Puppies, Butterflys, Babies, and sunrises...I'd trade them all for this monitor!
Written: Sep 06 '03 (Updated Feb 14 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Big, bright, colorful, clear, sharp, lightweight, flat!
Cons: There are cons?
The Bottom Line: If you're looking for something in this price range and this size and style, I don't know why you wouldn't buy it.
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| zoogelsnof's Full Review: Samsung SyncMaster 213 T (Silver) 21.3" LCD Monito... |
As to the title:Well, not really, but you get the point.
The Story (why this monitor?):
Let’s talk about monitors okay? Let’s assume, just for a second, that we are obsessed with monitors, and one brand in particular. Now lets assume that that brand sells out to a brand that we hate. Now lets assume we need a new monitor. That is the situation I was in a few weeks ago. Nokia, my long time favorite, (I’ve owned 3 Nokia monitors, each better then the one before it, only one of the three ever burned out and that was after 7 years of 6-18 of use a day.) I still have the second, a lovely 17 inch CRT that works as well today as it did when I bought it 5 years ago. (Well, I assume it still works, it did when I put it in storage) And my third, and most amazing Nokia 445PRO, a 21 inch 70 pound behemoth that was larger then my TV at the time.
Well, I recently moved to Boston and the prospect of shipping a 70 pound monitor did not really excite me. First, just shipping a 70 pound object from Los Angeles to Boston would cost me about $80 and the cost of boxing it up properly and protecting it and insuring it and then shipping it would’ve run me closer to $150. Also my apartment here in Boston is far, far, smaller then it was in LA and there is a lot less room for a monitor that is about 12-18 inches deep all around. So I say, “Ah! I will simply purchase a new flat screen Nokia monitor, for surely Nokia has kept up with the times and made a flat screen right?”
Unfortunately I was inaccurate in this assessment. Nokia had sold out, and not just sold out, but sold out to VIEWSONIC! Viewsonic is one of my arch nemesis companies because their monitors are pieces of crap that usually live about a day past their warranty period and then start getting all screwed up.
What was I to do?? I needed a monitor! Well, I decided not to panic, and to start hunting for a new monitor. I’m not some 80 year old man who thinks the CD-Rom drive is a cup holder, I can search around and find a good monitor. The first place I went was the shelves of my store, at this point I realized that my store has a really poor selection of monitors, nothing in a 21 inch, and very little in the quality level I was looking for. However, it did help me established a few important criteria for my hunt and so I was off.
The first thing to do was to establish the brand I wanted. The long and the short of that hunt through many webpages, reviews, etc, was that I wanted Samsung. They have the most consistently high reviews, and the fewest complaints to federal authorities about problems.
I had a budget of $1,000 to buy the monitor, which then guided me into this one. It was the right size, for the right money, and had the right statistics. It was $200 over budget, but I’ll deal with it.
So lets delve into the critical criteria here:
Out of the Box(it’s so flat!):
The unit comes in a sturdy cardboard box with a carrying handle! A touch that was so nice since I had to carry it about 4 blocks from my mailbox to my apartment.
The monitor was encased in two pieces of Styrofoam and clearly well held down and sealed in. It came complete with a three cords, power, traditional video cable, and digital video cable. It came with two CD’s, a drivers/setup guide and a special program so that you can rotate the monitor to any position and have it still look right. Also came with warranty cards and information. It comes with parts and labor for 3 years for any defect. They will only replace for dead pixels if there are more then 8.
It is awe inspiring to behold the first time, it’s just so big! It’s unbelievable that such a huge screen can, at the same time, be only about 2 inches deep.
Set Up(Hey! There’s an extra cord here!):
The cables, except for power, are attached out of the box. It was a simple issue of plugging the VGA cable into my laptop (my desktop is still in a box from Los Angeles.) It also comes with a digital connection which it claims enhances image quality if your video card can support it. Mine can’t, but I’m going to buy a new one just I can check out this feature and then I’ll update this review.
The drivers are easy to install, just a few clicks and they’re their. It supports all resolutions up to some ungodly high number, but it seems most comfortable in 1027 x 768.
Features(What’s the, “auto” button do?):
If you’re like me, every time you switch monitors or resolutions you have to spend 15 minutes stretching the screen, and compressing the screen, and orienting and rotating and all that stuff with those tiny little buttons on the bottom of the screen which are completely impossible to use and figure out. Not so on the Samsung SyncMaster 213T! It has, for the first time I’ve ever seen it, an, “auto” button. I just press that button and it, completely automatically, reforms the screen to fill the space perfectly and exactly. It also has all the standard controls for brightness and contrast and color and stretching and such if you want to play with it yourself.
Color(10,000 shades of purple):
Imagine how crispy a French fry that got stuck at the bottom of a vat of oil at a McDonalds would be after about 40 years. Pretty dang crispy right? Well, not nearly as crispy as this monitor. There are background logos embedded in programs that I’ve straight up never seen before. It’s bright, beautiful and colorful.
Ease of Adjustment(It does LANDSCAPE!):
My old monitor, bless its heart, was great, but he did weigh 70 pounds, and changing his position took 10 minutes of concentrated effort and grunting loudly. This thing took lessons from greased pigs on how to move. It pivots, it rolls, it rotates, it turns, and tilts with almost no effort what-so-ever. It literally goes into full landscape mode, rotating a complete 90 degree’s for any time I ever have a desire to do that.
Viewing Window(Come stand in a wide semi-circle around me!):
The single most remarkable thing about this monitor, from my perspective is that it can be viewed from almost any angle with perfect clarity. You can see text clearly on the screen at up to a 170 degree angle! Try that on your CRT, you get about 10 degree’s off axis and things start to get fuzzy.
Overall:
WOW! I love this monitor! It does everything I could possibly want a monitor to do, and much more. I have no dead pixels, and I can’t, in all honestly, think of a single feature it doesn’t have that I would want. If you’re looking for a great, huge, clear, lightweight, expensive monitor, stop looking and purchase the Samsung SyncMaster 213T.
Grades:
Clarity: A
Features: A
Ease of Setup: A
Overall: A
The numbers:
It has a 500:1 contrast ratio, 250 cd/m2, a maximum supported resolution of 1600x1200(UXGA) @60 Hz and a DPI of .27. It weighs 11.2 pounds, dimensions are 18.6 x 18 x 8.7 inches. The monitor isn’t that thick, but the base is. 3 year warranty, parts and labor. (Samsungusa.com)
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1240
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
zoogelsnof
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Member: Zac Cramer
Location: Boston, Mass.
Reviews written: 48
Trusted by: 17 members
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