EIZO 27 Inch FlexScan SX2762W TFT Monitor Review

Features
Handling
Performance
Verdict
Specification


The EIZO FlexScan SX2762W is the (almost) top of the range 27 inch TFT monitor from EIZO and features a high resolution 2560 x 1440 screen compared to the more typical resolution of 1920 x 1080 (full HD) that you get with entry level 27 inch monitors. The monitor has a built in EcoView sensor designed to automatically switch the monitor off when no one is using it.

EIZO FlexScan SX2762W Features

EIZO FlexScan SX2762W Front

The monitor supports both landscape and portrait orientation and with the height adjustable stand, it can accommodate both quite easily.

There's a power saving mode built into the monitor so when it sees you haven't used it, for example if you have two monitors and mainly use another screen, then it will automatically go into power saving mode and automatically wake up when the mouse is used on it.

Key Features

• 2560 x 1440 native resolution
• 850:1 contrast ratio
• 270 cd/m2 brightness
• DVI-D, DisplayPort and Mini DisplayPort inputs
• Eco-sensor
• USB hub
• Wide Colour Gamut (97% Adobe RGB)
• Colour Vision Deficiency Simulation
• LED buttons and On-Screen Button Guide
• Temperature sensor automatically adjusts for room temperature
• Landscape / Portrait orientation
• 5 year warranty

EIZO FlexScan SX2762W Handling

EIZO FlexScan SX2762W Rear

It is larger than your average monitor and has a deeper depth than most TFT monitors, however the base stand is very sturdy and holds the monitor well. The rear stand has a built-in cable tidy flap to help direct cables neatly.

EIZO FlexScan SX2762W Ports	EIZO FlexScan SX2762W Power

The ports available are DVI, Display Port, Mini Display Port, as well as USB in and a USB hub with two sockets. There is no VGA input, nor an HDMI input. The monitor specifications say that it supports Picture in picture (PIP) - which gives you support for more than one computer, however the lack of VGA, HDMI or a second DVI socket could limit the  usefulness of this feature.

You can quickly change between calibration profiles using the mode button, this lets you switch between a number of built in modes, as well as your own calibration settings, the modes are: User1, User2, User3, Paper, Text, Picture, Movie and sRGB.



Control panel / Buttons

When you press any of the buttons on the front, an on-screen display also shows what buttons are usable in the current menu.

Menus - Advanced	Menus - Advanced Colour

There is a huge amount of options and settings to customise, including being able to alter the hue and saturation of each of the 6 colours shown above. The menu system is fairly straightforward, although the advanced nature of a lot of the options could make it easy for people to get the settings wrong if they went in there without studying the options first. It's even possible to turn the saturation down and have a black and white monitor - should you wish!

EIZO FlexScan SX2762W Performance

Initially the screen looked overly saturated, with darker blacks than I was expecting to see, meaning I didn't see shadow detail that I was expecting in some images. This was quite quickly resolved when I found the saturation settings and enhanced contrast options in the menus (Enhanced contrast was on and I switch this off and set saturation to -5).

Another noticeable feature of the screen is the resolution available and this makes text much smaller than other monitors, so you may find your need to alter your monitor position to be closer to you. Resolution is 2560 x 1440 (3.68 megapixels!) which means viewing some images doesn't fill the full screen and you find yourself surprised to see that you are actually viewing the image at 100%.

The display is crisp, sharp and consistent across the screen. The monitor features brightness stabilisation and digital uniformity equalizer which should mean the colour and brightness is consistent across the whole screen.

Viewing angles are 178 degrees for both vertical and horizontal, which is the same as the NEC MultiSync PA271W and better than a more typical 170/160 (H/V) on an entry level 22 inch monitor picked at random.

Text quality is very good and the monitor's high resolution text looks very crisp and is very sharp. Although, due to the high resolution, text that is originally smaller than normal may appear even smaller on this screen.

Video quality is very good with solid blacks and quick refresh rates even when watching rapidly changing action videos. The matt screen helps ensure minimal reflections on the screen, making viewing videos an enjoyable experience with the screen, even in office lighting.


