Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Display, Fully Satisfied, October 26, 2006
I had never used a widescreen display before, so it was a bit of a leap to spend this kind of money on this device; I didn't know whether I'd like the format or not.
Well, I personally have found:
1.) Widescreen is a great format both for watching movies and doing work, as it enables you, if you wish, to display 2 roughly letter sized pages alongside one another. Also almost every DVD coming out now supports the wide aspect ratio.
2.) This is an exceptionally high quality monitor. Its housing design is slim and sleek and does not draw attention to itself, unlike some of the ones that have silver and flashy stuff all around the screen. Rather, it allows the user to focus on the display. The screen resolution is standard for the size, 1440x900, and this seems more than adequate for all but the most demanding graphic design.
3.) This is a very robust product with regard to support. My entire computer crashed and all I had to do, once the system was repaired, was to go to the Samsung website and download the driver. Furthermore, unlike some LCDs that require manual adjustment of every little thing such as contrast, etc. Samsung has an "AUTO" button that simply and effectively does these for the user.
All in all, if you are looking for a widescreen 19" LCD, I highly recommend the 640BW. I do not work for Samsung; in fact, I am partial to ViewSonic products and was planning on getting one but it was not a good deal vs. this product at the time.
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25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Every Bit Worth the Price, September 12, 2006
Want to get into LCD monitors for nearly $100 cheaper than most LCD screens?
Look no further, because this is your screen.
The price? Every bit worth the $200-range price tag that it could be (just think it could be more!). Most monitors at 19" (let alone not even widescreen) still selling for nearly $350 or more in stores and even online. It won't take your wallet, but it will take your breath away. I looked for ages for an affordable LCD screen that I could use for gaming, graphics, and general use. I was disappointed by the featureless screens that are no more than a brick sitting at your desk, and for $200 I expected more than a 15" screen! I was absolutely flabberghasted by the affordability.
This dangerously thin LCD has an unheard of (for this price) 4ms repsonse time, enough to do gaming (World of Warcraft, iRO, Black and White 2) and get the most out of your MMORPG 64 fps.
With all the pluses of this screen (wide, affordable, large screen area, 300 lumens of BRIGHTNESS) it's hard to imagine any drawbacks to this affordable alternative to heavy CRT screens. The only drawback being that it cannot rotate to portrait. This screen is only destined to stay in its landscape world.
Excellent monitor.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Pleasant Surprise! But Check Your System First., April 29, 2007
I bought my Samsung 940BW from a local electronics center. I would also like to share what I know about it since items I bought from Amazon has always met my satisfaction owing to the good reviews I read about them here.
Everything that the other reviewers found very good about the Samsung 940BW is true. It's display is tack sharp from corner to corner. It is unbelievably thin yet hefty, too. I was originally looking for the 940N model (4:3 aspect) not the wide screen but now that I saw how the 940BW performs, I wouldn't have it any other way. This LCD display is worth every penny you pay for it in terms of performance, good looks and bang for the buck.
There is only one very, very important catch to have all these benefits from your 940BW: Your computer system must be able to display a resolution of 1400 x 900 pixels and 60Hz the native format of the 940BW. Just like what the other reviewer said. LCD 101: Use the 1400x900 format. This is the key. Let me break this down into question-and-answer.
Question 1: How do I know that my computer can handle 1400x900 pixels?
Answer 1: Here's one way that worked for me. In your present setup, go to your system display properties. Look for the slider that changes your screen resolution. Move it towards the right. If it can go to 1600x1200 and beyond, then your system can handle 1400X900. My maximum before I hooked up the 940BW was 1600x1200, 85Hz. After I hooked it up display properties magically changed this maximum value to 1400X900, 75Hz all by itself, without me doing anything else! My 80.xx-series nVidia drivers, GeForce4 MX 128MB video card and Windows XP Home identified it as Samsung SyncMaster automatically. I am using the native format of 1400x900 but at 75Hz (instead of 60Hz.)
Question 2: How would my images and digital pictures appear at this 1400x900 format? Would not this widescreen format distort the images?
Answer 2: This is the beauty of the 940BW on its native resolution of 1400x900. It will not distort your images! My square digital pictures (800x800) appeared exactly square on the LCD. Whatever size your images are, that's the way they will occupy space on the desktop. Everything (icons, MS Office elements, etc...) will be the correct size, too. You will gain genuine pixel real estate, not interpolated space.
Question 3: Can it also support other resolutions?
ANswer 3: Yes it can, but the look and feel suffers. In my system the LCD display properties can go from 800x600 to 1400x900 with about half a dozen other incremental resolutions in between. At any resolution other than 1400x900 I noticed any of these or a combination of these:
* desktop, workspace and all elements therein appeared thin or squashed.
* icons have "doubles" around them. (ghosting)
* there is an empty black space on the desktop.
* images appeared stretched, either hozontally or vertically.
Question 4: How does the display elements look like on 1400x900 format compared to say, a 17" CRT monitor?
Answer 4: For me they look to be the same size as they were on my former 17" CRT at 1024x768. Icons are smallish (maybe an optical illusion because of the much larger screen of the 19" wide format) but not uncomfortably so. Just right. Tack sharp. Full colors. No ghosting or jaggies. If you set your display higher that 1400x900 (assuming it can) then the icons will appear even smaller and you might have to deal with the wrong aspect ratios again.
Question 5: Is this LCD any good for image editing?
Answer 5: That would depend on how picky you are. In a digital photography forum where I am a member there is a pro photog who uses two 940BWs side by side when editing images. There were many other serious photography enthusiasts who recommend this LCD as alternative to more expensive (read U$1000+) LCDs. As with most LCDs, your impression of the brightness and hue of image on screen will shift with your viewing angle. Critical when image editing. This despite the generous 160degree viewing angle of the 940BW. When viewed exactly perpendicular to your line-of-sight, the images are correctly rendered for image fine tuning. I use this LCD for image editing myself and I can work with this limitation easily. For MS Office work and movies, this issue isn't even worth spending 5 seconds to think about.
Question 6: There was mentioned in harware forums the issue of LCD backlight on the bottom and top of the screen. What's up with this?
Answer 6: I am not from Samsung but I can say that this is not a defect. I think this is a naturally occurring phenomenon from the manufacturing of the LCD and does not affect it's performance. It's visible and even then, barely so, and only when your screen is totally black. If this was not mentioned in forums, I would have not bothered hunting for it since it isn't noticeable. But just so you know, it's there. This so called backlight is barely visible at the bottom and top, if you turn your screen totally black and look for it.
My unit came with adjustable stand allowing the LCD to be elevated a few cm and to tilt. The grey frame is subdued. It does not have any of those shiny logos to reflect light and annoy you. I have not tested this LCD for intensive games as I have a PS2 for that purpose. My video card can handle only analog so I can't say how it will perform on the digital output. But it's there when you need it.
This is such a fine LCD for the price offered. Unless you plan on spending more for a specialist LCD I highly recommend the Samsung 940BW. Just remember first to check your computer system for compatibility to 1400x900.
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