Customer Reviews

Samsung SyncMaster 2253LW 21.6-inch LCD Monitor

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

If you are looking for a widescreen monitor at a reasonable price, this may be the one.

The Pros:

Appearance: The actual appearance of the monitor is very nice. It features a glossy piano finish that really stands out and makes it appear very high-end.

Contrast Ratio: Featuring a 8000:1 contrast ratio, the image is crisp, colorful and can be adjusted to blindingly bright levels. 8000:1 is tough to find at this price range and monitor size so it's a good selling point.

Refresh Rate: The monitor features a overdrive option which will enable it to reach 2ms instead of 5ms response time. At 2ms I have not seen any ghosting or artifacts.

Widescreen: Widescreen feels like a whole new experience when surfing and playing games. You'll wonder how you ever lived without it.

The Cons:

Stand: The stand itself feels a little cheap and does wobble a bit but not nearly as bad as other LCDs on the market. The stand inserts into the bottom of the monitor and while Samsung states there is tilt, it is so stiff and minimal that it feels like you may break the monitor. Be very careful.

Buttons: The adjustment buttons are located under the monitor but behind a clear plastic strip. The buttons are a bit hard to reach and since you can't see them, you just have to feel for them. It's not very convenient but I can't imagine having to fool with them other than the initial setup.

Backlight: Possibly the biggest complaint and could be the make or break issue for some people. I bought the monitor knowing of others who have complained about backlight bleeding but took the chance since there just weren't any other monitors in this price range with the same features.

Yes, there is a good amount of bleeding. While all LCDs have this issue, it appears the newer Samsung models are more affected. There is bleeding from the top and bottom with the bottom being more pronounced. This can make the bottom of the image appear somewhat washed out while the top remains darker. When watching a widescreen movie or viewing a totally black image, the bleeding will definitely stand out.

If you can live with the backlight issue, this is a great monitor to own. I have now owned it for 3 days and after a little gamma and brightness/tweaking I can say that it's the best monitor I've owned. It's not perfect but for the price, you are getting a great widescreen monitor with excellent picture quality.

Note: There have been a few comments that the 2253 series would buzz or hum if you go under a certain level on the contrast/brightness settings. I have not experienced this issue and may have been fixed on the LW model or was just a defect in general.

This is a really nice monitor for the cash you spend.
The stand DOES NOT wobble, it is very sturdy.
The picture is outstanding with NO bleed...and NO ghosting.
The buttons are kind of hard to reach and its a bit of a pain to use them.
The monitor weighs in at 11.5 lbs.
The documentation is scarce at best.
I use a Macbook Pro. This monitor plugs in and works with NO set up.
I also tried it on my PeeCee...it works plug n play.
I have not installed any drivers that came with the monitor however.
It looks nice and the picture is outstanding.

While I purchased this monitor from another site, I thought my review would be good for people looking for an external laptop monitor for their MacBook.

Pros: Hard to beat for the money, as I paid $249. Very nice monitor with great crispness and clarity. I am not using it for any color sensitive work, so I can't comment on the accuracy. But to the naked eye, it looks great. It is definitely brighter than the MacBook's display.

Cons: Mac setup took just a bit to figure out since there is no documentation for the Mac specifically.

Other Thoughts: OK Mac fans. I am using this with a 2.2 Ghz MacBook and the monitor looks great. The setup was a bit tricky. I wanted to use this monitor so that my MacBook could behave as a desktop for me while at home, so I started with the mirror displays option. Not a good choice as it distorted this monitor and the text was not crisp. The cause was that in mirror mode, it was actually using the 1280x800 settings for the MacBook and stretching it on the Samsung to 1680x1050. What you need to do is to not use the mirror option and allow the Samsung to run at its native 1680x1050. You can move the menus over to the Samsung monitor by clicking the bar at the top and dragging it over to the Samsung monitor icon when in System Preferences for the displays. Once you use this setup, you get the nice, big, and crisp text display that you would expect. While the MacBook will drive a monitor up to 1920x1200, I just didn't feel that my desk could take a monitor that big. This monitor rocks!

