I bought the Samsung SyncMaster 213T on Ebay last week and finally received it this morning. I will never go back to a CRT monitor again. Immediately after opening the box and taking a glance at this screen I realized just how large it was. Prior to, I was using an old bulky Gateway2000 17" CRT monitor which weighed about 50 lbs, and had an actual viewing area of 15.9" (the marketers really know how to make things sound good). The Samsung 213T weighs about 14 lbs, takes up about 1/3 the space and has about 5.4" more diagonal viewing space. Additionally, after looking at the specs it looks like it is using less electricity than my old monitor.

The monitor has two inputs. One is the standard analog 15 pin input which all CRT monitors have and the second is the digital DVI input. According to the documentation, the DVI mode delivers better quality because the signal is not translated from digital to analog and from analog back to digital, it is digital all the time. Unfortunately, the docking station that I am using with the laptop does not seem to be able to support this mode yet although it has a DVI output. I will need to do more research to find out why I can't use the digital mode.

With that said, everything else about the monitor is great. Aesthetically it is very pleasing. It is very thin in every respect. The screen supports a 1600x1200 resolution but I prefer the 1280x1024. Everything that is displayed is very sharp/crisp. Because I use the computer on a daily basis, it is a great relief for my eyes and not just because it is large and crisp but also because it does not suffer from the magnetic interference that all CRTs suffer from. Believe it or not, that is what prompted me to buy an LCD screen in the first place. After I moved to my new apartment I realized that because of the way the electrical wiring was done, whenever I would turn on the A/C or any other high comsuming electrical device, my old CRT screen would start shaking, vibrating, etc. I could not bear to look at it for too long. Now with this LCD screen, because of the liquid crystals, I do not get any distortion, so I can chill with the A/C on and let me eyes relax at last, which brings me to another thing I read about these screens which is that they do not emit radiation, so they are better for your health every which way.

The luminocity on the screen is decent as well. As you have probably deduced for yourself, I have nothing bad to say about this item. Also to top it off, I got a good deal on Ebay on it. I think it retails for about $1500 plus tax and I bought it for under $1000.

With all that said, if you haven't made the move from CRT to LCD you should. Except for the price, they are better in every respect. Some people say they suffer from image ghosting problems but I have yet to see a ghost. Besides, every LCD manufacturer is working on increasing the refresh rates so they are already approaching the rates of CRTs and will probably surpass them soon. Ghosting was a problem of the past during the reign of the old laptop screen. The new large LCDs do not suffer.

In closing I want to say that it is refreshing to see Samsung, a South Korean corporation, producing such high quality products as these screens, which in my opinion are better than Sonys. I have always told my friends that South Korea is going to surpass Japan one day as a technological leader. Their screens and cell phones are definitely proof of that but who knows for sure...

Addendum: I was able to get the screen working in DVI mode. I configured the video card (mobility ATI Radeon 7500) to use multiple monitors and now when I dock the laptop to the LCD screen it automatically uses the DVI mode and when connected to a CRT screen at work it uses the analog 15pin port.</p>

Recommended:
Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 996
Operating System: Windows