NEC M363W Projector Review - Summary

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Art Feierman

NEC M363W Projector Review - Summary: Warranty and Support, The Bottom Line, Pros, Cons

Warranty and Support

The M363W is covered by NEC’s standard warranty and support policies as follows: There is a two year parts and service warranty on the projector and a 500-hour or one year (whichever comes first) warranty on the lamp. The lamp warranty is much better than the usual 90-day warranty seen with many projectors. NEC also includes one year of their Instacare program which works as follows: The customer calls a toll-free number and speaks to a technician to see if the problem can be resolved over the phone. If the technician is unable to resolve the issue, a material return authorization (MRA) number is issued and NEC ships the customer a replacement unit (upon obtaining a credit card for security). The customer has 21 calendar days from the date of shipment of the replacement unit to return the defective unit to NEC.

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The Bottom Line

❮ ❯

The NEC M363W is definitely a step up from the previous year's model in every department. The color quality in the M363W’s brightest mode (High-Bright) is more than acceptable for most presentations, thus making its 3600 lumen rating a usable figure. If you need high brightness and even better color, Presentation mode still gives you over 3200 lumens, while maintaining a color balance that rivals the Cinema or Movie mode of some projectors. This makes using either mode a viable option for any presentation that requires more accurate color than text-based presentations. With over 3600 lumens in High-Bright mode, the M363W will have no problems presenting in almost any sized venue, even those with minimal light control. In Movie or sRGB modes, presentations are blessed with solid color reproduction, making this projector a good choice for photo or video presentations. If very high brightness is not required (using Eco lamp mode), maintenance can also be kept to a minimum by NEC’s 8000-hour lamp life.

The ability of the NEC M363W to present from virtually any source, whether it's from a USB flash drive or wirelessly, makes it equally desirable for the corporate presenter or classroom presenter. Its extensive networking abilities are first rate as well combining the usual projector monitoring and notifications with the ability to project from multiple networked computers.

The NEC M363W is pretty much a star in all categories With a price point of around $950 street, it will be very attractive to the buyer looking for a low maintenance, high output projector in a compact package. Generally, LCD projectors in this price range have enjoyed a color accuracy advantage over their DLP counterparts. Not so with the M363W, whose color in respective modes equal many other LCD projectors in its class, while offering more brightness and features than many of them.

There's no doubt that the NEC M363W should be on any presenter's short list. It definitely deserves a Hot Product award.

Pros

Very high brightness
Terrific color rendition in even the brightest mode
Excellent scaling of non-native resolutions
Easy to setup
Good sharpness with any normally used resolution
Very usable 20 watt built-in speaker
Very good lamp warranty, overall warranty and support
Quick power up and can be unplugged immediately after powered down
Wireless presentation from an iPad or Android tablet
Ability to present from a computer or USB storage device via USB

Cons

Long lamp life is only achieved by a large drop in output
Higher fan noise level even in Eco mode than some of the competition
Remote can be difficult to operate in a dark room, since it has no backlight or glow-in-the-dark buttons