the same features.

For starters, this is an analogue only monitor so you won’t find a DVI port, only a D-SUB one mounted vertically at the rear of the unit. At a shade under 18mm in width, the bezel remains relatively narrow around the three upper most edges thereby keeping it unobtrusive whereas the stand only offers a tilting mechanism, so if you’re after a greater range of adjustability then this isn’t the monitor for you. However, if you’re looking for a small footprint for a cluttered desk then you’ll find the base’s 18cm depth ideal, although I would question its build quality.

Constructed from plastic the base doesn’t feel that sturdy, especially when you come to fit it to the neck for the first time. The base actually slides onto the neck and is locked into place with a number of plastic tabs, which to me feel a little too flimsy. Once in place though, the base confers enough stability to keep the 72VM steady, albeit a little low on the desk. Tall users will probably end up placing it on a box to elevate the screen to a more natural eye level. Furthermore, a set of transparent hooks can be fitted to the rear of the neck to keep the cables neatly routed.

Alternatively, you can wall mount the whole monitor by removing four screws around the back in order to disengage the stand’s neck. For this purpose, pre-drilled screw holes spaced at a VESA-rated 100mm x 100mm from one another can be found on the rear of the chassis.

Just like the 71VM, the 72VM comes with integrated 1W per channel stereo speakers. These are fed by connecting your PC’s line-out to the monitor’s line-in port (mounted next to the built-in power supply’s plug), with the supplied cable. Once hooked up, I have to say the sound quality is rather good as far as LCD speakers go.

There’s enough clarity to listen to tunes at a decent volume and the low frequency response was also adequately sensitive to bring out the bass in a range of tame songs. The speakers only really suffered from some distortion when the volume is turned up past 80% (via the OSD) or when the music is very powerful and complex. In addition, you can plug a set of headphones in the fascia mounted jack which is a far more practical location than the 71VM’s rear mounted headphone socket.

Moving on to the OSD and control buttons, NEC has largely kept with tradition and stuck with the same five buttons as the 71VM, namely Select, Minus, Plus, Auto/Reset, and Power. This time, though, all are slightly raised from the front fascia and the LED light has been repositioned onto the power button. Menu navigation is self-explanatory and simple because all the available settings are immediately accessible from the main menu that pops up when the Select or either the Minus or Plus buttons are pressed. These latter two buttons also double as direct shortcuts to the volume level. The only gripe I have with the OSD is the fact that you have to shift along the various settings to the exit icon if you want to step out of the OSD quickly.

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