Worth Almost Every Penny
Written: Dec 05 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great quality from Samsung. Awesome Combination
Cons: Price
The Bottom Line: Great quality and great features, although there is room for improvement. Great product if you can afford it.
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| rowzbay's Full Review: Samsung SyncMaster 170 MP (White) 17 in. Flat Pane... |
I didn't really need a new monitor when I saw this one sale at Circuit City, but a flat panel was a dream for me at the time. Having just moved into a smaller room than usual I decided that my old flat tube Trinitron (a big fat sony) had to go - especially since I scratched the middle of the screen with a knife. Before I got this though, I asked my friends what they thought of it (they had flat panels already). First thing my friend told me was that this flat panel won't lag like his does. Second thing he told me was that my eyes will feel much better because of it's higher frequency at 1280x1024. Third thing he told - and this has to do with flat panels he says - the frequency for a flat panel is not to be compared to that of a tube monitor. I had been running my old tube monitor at 60Hz, I run this badboy at 75Hz now. much better on my eyes, although 85Hz is recommended. but! 75Hz on a flat panel is better than 75Hz on a flat tube, so I figure it's at least 85Hz. Another reason to upgrade.
I need to run windows at 1280x1024. It's an addiction. I started with 640x480 in windows 95. then i slowly went up to 1024x768. When I got windows 2000 i had to go with 1280x1024. Since then I've been getting headaches from sitting behind the computer for more than hour. 60Hz will do that to you, but this monitor has kept me from getting headaches after a few hours (not recommended of course :P). Along with that, the quality of the picture is just great. I use other monitors and just can't deal with the picture quality on them. I end up thinking "I can't wait to get back to my monitor". I don't know if this the case for everybody but the monitor is a very big thing to me when it comes to computers. If you can't see everything as clear as you want to see then it doesn't really matter how much money you invest in your box (although i do invest quite a bit - making my own computer at home). I've been ignoring this part of me until I got this monitor. Now using the computer is a better experience and I don't get annoyed with my old low quality display.
Next to my monitor I have an Xbox (just purchased today). This combination is just great. Maybe i should have taken a step up and purchased the 171MP so as use my Xbox in high definition, but that isn't a big deal to me. The quality on this monitor is better than the other TV's in my house, although the Sony Wega at home might have better quality, but that cost about the same price as this monitor, and that's only a TV. My cable has been busted since I moved into my house so I haven' been able to check out the cable in features but from what I've read it's just as good as everything else, and if that's the case then I'd have to say that all features on this monitor are the best I've seen and used.
The connectors on the back might are in the best location I think. The fact the cords hang down make it much cleaner than having all of the cords stick out towards the back. You can push this monitor all the way back if you want because the cords won't come out farther than the stand - which, by the way, will let you tilt the monitor so that you can get a good view of everything. The speakers aren't the best, but that shouldn't be expected from something at this price. The feature of having audio out is a good idea too because I have better speakers hooked up to this.
The menu is ok, I don't really use it. The auto adjustment feature is great, with one click of a button it'll set up your monitor just right for your input. The picture-in-picture is also good too, but I would've loved it if i could use picture-in-picture with any input during any input (confusing huh?) - what I mean is, use video-in-1 with a picture-in-picture of PC. The remote control could use some work too, seems like the signal is not strong enough or something, or I just don't seem to understand that I need to point it at the top of the monitor (an odd location).
This monitor is just too good. I often have the habit of writing all of the bad stuff at the end, so if you leave this review thinking that I don't like the monitor I suggest you read the begining again :).
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 650
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
rowzbay
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Reviews written: 4
Trusted by: 0 members
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