NEC 90GX2 REVIEW
Since I have had a 90GX2 on loan for a few days I will write some rambling impressions following on CP5670's report. Overall I have been extremely impressed with this TN panelled LCD, especially considering I was very prepared to dislike the Opticlear coating.
ERGO: seems like very good construction, nice easy swivel capability, no height adjustment but pretty decent fixed height level. OSD is okay once you are used to it. The joystick is inaccurate in movement but it does facilitate quicker setting changes IMO.
TEXT: pretty sharp text but not as dark and crisp as with the LG L1970HR I had... generally does not feel as focussed and clear on very small text but overall still very good as most all LCDs are. I suspect the glossy coating can also be a minor distraction that affects long sessions with text. Otherwise, there was no bleed of colored text against different backgrounds that I could find. Overall I found this monitor average or less than average for black on white text but well above average for text against other backgrounds, though I admit more effective calibration may improve the white levels (a purer white without blinding brightness) though it would be hard to match the L1970HR's black on white quality with its super high contrast. Another area this monitor excelled was with the scaled text of Firefox which other LCDs I have tried have not done so well with (text at different sizes lose their dark, crisp look). It also seemed to handle scrolled text very differently than any other LCD I tried. I use Firefox with a smooth scrolling extension, and previous LCDS I used always scrolled text in jittery, abrupt fashion no matter what scrolling setting. For some reason the 90GX2 made scrolled text very readable, as close to a CRT as I've seen. On the other hand, unlike any other LCD, this same scrolled text showed definite afterimages when the background was certain gray/blue tones. Overall I still preferred the limited and occasional afterimage to the abrupt scrolling of other LCDs.
IMAGE/COLOR: Like CP5670 I found the brightness / contrast settings had to be cranked way down. Image quality generally and color quality specifically *really* surprised me for a TN panel. Opticlear, despite the disparaging remarks of Tom's Hardware and others, really made colors much more vibrant and video/photos more lifelike to my eyes. I am not a photo editor or critical movie watcher so I cannot comment reliably on precise color accuracy or motion video quality except to say that compared to other TNs, I personally found color reproduction much more lively and compelling on the whole despite the usual occasionally shade of color off probably due to dithering or maybe calibration. I can report that my 90GX2 had definite banding on xtknight's gradient test, on most colors. Fairly narrow, faint bands mostly on the dark ends of the color spectrums. I did not notice banding in games or video but I was not looking for it since I hadn't run the gradient test until just before writing this. BTW, I also found banding in this test on the VX922 and L1970HR, the slightest and faintest bit of banding on the Samsung 950b, and no visible banding only on the Samsung 204b and my little Thinkpad X41. TN panels, hmmm...
GHOSTING,BLUR,LAG: I detected no ghosting during gaming (note above comments about scrolling text in firefox) though I must admit I have not seen ghosting in any of the new generation TN type LCDs I have tried. I may be less sensitive. I felt like motion blur was very, very minimal and in my recollection less than other LCDs I tried including the VX922 and L1970HR (I did not have them side to side). Input lag was also not noticeable: no subjective perception of it and when I used the stopwatch test discussed at Hard Forums and elsewhere I measured lag of around 15ms average -- as low as any other LCD I tested (comparable to the VX922 and L1970HR, lower than 204B). Overall I found this to be an exceptional gaming monitor for fast FPS like UT2004, maybe even better than the VX922 and L1970HR due to the more impressive colors and equal or superior performance in terms of ghosting, blur and lag (to my eyes).
INTEPOLLATION/SCALING: very good from what I've seen so far, but haven't finished testing yet.
OTHER NOTES: I will have to look a little more for the screendoor effect that CP5670 found. I did not notice it. The Opticlear is a mixed blessing as many have noted. It is a definite distraction, however minor, though as I said I found that it enhanced color vibrancy (not necessarily accuracy) significantly. For gaming the net effect is positive IMO. For text and office applications I would say try before you buy, because it may be a liability.
I would love to get my friend's L1970HR back since for side-to-side comparision since it and the 90GX2 are the best 19" TN I have tried so far. Might still happen.