Customer Reviews

Samsung 205BW Wide Format Analog/Digital LCD Monitor

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I am upgrading from a 19" CRT monitor that I had a great picture. I am just amazed what LCD technology can do! The text is now so much clearer and the colors are much sharper! The monitor is just amazing!
Words of warning. Just make sure you video card can support the native resolution of 1680 x 1050, you won't be sorry with the results.
Some common complaint of monitors are "no height adjustment", "goasting", "no DVI", well you don't have to worry about that here. The monitor has great height adjustment and you can even rotate the screen left to right as there is a lazy susan built into the base. It makes it real nice if you want to show someone something on your screen, you can rotate it with a push of a finger. There is zero goasting with this monitor that I can see, I am in the IT business and am picky with this stuff so you won't be unhappy with this LCD. There is some light bleed through that you can see on a black screen so that could be an issue if you look at a lot of dark images but I found it very slight and nothing that bothers me (also very common among lcd's). This monitor has DVI and support HDCP so you are all set for Blue-Ray and HD-DVD disks when you get them. You really can't go wrong with this monitor, I just love the extra space you have on the screen. You can have application open side by side so it is like having 2 monitors in one.

I upgraded from a 17" LCD. Let me tell you this is like moving from a 2 bedroom condo in the city to a 5 bedroom mansion in the country. Soo much real estate. You can do double duty with this, browse on one side and open another application on the other. Before I got this I thought a 19" wide would have been better for me. I'm used to gaming on a smaller screen which I could focus on without a lot of eye movement. That being said I'm glad I got this one. For games the refresh rate is fine, no ghosting. Color is fantastic.

It is adustable up/down and swivels with a lazy susan base. Fantastic brightness, so much so I had to tune it down to 80%. Best of all no dead pixels. I read samsung has a 3 yr warranty. Nice.

So if you want to upgrade get the best...you spend enough time infront of the monitor. Don't skimp.

Cheers.

This is a pretty decent monitor, until it develops a fault and you're sucked into the black hole that is Samsung's repair/refurbishment hell.

Samsung have a generous three year warranty, during which time your faulty monitor will be replaced free of charge. Unfortunately, your replacement model will be a refurbished model rather than a brand new model and thus prone to even more problems.

I bought a brand new 205BW -- the CBQ hardware revision -- back in September 2006. It worked a treat, although the contrast ratio wasn't the best in the world, I had a few dead pixels and there was some minor backlight bleed, but otherwise it was fine.

About three months down the line it suffered from total backlight failure. I'd moved outside my vendor's warranty for automatic replacement/refunding, so I had to brave Samsung's replacement program. I received my replacement unit in January 2007. Rather than send me the CBQ revision, they sent me an older CBH revision. The CBH models have a 6-bit display panel (as opposed to the 8-bit panels of later models), which means they don't show the full range of colors and thus things like smooth gradients show up as blocks/bands instead. As someone who does a fair bit of graphic design and relies on accurate color displays, this isn't really acceptable. On top of that, the backlight bleed seemed to be worse.

For a variety of reasons, I put off replacing this model until January 2008 (my warranty's still good through to September 2009). This time, I requested a CBQ hardware revision. In February 2008 the replacement arrived. No dead pixels, improved (but still not great) backlight bleed, but I noticed I still had color banding on gradients. Turns out I was sent a CBH model that was refurbished and overstickered with a new model number that suggested it was a CBQ model.

Less than 12 hours into having the new monitor up and running, there was a "pop" and the screen went blank for about 10 seconds. When the display came back on, it no longer defaulted to its native resolution of 1680x1050, but to 1024x768 instead. I tried changing back to 1680x1050, but the screen would either appear corrupted or blank, then switch back to the lower resolution. I tried this a few times, but to no avail. After a short while, it would no longer display the corrupt or blank screens, but would instead show a 1680x1050 sized desktop within a 1024x768 display window.

