Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Widescreen Monitor (glad I bought it!!!), May 30, 2009
UPDATED: June 20, 2009
I have to admit, I was a bit concerned about purchasing this online, virtually sight unseen. I went to Best Buy and saw the 20" version of this display and wasn't overly pleased, but then realized that the demo Best Buy had running on the monitor was not in the model's native resolution. So I came home and after a couple of days of deliberation with myself I took the plunge and bought this from Amazon. The display is a cinch to assemble. I've read some reviews where people have had great difficulty putting the stand together then attaching the stand to the monitor itself. This simply is not the case. Everything is keyed (all you have to do is pay attention to the carved out notches) and slid together very easily, no difficulty at all. "Professional" reviews have indicated that the monitor is very wobbly. This is the case to an extent, but it takes a fair jolt to get this monitor to tip. In all practicality who is going to be hitting the monitor with their hand anyway trying to get it to tip over. Perhaps a good earthquake, a running child or clumsy oaf is needed.
Buyers will definitely want to take some time to calibrate the monitor. I am currently running Windows 7 RC1 so some calibration tools are included that don't come in previous versions of Windows (including Vista, that I have found anyway). A Google search for "monitor calibration" will help aid in this process. "Professional" reviews have indicated that gray colors are not represented correctly, taking on a "yellowish hue." Out of the box using default settings this seemed to be the case (you'll see what I mean if you open a picture using Windows Photo Viewer, maximize the window and notice the color of the border surrounding the image), and using the monitor color profile that ships with the LCD (which Adobe Photoshop CS3 reports as being corrupted), but after customizing the monitor settings and getting a new color profile generated by Windows 7, this color turned from the "yellowish" hue to a light blue color as was displayed by my previous LCD (this of course is based on my current color scheme found in Windows 7).
Games play flawlessly, with good color, picture quality and vibrancy. No bleeding or blur with this 2ms response time display. The monitor includes presets for gaming, but if you calibrate the monitor properly this seems to be unneeded. Your mileage may vary depending on personal preference, but using in-game settings with brightness, contrast etc. can help get the job done. Games I tested in 1920x1080 were Crysis, the Half-Life 2 series, Far Cry 2, Unreal Tournament III, Stalker: Clear Sky, Street Fighter IV Benchmark (now available for download) and Bejeweled Twist. All played perfectly, again no blur or bleeding. I tested out a HD copy of "The Dark Knight" with no issues, perfect clarity in all respects. Some complaints (again from "professional" reviews) state that there is some white light bleed-through at the top edge of the screen on dark pictures. I found this to be very minor and not distracting at all. My desktop wallpaper images are native to 1920x1080 which is crisp and clear, so you'll probably want to find some HD or widescreen wallpapers for your viewing pleasure.
Settings for the monitor I have found to be optimal (at least for myself) are as follows:
Picture, Brightness: 50
Picture, Contrast: 76
Picture, Sharpness: 68
MagicBright: Custom
Response Time: Normal
Color, MagiColor: Off
Red: 50
Green: 50
Blue: 50:
Color Tone: Custom
Color Effect: Off
Gamma: Mode1
It may also be advantageous to use the ClearType technology built into Windows (MacOS probably has something similar), again personal preference so your mileage may vary. Windows 7 is a bit more extensive in customizing ClearType than prevoius versions of Windows.
I am very pleased with this monitor and would recommend it to anyone looking for a quality display at a reasonable price.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not a Pro Monitor, August 12, 2009
I just purchased this monitor to replace and older high end Dell LCD display (Is there such a thing?). And what I can tell you is that this is a great looking monitor from a design point of view but really does not pass the test. If you are working on spreadsheets only --- this might be the monitor that does the trick! Not sure if I had a defective unit but when viewing dark photos of dark movies ... the top and bottom of the monitor had about a 1 inch band of lightness / leakage from the backlighting inside the monitor.
With bright color images and a truly white screen all looks just fine ... but the monitor is also a bit on the dim side overall. I have both an apple cinema display and a older Dell and both of these monitors are easier on the eyes.
In addition --- the viewing angle on this one is such that you can see a difference from corner to corner on the screen. Like i said --- perhaps my unit is defective ... and I think it might have been ... but this one is going back after one night on the desk. Also --- the comments about the stand are right on ... this is a big monitor for this stand base and although it is a 10+ on design looks ... I think it is more like a bobble head on function. Really bums me out to return it because it is a great screen to look at from looks ... but not from function.
PS - I did play with the calibration, brightness, and contrast settings. Unless you don't mind 2 ellipses of extra light in the top and bottom of the screen when looking at darker hued images and or movies this is probably not the one for you. I know some may say --- but it is a monitor --- yes but it is a wide screen monitor and one could imagine the movies would on the menu for a monitor of this size and stature. Thank you Amazon for the great customer service.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
First Samsung Monitor I've Been Disappointed With, November 18, 2009
In an attempt to be sleek, the base is woobly. Plus it doesn't have the holes in the back that are needed if you want to mount it to a stand. Picture quality and price are fine.
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