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As for the design of the monitor, it uses a similarly curvy chassis as the LCD1970GX. It has relatively narrow silver bezel, a stand with integrated cable routing, and a 340 degree swivelling base. It also comes with a built-in power supply with its own switch, a DVI-D (non HDCP-compliant by the way) and a D-SUB port, plus a handy four port USB 2.0 hub. On the downside, there's no pivot function, speakers, or height adjustment.

Like the LCD1970GX the OSD layout and four button controls with four-way directional stick have been carried through to the 20WGX2. The little stick makes menu navigation a breeze. Menu options include six colour presets consisting of a non-adjustable native one, an sRGB mode, plus four defined colour temperatures where you can fine tune the RGB levels independently. NEC has also included the Sharpness and Expansion Mode settings, the latter of which lets you expand resolutions of 1,280 x 1,024 or lower to either fill the screen or to maintain the aspect ratio. To top it all off you can even dim the blue on/off light from within the OSD – a nice touch when operating in a darkened room.

At the time of writing, the MultiSync 20WGX2 will set you back several quid over £400. That’s around £80 more than the widescreen ViewSonic VX2025wm, I reviewed , but is it money well spent? Personally, if I was really into my gaming I could justify the extra £80 for the USB hub, the dazzling glossy screen, the wide viewing angles and the fine showing in the image quality stakes. However, if you’re on a tight budget and hate reflections the ViewSonic may well be a better alternative.

Verdict

The NEC MultiSync 20WGX2 is more expensive than similarly specced monitors, but if you don’t mind the heavily reflective glossy screen, and are hell-bent on getting the most punch from your games, then this makes an ideal upgrade from a 17in LCD or even a CRT monitor. The widescreen aspect ratio makes it great for movies and the 1,680 x 1,050 native resolution across a 20.1in diagonal represents a key step in desktop area. Add height adjustment and pivot for the same price and it would have received our highest accolade.

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