I tried reinstalling my monitor and video card drivers, but to no avail. I swapped out my eVGA 7950GT card for a spare eVGA 7600GT -- same thing. Windows XP or Vista, it makes no difference. Now my nVIDIA control panel reports that the highest native resolution it can detect for my monitor is 1024x768. I can actually display 1280x1024, but anything higher than that just gives the oversized dekstop within the native resolution. My 1680x1050 resolution is no longer automatically detected as being available.

So, looks like I'm going to have to arrange for a THIRD replacement. Who knows, with any luck I may actually end up with a fully working product that resembles the monitor I originally ordered some 18 months ago. I really wish I'd shelled out that extra 50 bucks for a Dell now.

It seems that the monitor stand cannot support the weight of the screen and slumps/tilts forward over time (a few months)

I am contacting Samsung for a replacement stand.

If you are using this with a 3rd party stand (ex. for multi monitors), you will probably not experience this issue.

Having said that I find the picture excellent and bright, no dead pixils and will probably buy a second one.

Just giving you a "heads up" about the stand/base. That's why I give it a 4 instead of a 5 star rating.

I bought this wide format monitor for home use with my (work provided) HP laptop. At the office I have one of those glorious ultra-high resolution does-it-all flat panels which also feature an *amazing* price. When it's my own money, I need to be a bit more careful.

So I went with the Samsung, since I've had superlative experience with their CRT and flat-panel displays, like their included software, and, when I did comparison at local big-box stores, found the display quality to be very good indeed.

The screen is bright--brighter than nearly all of the competing models. It is clear and responsive. I have no complaints abou the display. The base is solid and adjusts in all directions...

Now the complaint: I purchased the "wide" model because most of the Samsungs "tilt" (rotate into a portrait display) and I prefer to use my big displays in portrait. The similar, non-widescreen 215B model does rotate, and this model comes with the Samsung rotation software. I couldn't tell from the product specs whether it did or it didn't (and the reviews were confusing). I assumed, ultimately, that since the narrow model did, that this one would too...

Only it doesn't rotate (tilt). Do not be fooled: it doesn't. However, there is a nifty trick here. There are no eletronics in the base. I simply unscrewed the monitor from the base, rotated it by 270 degrees, and reattached it. There is a funky clip on the back that doesn't quite fit, but since I'm not carrying the monitor around a lot, this doesn't bother me, and the attachment is nearly as solid as from the factory.

Otherwise, this monitor has been simply perfect, especially at the price.

To echo the comments made by the last couple reviewers. The LCD Monitor started to tilt way from the stand and within the last week, decided to give way and has peeled away from it's support hinge on the stand. While the LCD Monitor itself is pretty good, i can't give any more than 2 stars given this issue.

I bought this monitor six months ago. Upon setting it up initially, I was slightly peeved at the fact that the screen could never quite be adjusted to a 90-degree angle with the desk. At best, it tilted slightly downward. Now, six months later, gravity has had it's way with the spring tensioner in the stand, and screen now rests at around a 60-degree angle with level. I've got the stand sitting on a pile of books just to be able to look upwards at it. I've gone so far as to disassemble the stand and try to readjust the spring mechanism, but it just won't budge. Seems like a serious design flaw, I don't think I'd buy a SAMSUNG monitor again.

I have this monitor for a year and I have to support it with a piece of wood. The stand is worse that a plastic toy. Sometimes I wonder, do they care for their product or they just market it and if people buy it, good, if not they move to the next.
For this reason I will never buy another Samsung product.

This is a great monitor and the picture is great. Samsung has realized that there is a problem with the stand and has discontinued this model (stand). I contacted customer service and they are sending one out to me free of charge. If you are on the fence, get the monitor, the stand is the only issue and it has been addressed. Make sure to ask if the stand you are getting is the updated one when you buy it.

I bought mine in 2006, and now my monitor is tilt down, too. Indeed, the stand is terribly designed not to be able to hold the weight of the monitor. Otherwise, it's a great monitor.