My 213 T blew me away
Written: Mar 23 '05 (Updated Mar 25 '05)
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Pros: Bright, stunning, lots of pixel real estate, pivots effortlessly (as long as stalk's extended)
Cons: Vague setup instructions for analog/digital hookup. Pivot Pro doesn't load resident.
The Bottom Line: Some set-up woes (see review), but I love it, love it, love it for all my photo, surfing, e-mailing, and writing work.
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| bigpics's Full Review: Samsung SyncMaster 213 T (Silver) 21.3" LCD Monito... |
Spent 2 years researching large LCD monitors, given the reservations about pink corners, off tones and casts, dead pixels, slow response, etc.
I was also waiting for either the 213T to get cheap, or preferably, to be replaced by a next gen model -- or for somebody else to bring out a better one. Very few new monitors have appeared in this category since then (WHY NOT?? Big monitors are GREAT! And more pixels add as much to the user experience as more MB or HZ), but my wait did save me about $350 as the price did decline.
Anyway, love the thing. Zero dead or stuck pixels, no variation in illumination from corner to corner that I can see (I'm a photographer with lots of PShop hours under my belt, but I'm not very sensitive to color casts, so can't comment meaningfully on that).
I have a Monaco colorimeter, but so far haven't even bothered to use it, since pix already match printed output very well (but I will calibrate it eventually, of course, soon as I can get to it in the midst of all my new computing components).
What I also wanted to MAINLY point out along with the other positive reviews, is how INCREDIBLY useful the portrait mode is when you're working on anything with long lists, like your e-mail inboxes, address books and long web pages. Not to mention blowing up word processing pages to really see layout and a full page of text you can read from FEET away. Not to mention critical editing of portrait mode photographs.
This is really neglected in most reviews. And makes me so happy I didn't pay a lot more for an Apple monitor that won't even do this...... ...and it pivots very easily and quickly as long as the stalk's extended.
Also, not sure if everyone understands that getting a bigger monitor is DIFFERENT than buying a bigger TV. You don't see the same things bigger (tho' you get to do that too), you get to see many more things at the same size -- i.e., the concept of a larger, more versatile work space.
Finally, when you run the iTunes Visualizer in full screen mode, well -- you aren't gonna find a better lava lamp for the early 21st century. I also like the visuals in BOTH portrait and landscape. They have different qualities.....
Someone in another review on some site talked about an annoying delay in start up when you turn the monitor off. I find it negligible and no bother at all. PS: Use a moving screen saver, according to Samsung. (Plus turn it off when you're away from the screen -- it couldn't hurt and is more ecological and thrifty.)
Brickbats (nothing's perfect):
The manual (and my first contact with Samsung) implies you should connect BOTH the DVI and VGA cables to a dual equipped video card. It runs in that config, but you CANNOT access Digital mode. They were actually in the process of shipping me a new 213T from the factory when I found out on my own that all I had to do was disconnect the analog connector.
Also, I did not find the Samsung software to be impressive, and after several BSOD bootups that may have had nothing to do with the Samsung (I was making many simultaneous additions to hardware and software), I went back to an earlier restore point and didn't bother to reinstall either their color utility or their driver (I'm running on the MS P'n'P driver with no probs).
Finally, the Pivot Pro software doesn't load resident, even tho' its tab in the Display Control Panel says it's set up to do this. I found the program folder and added a link on the desktop and double-click the exe file (wpctrl.exe) to start it.
Pivot Pro support gave me a procedure they say will solve the problem, but again, since I have a simple kludge solution, I haven't tried their fix yet.
UPDATE (3/25):
Other choices....
Want to mention for fairness that I was also considering the HP2335 and several monitors from Sony, NEC, Phillips -- but couldn't find a store that carried ANY of them, nor the new Samsung 243 (all of which cost somewhat or considerably more)-- nor several highly rated 20 and 20.3" monitors from LaCie, HP, Dell, Eizo and several others) so the Samsung and the Apple were the only two I was able to actually see.
And for this kind of money for something whose purpose is to be LOOKED at, I just couldn't go "sight unseen."
So it's conceivable that these may be as good or better (or not) -- still bottom line, I love it.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 818
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
bigpics
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Member: Jim K
Location: Spring Valley, NY, USA
Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Semipro fine art photographer, Photoshop near-expert, Computer Power User, obsessive product and vendor researcher.
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