new model: 955SL
Written: May 23 '00 (Updated Mar 18 '01)
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Pros: Sharpness, low price, short length
Cons: One of two monitors had a pincushion defect which I exchanged
The Bottom Line: These are my standard monitors for high end graphics and other work, and they are so affordable now!
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| c-post's Full Review: Samsung SyncMaster 955SL |
After carefully looking at some of the offerings from different manufacturers out there, and based on this reviewer's long experience with a Samsung 17glsi, I decided to buy Samsung's newest "fresh off the boat" SL (short length) 19 inch offering, the Syncmaster 955SL.
My primary criteria for a monitor is sharpness and no moire effects, and the 955SL has handsomely delivered on these most important criteria. It is rated either a .26 or .22 resolution, depending on which stat sheet you look at, but I am definitely inclined to choose the latter as far as visible results are concerned. No way is this monitor a .26 dpi. Plus I like the fact that the 955SL actually offers two focus controls, one for the outer area of your screen, and another for the inner area of your screen.
It's hard to break the Samsung habit -- I tried. But if one looks very seriously at Viewsonic, Mitsubishi, Sony, and other manufacturers, based on sharpness, it's just a shame that a store like Fry's, for example, doesn't carry ANY Samsung CRTmonitors. Because Samsung is still the best BY FAR for sharpness, detail, and the pixel structure of the mask. You heard it here first, folks.
It is amazing to me how difficult it is to judge monitor quality in a retail store, without being able to use one's own images. Bad connections, worn out merchandise that has been sitting there burning for months, and irrelevant images all make side by side in-store comparisons almost useless.
This reviewer took home a Viewsonic 19" which looked good in the store, and found, to his disappointment, that photoshop images looked chunky and pixellated, pastel and flesh tones did not blend smoothly but had many aliasing artifacts in the colors. The Samsungs I own, including the 17glsi and the three 955SL's, are exceptionally smooth in the way they render images.
After installation to my Windows 95 machine, the control panel immediately (after recognizing the new hardware on bootup) offered the higher resolution option of 1600x1200. Text and images are almost as sharp as a magazine lithograph.
Of three 955SL's which I purchased from two, different internet vendors, one of them had a slight but definitely noticeable concave pincushioning at the top of the screen which could not under any circumstances be eliminated with the onscreen controls. This caused text and graphics in the upper half of the screen to have a slight downwards arc. The other 955SL units had no such defect. The onscreen controls seems to offer corrective settings for every parameter EXCEPT this one.
So I returned the defective 955SL to exchange for one that has normal screen geometry. It took two months to get the replacement, but I waited patiently and it finally came. I think these things may get back ordered sometimes.
I love the sharpness of these monitors so much, and I need the short length in my workspace, that if I had to live with the pincushioning versus another manufacturer's model, I'd likely keep it.
The only flat panel monitors with comparable image quality to a moderate to high end CRT like the 955SL are running over $2500, sometimes well above that figure. For a variety of reasons, this reviewer is not convinced that flat panel displays exceed CRT's in image quality.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 387/411ea
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
c-post
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Location: Los Angeles, California
Reviews written: 26
Trusted by: 2 members
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