NEC Multisync LCD 1525S

Slim, lightweight and taking minimal desk space, this flatplanel has the looks to match good-quality results. For the ordinary consumer, however, the price is prohibitive.

Until the price of flatpanels falls significantly, their sales will be mainly confined to financial, medical, manufacturing or corporate workplaces. The MultiSync LCD1525S from NEC is yet another TFT (Thin Film Transistor) display in the 15" bracket. It delivers an unusually high native resolution of 1280 x 1024 for a monitor of this size.

The tiny footprint of 360mm x 158mm means the 1525S takes up very little desk space compared with a CRT monitor. Also, as with all flatpanels, it uses 30 per cent less power, weighs less and produces less heat than an equivalent CRT. NEC has built a four-port USB hub into the base, along with two upstream ports, to provide easy connection for USB peripherals. Dual analog VGA inputs allow you to connect the flatpanel to two PCs, giving access to multiple information sources. These inputs, along with the upstream USB ports, can be switched between via a button on the front panel.

The 1525S sits very low on its stand, and there's no height adjustment so you'll probably find yourself reaching for a couple of phone directories to raise it up. The tilt and swivel base works well, giving a good range of adjustments there at least. Also, the bezel surrounding the screen is one of the slimmest we have seen, making the display even less imposing.

NEC calls its OSD an On Screen Manager, and we found it easy to use thanks to the four direction buttons used for navigation and adjustment. The OSM itself is as comprehensive as it should be, letting you alter its physical position as well as the actual size and position of the displayed image.

We felt that 1280 x 1024 pixels was a little too high for a 15.4" display. Standard text in Windows was tiny, and people with anything less than perfect eyesight will probably find it too small. Increasing the font size in Windows corrected this, so it wasn't a major problem.

After running our LCD tests on the 1525S we found that it performed quite well. We couldn't completely eliminate horizontal interference, even with the 'fine' adjustment control. This interference wasn't noticeable in normal use, so it's not disastrous.

Overall image quality and focus was very good in the native resolution, but the same can't be said for other resolutions. We would, as of course would all flatpanel manufacturers, recommend that LCD displays are only used at their native resolution to avoid them having to interpolate to achieve other resolutions. Luminosity was consistent across the whole display, ensuring there were no patchy areas.