EIZO FlexScan SX2762W Revisited

It has been almost two years since purchasing the EIZO SX2762W FlexiScan LCD monitor and with almost 3,500 hours on the clock, I felt it was time to revisit my original review (included below) and add some closing remarks.

The primary reason for forking big bucks for this display was not only to profit from some additional screen real estate, but a desire to achieve colour accurate photo editing. Not surprisingly, I have been impressed and without sounding like a total EIZO fan boy the build quality and operational ease leaves most other vendors for dead. A firmware update addressed an issue concerning stability upon return from the power save state and an input skip function has also been added. The only minor qualm was not so much with the monitor itself but the EIZO EasyPix colour matching tool software which was delayed several months after the release of Windows 8. That aside the SX2762W has proved to be a dependable and versatile companion in the world of digital photo editing.

Unboxing the EIZO FlexScan SX2762W (July 2011)

In this first review I will be unpacking the newly released FlexScan SX2762W. Though a few good hands-on reviews exist there isn’t much in the way of photo documentation which is the main reason for this unboxing. My previous monitor the Samsung 2494HS has served me well over the past couple of years, though being a consumer oriented TN display its colour accuracy is restricted. First, a disclaimer: as a relative novice to the world of colour-critical displays this review is by no means exhaustive and is intended only to provide potential buyers with some subjective remarks.

Living in Japan the home of EIZO Corporation also referred to as nanao locally comes with the plus of actually being able to afford one of these bad boys, unlike in Australia where the retail price amounts to well – price gouging? Though in fairness any large electronic retailer in Tokyo no doubt holds a stock level approaching the entire inventory of this model in Australia! Battling through the SX2762W-HXPXBK nomenclature we find it refers to the series type, size, aspect ratio, (HX?), PX referring to the optionally bundled EIZO EasyPIX colour matching tool and colour. The design and specifications are similar the smaller 24” SX2462W and 22″ SX2262W though the later comes with a VA panel.

Interestingly this is the same LG panel used in the Dell U2711, NEC PA271W, Hazro HZ27WB and ColorEdge CG275W. The 5 year limited warranty is as far as I’m aware unique amongst manufacturers though does come with caveats. First is the usage time is limited to 30,000 hours, and also the warranty period of the LCD panel is limited to three years from the date of purchase. Whilst many monitor’s these days are made in China and Taiwan, EIZO continues its manufacturing operations in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.

First Impressions

The packing box itself is quite considerable and lugging it around is best undertaken with a friend. The EIZO SX2762W is housed in an attractive matte black cabinet and comes with the new FlexStand 2 for extra mobility. Though a word of caution here – the cabinet is a hefty 12cm (4 inches) considerably deeper than your average 27-inch monitor presumably to house those extra electronics.

Cables and Accessories

Included in the box is the instruction manual (Japanese), USB cable and DVI cable. Bafflingly is the omission of a DisplayPort cable – the assumption being the dual DVI cable is sufficient or maybe it’s not to disenfranchise Mac users using the DisplayPort mini? The monitor including accessories are adequately packed.

Design and Ergonomics

Typical of a monitor of this calibre it is fully adjustable with a 152 mm height adjustment, 25 degree tilt, 344 degree swivel, and 90 degree rotation for portrait mode viewing. The build quality is solid with no creaking plastic parts and does not complain too much when maneuvered into a vertical position. Sensibly EIZO have decided to forgo the HDMI connector here as there is not enough bandwidth to drive the higher resolution even using a DVI-I Dual-Link to HDMI adapter.

OSD Menu

The OSD adjustment menu is extensive (English language selectable) and provides considerable scope for fine adjustment. The Color Submenu controls Brightness, Contrast, Temperature, Gamma and Color Reset while under advanced settings Hue, Saturation, Contrast and Outline Enhancer, Gain and 6 Colors adjustment is possible. Screen Size, Overdrive for improved image performance and Auto Sharpness is adjustable under the Screen Submenu. The SX2762W also has the following display modes: User1, User2, User3, Paper, Text, Picture, Movie and sRGB selectable via the lower bezel where you can switch amongst modes.

Screen Clarity and Viewing and Angles

Without mentioning any names here cough cough Dell U2711, one of the major grievances raised on monitor forums regarding IPS displays concerns the ‘sparkly’ or ‘grainy’ image caused through an aggressive AG coating looking like it’s been applied with a fire hose according to some reviewers. The EIZO SX2762W though not immune to such criticism seems to have learnt from its predecessors and has mercifully toned it down (subjective of course). For the most part using the text mode, word processed documents look crisp and free from distortion. The 2331 mm pixel pitch is sufficient to display a 6pt font, a plus when working with multi-page documents. As expected photographic work looks splendid thanks to the H-IPS screen and similarly viewing angles are generous with colour intensity stable at all but the widest angles. No backlight bleeding is evident.

Movies and Games

Given a native resolution of 2560 x 1440 and 16:9 aspect ratio means most movies need to be up scaled. This doesn’t provide any headaches as 1:1 pixel mapping is applied automatically. By default the overdrive circuit is set to ‘on’ which helps reduce gray-to-gray response times and ensures that moving images look clean and sharp with minimal of blurring and ghosting. Overall movies are vivid and lively with sound reproduction of black gradients. Clearly not a gaming machine, playing Grand Theft Auto, Mafia 2 and Dirt on moderate settings made for reasonable game play (some minor ghosting) using a standalone Sapphire 6850. Though dual CPU’s would be surely recommended for higher settings. Alternatively for gamers EIZO have just announced the release of a new Foris series multimedia monitor FS2332.

Conclusion

In my previous review of the Samsung 2494HS I commenced with the statement “Not all TN monitors are created equally” similarly the EIZO SX2762W while by no means in a league of its own is a worthy contender particularly alongside the NEC PA271W which is similarly well appointed. Given that the new ColorEdge CG275W uses the same IPS panel yet costs roughly double the price also makes the SX2762W an appealing choice. Price and availability considered the SX2762W is packed with high end features and hardware calibration making it suitable for a digital photography, CAD or graphic design work.

BOTTOM LINE

Near top range EIZO monitor includes exceptional colour accuracy, built in power saving settings and an industry leading 5 year warranty.

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