Customer Reviews

Samsung SyncMaster 204B 20.1-Inch LCD Monitor (Silver)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I received my 204B yesterday, and thus far I am very pleased. The construction is very sturdy and I experienced zero screen defects upon setting it up. The display is very clear and bright -- I had to actually dull it down a bit, as it was hurting my eyes. At 1600x1200, the clarity is amazing. Colors are lifelike and vivid, and the fast response time means there's basically no ghosting at all -- even when watching high-motion h264 encoded video (much more demanding than even DVD).

As an aside -- I ordered this monitor on Tuesday and received it Wednesday, with standard shipping. That alone made this experience all the more worthwhile.

Since I generally like seeing this in reviews, I figured I'd present a little "pros and cons" list.

Pros:

- 1600x1200 resolution is very crisp with a good amount of real estate for applications, and a fully supported 4:3 aspect ratio for almost every program/game.

- Solidly constructed and good looking.

- DVI-D and VGA connections for versatility. And it comes with the DVI cable!

- Image quality is very good, and the colors are amazing -- after quite a bit of tweaking.

- Highly adjustable, with up/down and tilting as well as rotation (perfect for working on documents).

Cons:

- No handle -- you have to grab it by its sides, which is sometimes difficult with the thin bezel.

- Takes a while to set up the picture the way you like it -- the display is just plain too vivid out of the box. There are quite a few "auto" or "wizard" modes that adjust brightness and colors using a pre-set scheme, but the only way to truly get it looking right is to adjust it manually over the course of a few hours.

- The buttons on the front aren't flush with the monitor and are quite sensitive, so you may find that they're constantly being pushed while moving things around on your desk.

Overall, I'm very pleased with my purchase and would recommend this monitor to anyone.

This is a nice, well-designed moniter. Good looking, and with a very sharp picture. Since purchasing the item 6 months ago, I've had 2 horizontal lines drop out of the display. I've been working with Samsung Customer Service to get it corrected for that whole time. They're offering me everything EXCEPT a new unit (which is what I want) saying the 204B Silver unit is backordered. Hard to believe it's been backordered for 6 months. They want to give me a black unit, or a Silver unit of a downgraded model. I rate it Poor Quality and Poor Service.

Delivered and working perfectly. I am, however, having dificulties trying to get the fonts correct for viewing internet sites, e-mail, etc using full screen at the 1600x1200 resolution.

We have bought six of these in the last year and two of them have developed identical problems: a half dozen lines of pixels all the way across the screen have gone out--at two different heights. Samsung has replaced the one monitor and I'm about to return the other one. After reading a previous review that mentioned this problem, and having two out of six do this, I'm thinking it's more than a coincidence.

Otherwise the quality of the image is really good.

I bought one of these monitors in October of 2006. I had problems right from the start. The first time I used it, it kept on blacking out while I was in the middle of one kind of job or another, and that problem never stopped. I called MacMall first about it, and we checked everything we could with both the monitor and the computer. Then I called Samsung; they told me the trouble couldn't possibly be with their monitor -- it had to be a problem with my computer. I called Apple and the Apple tech and I went through every procedure he could think of to take care of any possible problem with the computer. The monitor stlll blacked out in the middle of anything and everything I needed to do. I called Samsung again, and they once again tried to tell me it was a computer problem; finally they agreed to send a replacement. When it arrived, it was not a new monitor, as mine had been, it was a refurb job. Furthermore, it did not give me the resolution which is part of the SyncMaster 204B specs, so everything on my desktop was way too large, and some of my files had disappeared into the area beyond the desktop. I called Samsung about that problem, and, of course, was told that the problem couldn't possibly be with their monitor; it had to be in my computer. Once again, they were wrong. Finally, after another month, they agreed to send me a second replacement. The order for the second replacement disappeared into the Samsung ether -- twice. I had to call every other week for six weeks to get someone to finally send the second replacement. It arrived in July. When we hooked that one up and turned on the computer, guess what? It goes to black almost immediately and shows nothing but black on the screen. I have a Mac computer, a G4 desktop model. This monitor is, according to the specs and to Samsung's techies, compatible with both my computer and my operating system. I have a couple of other, older monitors, which have no difficulty whatsoever working with my computer. It's only this model of Samsung monitor that can't seem to function. I grade the monitor -- F. Samsung's technical assistance people -- F. Samsung's business office -- F. Samsung's customer service department -- F. It has been eleven months since I bought this monitor. I still don't have one that works the way it's supposed to work.