Very good monitor especially for the price. Picture is clear and colors bright and accurate. People who complain about the picture are expecting too much from a budget monitor, even with that is rivals the picture of my CRT's. Some also complain of the adjustment buttons being hard to use, frankly I don't adjust my monitor every day or week or even month, so having them out of sight is a plus.

Pros:

1) Beautifully designed monitor and stand, looks elegant and sophisticated on your desk. The glass trim at the bottom of the monitor is a very beautiful addition, as well as the soft blue light behind the power button (once it's turned on).

2) Outstanding image quality and depth; High Definition images look superior on this monitor.

3) Amount of personalization dealing with the contrast, brightness, gamma, individual color curves, is really professional--you can basically tweak this monitor to suit any need, whether it is for gaming, professional graphic design, or for watching high definition movies. In addition to all that, the monitor has a 2ms refresh rate, so there is no ghosting in anything you watch (games, movies, etc).

4) Value. This monitor is a steal at less than $300. Looking at the construction and integrity of this monitor, it looks like it would cost a person $500+.

Cons: The only con to this monitor is that it is very dangerous. Meaning that after you begin to use it, you are most likely to die from the beauty of the display. No, but seriously, there are no cons with this monitor.

Get this monitor, and make sure you buy a Samsung and not any other brand. There are 0 dead pixels on this monitor and everything about the monitor screams elegance. Pay the extra $50 or so dollars to buy a beautiful Samsung monitor than any other brand--you'll be glad you did.

Nice 8000:1 contrast but not as good as Samsung's other model which has 20000:1 contrast but that model doesn't have rear mount holes like this one so I can buy a 3rd party LCD stand for portrait mode so I don't have to scroll vertically on websites, iTunes, Quicken, Windows Explorer, etc.

10/10/08 update: I wish I could change my rating to 4 stars because it's only 21.5in whereas other monitors are a full 22in which means that in portrait mode, I would get a 1/4" wider screen -- do yourself a favor and buy a true 22 inch monitor and not a 21.5 inch. I'm returning this for a full 22 inch model.

The buttons to adjust brightness/contrast, etc. are really horrible to use and you can't see them on the glass that you're better off using the included software.

Bought 2 monitors from another vendor. One sent back due to one vertical column of stuck pixels. Original vendor unable to supply replacement monitor so purchased second through Amazon. Using both in duel monitor display mode.

Very happy with monitors. Both used 8-10 hours a day. No problems whatsoever. Have a third high end HP monitor in the display array also so its easy to compare these monitors with it. The black of the Samsung is significantly blacker and the image is slightly more crisp. I have not had the hum problem some people have reported at lower brightness settings. I also do not find the button location inconvenient as some people have also reported.

The weakest aspect of these monitors are the stands. They are NOT unusable by any means however, compared to the rugged stands provided on some monitors, these are lightweight. They do shake a little if you wiggle the desk however they do not shake during normal typing. Their range of tilt is limited and the rotation is achieved by placing the entire base on a lazy susan type mechanism. For the price of this monitor however they are appropriate.

Overall I would buy this monitor again and would recommend it to a friend.

The Samsung monitor purchased arrived in the time promised in great shape. I plugged it into my computer and within a few minutes after running the software it was up and running. The screen is sharp and I haven't had any problems. I'm very happy with the quality and the price. The monitor is used primarily for my consulting business doing spreadsheets, emails, documents, reports etc. However, I did watch part of a DVD. The screen was exceptionally sharp without any distortions, shadows or waves. Great product.

I have to say this is an absolutely gorgeous monitor. I too had zero dead pixels and I was looking for them with the intention of returning the monitor if I found any.

I watch a lot of video on it using DVDs, streams and my SageTV client. They all look great.

For under $300 this is a steal.

This mon. was purchased for my daughter's room. This mon. goes to the output of the Direct TV Tuner.
The quality is much more than required, as a Video to HDMI converter was needed to go between the Direct TV box and this Monitor. It came with an array of wall mounting hardware. Input selection is automatic (Plug & Play).

M.S. in Panorama City, CA.
Very Good buy !