Monitor Review: NEC MultiSync EA222WMe

These days, from celebrities driving hybrids to food shoppers going organic to homeowners swapping all of the light bulbs they can find with watt-saving fluorescents, everybody wants to be green. After all, it's not only trendy, it's economical -- and where the average homeowner can save hundreds per year by being more energy efficient, the average business can save many times as much.

So it's not surprising that PC hardware vendors are looking to outdo one another in catering to this trend. For an example, check out one of NEC Display Solutions' latest offerings: the 22-inch MultiSync EA222WMe monitor ($339).

Just How Green Is It?

LCD monitors, of course, are already greener than their hulking CRT ancestors. But recognizing that there's always room for improvement, NEC has produced a series of monitors that forego the cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) found in traditional flat panels in favor of LED backlighting like the latest notebook screens' and HDTVs'.

NEC says and a Kill-a-Watt meter confirms that the EA222WMe draws only 23 watts of electricity -- about as much as the 100-watt-equivalent CFL bulbs that many of us put throughout our homes in our own greening efforts. Or, to offer a more useful comparison, about half of what typical CCFL-backlit LCDs and less than a quarter of what similarly sized CRT monitors were sucking up not so very long ago.

With two "Eco Modes" to choose from (or opt out of), users will be able to choose just how efficiently they want the EA222WMe to run. Each of these power-saving presets benefits from the display's three-step auto-brightness feature, which uses an ambient light sensor to adjust the monitor's brightness across most of its dynamic display settings. It performed comparably to what we've seen with other ambient sensor implementations.

As you use the product, you'll be able to keep track of your energy consumption and savings using NEC's on-screen cost meter and carbon footprint meter, both of which are resettable. The former allows you to set your local currency and energy costs as easily as you would any of the monitor's other settings.

And while many, if not most, users are more likely to let their tastes and needs dictate how they configure their displays' brightness, it's nice being able to see quickly how much of an impact each choice makes on the efficiency of the monitor. It's nice, too, to think that when the EA222WMe eventually does end up in a landfill, it won't pollute the environment with any mercury, arsenic, or halogen.

How Do Its Features Stack Up?

By now you may be worried that in being so gung-ho for greenness, NEC may have skimped on the monitor's features or performance. Rest assured that the MultiSync holds up well against its competition.

The display has a resolution of 1,680 by 1,050 pixels, with a 16:10 aspect ratio. The monitor's contrast ratio is 1,000:1, its response rate is 5 milliseconds, and its pitch is 0.282mm. In other words: pretty much what you'd expect in a mid-range 22-inch LCD geared toward corporate settings, and able to handle anything you're likely to throw at it.

In my use of the monitor, text was crisp and colors appeared natural -- so long as I took the time to calibrate the monitor. While my initial impression of the NEC upon first firing it up was that it displayed a bit warmer than I personally prefer, I know that others are accustomed to it and not bothered by the slightly yellowish tint that warm displays have. More important, it didn't take more than a few seconds to get things set up per my own preferences.

As far as inputs go, this monitor not only offers both a 15-pin VGA connector and an HDCP-complaint DVI-D input; it also lets Mac users in on the fun by including a DisplayPort interface.

Also included are a 4-port USB 2.0 hub, integrated speakers, and an easily accessible headphone jack. None of these are particularly revolutionary, of course, but they help round out a package that should meet most corporate users' needs without adding any unnecessary clutter. The sound quality, it should come as no surprise, is not going to rival a decent set of external speakers, but is more than enough to handle the audio needs of a typical business user.

At the center of all these functions is a directional control pad to navigate through the monitor's various settings. Using it, I found, was easy and intuitive.

Assume the Position

The EA222WMe's stand makes it easy to adjust its height (over a range of about four inches) and to pivot, tilt, and swivel the screen into the desired position. The stand also incorporates a basic cable management system that will help keep clutter to a minimum. But using both together, one quickly realizes, might take a bit of finagling to prevent cords from being pulled and unseated during a pivot from landscape to portrait mode.

Also helpful, in terms of positioning the monitor to take full advantage of its capabilities, is the thin bezel that surrounds the screen -- in a dual-display setup, this means less getting in the way of an extended desktop display. This should be further facilitated by the EA222WMe's 160 degree vertical and 170 degree horizontal viewing angles.

Given its street price of $339, cheaper 22-inch alternatives are certainly available. But in the MultiSync EA222WMe, NEC has created a solid performer that should appeal to its targeted market of corporate computing environments while racking up noticeable savings on the score of energy efficiency.