EIZO Calibration Device and Software

Colour calibration - To calibrate the screen, EIZO sent their version of the Spyder3, simply labelled EIZO. This uses EIZO EasyPix software to calibrate the screen and lets you choose the best calibration from three presets that you can customise. For example you can select a purpose at the beginning of the calibration process from Matching (matches monitor to print), Viewing photos, General user such as Web browsing or Calibration (for advanced users - within here there are further options to set the purpose as adjusting pictures, browsing the web, creating documents or watching/editing movies. You can also alter the brightness, temperature, gamut and gamma). Unfortunately the software doesn't feature a before and after view like the Spyder solution and switching between the three saved calibrations is a little slow.

Response time is 6 ms (Grey-to-grey) and when viewing high speed content such as video or quickly refreshing text there appeared to be no noticeable ghosting. This should make the monitor suitable for gaming should you wish.

There is very minimal backlight bleed - you can barely see any at all even when all you are showing on screen is black. The monitor can be tilted back a normal amount, however the height adjustment is better than most due to the monitor needing the extra height so that it has enough space to rotate to the portrait orientation.

The surface of the display is matt minimising reflections on the monitor. The surround is also matt ensuring there are no distracting reflections there either (unlike some other monitors).

Style / Design - The overall design of the screen is quite conservative and looks quite serious, although for the least reflections and distractions when viewing colour critical content it makes sense for the surround to be dark grey or black matt. Build quality appears to be very high, with no creaks when moved around. The front of the screen feels quite warm to the touch, although how often do you touch your monitor except for when you want to clean it?

Size / Weight - The size and weight of this monitor could put some people off, as it is at least twice the depth of standard TFT/LCD monitors and if size is an issue, then it would be worth looking at the 24inch models instead.

Box contents - Packaging is very good, with ample amounts of polystyrene to protect the monitor when it's in transit. Also in the box is a print out of the monitor's calibration results from the factory to show that each monitor has been calibrated and tested in the factory.



Photo taken of the screen, showing this photo, using a Canon Powershot S95 and adjusted to try and represent the colours you would see on the EIZO, although in reality it is much more vibrant with much better skin tones. Also it's worth noting that your monitor may not be showing an accurate representation either. Photographing the screen is difficult due to the small pixels, that tend to show up as moire on digital cameras.

Value For Money - The monitor is available for around £960 to £1000 from NativeDigital and comes with a 5-year warranty. As this monitor is large enough and of a high enough resolution it could be used instead of two 22 inch monitors, priced at around £130 each it is still more expensive than 2 x 22inch monitors and even two 24 inch monitors, although these are the more common LCD type. The typical 27inch monitor with Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080) is available for £200 to £260, while other monitors with a high 2560 x 1440 resolution, such as the Dell Ultrasharp U2711 is available for around £550, while the NEC MultiSync PA271W is available for around £1100 with a 3 year warranty.

EIZO FlexScan SX2762W Verdict

The ability to quickly change between sRGB, adobeRGB and full colour lets you see how it would be displayed in other environments. The screen is undoubtedly of extremely high quality, with the screen working flawlessly day after day with no noticeable difference in colour or appearance. The results shown on screen can be relied upon, while the results from my other monitor did appear to change.

With a built in sensor detecting whether you are using the monitor or not it's possible to save electricity with the monitor - although this could be done with the built-in power saving settings in Windows if you wanted. The quality of the monitor is most pronounced when you setup the monitor next to an existing monitor and if there are any flaws with what you are currently used to, then it may be difficult to go back to using a lesser monitor after using the EIZO.

	If you are in the market for a high quality, high resolution 27 inch screen then the 5-year warranty should make this a safe investment.

EIZO FlexScan SX2762W Pros

Extremely high image quality
Good greyscale display
Portrait / Landscape Orientation
Huge amount of ability to customise it to your personal preferences
High resolution 2560 x 1440
Five year warranty

EIZO FlexScan SX2762W Cons

High cost compared to other monitors
Colour calibration requires optional add-on
95%+ of the population isn't using calibrated equipment.
Lacks HDMI input

FEATURES
HANDLING
PERFORMANCE
VALUE FOR MONEY
OVERALL

EIZO FlexScan SX2762W Specifications

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