Ramen noodles for the forseeable future.
Written: Oct 31 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: small footprint, USB hub
Cons: expensive
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| martet01's Full Review: NEC MultiSync LCD1525M 15 in. Flat Panel LCD Monit... |
The NEC 1525M is one hell of a monitor. It offers a 15.0 inch viewable image at up to 1024X768 resolution. The output is analog TFT so there's no need for a digital video card. Additional techno-babble is available at http://www.necmitsubishi.com/products/index.cfm Now let me tell you what I love about this thing and the few things I don't.
1) Picture quality: Overall I am quite pleased with the picture quality. While not as sharp as a CRT monitor, it is still quite good. I have placed this monitor beside a Panasonic LCD50 for comparison and noticed the following. The NEC's picture is both brighter and clearer and the colors are much less distorted on the NEC when viewing the screen at odd angles. Perhaps it's the just the contrast of the black casing but the colors seem a bit deeper on the NEC as well.
2)Base Size/Footprint: One of the best features of the 1525M is its tiny footprint. The base is a mere 6 inches deep and has a neat swivel mount that allows rotation of the monitor both side-to-side and up-and-down. I was skeptical at first but the monitor remains stable and does not tip even at extreme angles of rotation. Also, a 4-port USB Hub is incorporated into the base. Given the increasing number of USB devices becoming available every day, this feature was actually the clincher for me in choosing this montior over a similarly priced IBM. I currently have 3 devices plugged into the base and all have been working flawlessly.
3)Audio: The 1525M has 2 small speakers built into the bottom corners of the screen. There is also a headphone jack on the front bottom left corner for listening convenience. The sound quality from these speakers is slightly better than laptop sound but can't compete with my Altec bum rumblers so I don't use them.
4)Setup: All adjustments to picture (brightness, colors, etc..) are made through a little on screen pop-up box. Six small, clearly labeled buttons are placed on the bottom of the screen casing and allow easy editing. The menus are well-laid out and intuitive. The manual is decent should the user become confused. One thing that became annoying was a little pop-up box that would appear every-time I changed the resolution to something other than 1024x768. This is easily remedied through by selecting the tool icon and setting Resolution Notifier to Off.
4)Installation: Installing the monitor was a breeze. Included with the monitor are a 6' USB cable, a power cord, an audio cord, an analog video cable, and the user manual. If you're cable-phobic the manual contains some very nice step-by-step installation pictures. Windows 98 recognized the new device without a hitch. The factory settings were pretty well-optimized so only minor adjustments were necessary.
Flat panels in general can be quite expensive and this one is no exception. Between free shipping, a promotional coupon, and a 3% ebate rebate (I highly recommend signing up with ebates.com btw) I decided to make the $800 plunge and have been quite pleased. If you're shopping for a 15" flat panel in this price range I would at least consider this one given it's small footprint, built-in USB hub, and good picture quality. I may upgrade my computer pretty soon but I'll be keeping this monitor for quite a while.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 800
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
martet01
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Member: Timothy Martens
Location: Philadelphia
Reviews written: 55
Trusted by: 27 members
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