Spectraview Reference displays sit at the very top of NEC’s range of monitors, and the existing 24- and 30-inch models are highly regarded among imaging professionals for colour-critical work, not least because they’re priced lower than Eizo’s rival Color Edge offerings.

Now NEC has launched the 27-inch Spectraview Reference 271, with a slightly wider 16:10 aspect ratio that’s in line with HD video dimensions, and a suggested price of £1549 +VAT. Like the 30-inch version, the R271 has a larger gamut than the Adobe RGB colour space (although it only offers 98 percent of the coverage), has plenty of connection options and fully adjustable ergonomics, plus it comes with an excellent hood and has the simple-to-use Spectraview profiling solution. A calibrator is required, but NEC will supply one as an option, or you can use popular models such as the X-Rite i1 (Eye One) Display.

Like other high-end 27-inch displays, including NEC’s cheaper Multisync PA271W, the R271 adopts a 2560×1440 pixel native resolution that, incidentally, is the same spec as the 2009/2010 iMac and the new Apple 27-inch HD Cinema display.

The 2560-pixel width is identical to 30-inch screens, but because of the wider aspect ratio, the height is reduced from 1600 to 1440 pixels. This does feel slightly restrictive, but works very well with Aperture or Capture One if you prefer to organise thumbnail images vertically, as I do.

Setting up is simple. The R271 has a single Display Port socket and two DVI-D ports (not to be confused with DVI-I ports, which allow additional analogue connection) that let you to connect and switch between two computers. There is a USB hub with two upstream ports (one for each computer) and three downstream, allowing you to connect a single tablet, mouse and keyboard for both.

A dual-link DVI cable and full-size Display Port cable are provided, but no Mini Display Port to full-size Display Port cable. This is an oversight, as the current Macbook Pros and iMacs both use the Mini, while Mac Pros use both that and DVI.

If you’re not using DVI or want to run dual monitors from a single video card on your Mac Pro, that means having to locate either a Mini Display Port adapter or Mini to full-size Display Port cable, and both are hard to find. (Fortunately, Lindy makes a high-quality adapter, while DeLock has the appropriate cables. And, at £19.99 each, both are excellent quality.)

You can’t use a single-link DVI-to-Mini Display Port adapter as these only support resolutions to 1920×1080 pixels at 60Hz. The other option of using a dual-link DVI-to-Mini Display Port adapter is out of the question unless you’re willing to pay £70. For a display of this price, NEC really ought to supply a Mini Display Port solution.

In use, the R271 is extremely quiet and fully adjustable for height, tilt and rotation. Furthermore, you can swing the display vertically for portrait work if necessary.

Calibration is simple, providing you have a supported device (such as the i1 or a Spyder 2), as the supplied Spectraview Profiler software automatically handles the whole process and writes 16-bit look-up tables (basically, a set of data instructions) directly to the monitor.

Besides having pre-sets for different colour space emulations and workflows – photography, pre-press, web-design, and others – Spectraview has a raft of manual calibration and profile options, if you wish to fine-tune the process.

Another advantage is that R271 allows you to switch between profiles without reloading the tables, which is handy if you’re a Windows user and your workflow requires you to work between different colour spaces, such as sRGB for the web and Adobe RGB for print. Apple users have this facility to switch profiles already.

The image from the R271 is exceptional. Reds, blues and greens are not only more vibrant than my 27-inch iMac display, but a wider range of colours is visible, especially regarding greens. This appears to be backed up by the chart of the profiles created by Spectraview using the excellent Color Think utility.

I also used the Spectraview software to calibrate and profile my iMac, but the resultant colour space was a good deal smaller than either Adobe RGB or the R271. This was no doubt due to the fact the iMac has to adopt a combined hardware/software calibration, which is not as accurate. That said, Spectraview improved the accuracy of the calibration over i1Match software.

Uniformity of brightness and colour is excellent too; there are none of the hot spots or yellow-coloured mura that blighted the early iMac, despite the fact that both that model and the R271 use backlighting. Like the iMac, the R271 has an in-plane switching panel, which provides excellent viewing angles and, more importantly, with no apparent colour shifts.

Images are also sharp, but the matte, anti-reflection finish has a slight texture that renders text a little less sharp than the glossy screens. Still, that’s a small price to pay, in my opinion.

With NEC offering a three-year warranty including backlights (as well as a five-year optional warranty) and a six-month warranty against pixel failure from the date of purchase, there’s a lot to like about the R271.

If space and budget are limiting factors, the R271 would make an excellent choice over the equally outstanding but more pricey R3090 model.

It’s a more reliable and accurate method than adjusting the OSD with the subsequent rewriting of software look-up tables that reside on the video card.