LCD monitors have been dropping in price unlike any other computer component in the last 2 years. At the same time they get bigger and better for less money. What seemed like a pricey proposal in 2004 is now an entry level model. The 19 inch 940B falls into that category. We would have been virtually drooling over one of those not too long ago, but today the "low budget" feeling is all to present. So how much monitor do $250 get you these days?


IN A NUTSHELL

My company went cheap at first and retrofitting with the 940B(e) seemed like a reasonable choice. I have to admit that I may be more demanding than most users, but the 940 did not fit my bill at all and I traded soon after for the Samsung SyncMaster 244T ... a much better fit for my professional needs (CAD & DTP). But the SyncMaster 940B has its purpose and many users may be fine with it. Gamers would be one group, especially if your graphics card falls into the mid range power level having difficulty feeding more pixels than the 1280x1048 the 940B provides. Refresh rate is good and otherwise the 940B fits many basic needs, especially considering the price. However, it's not the best choice in many ways and the limited stand of the 940B is one of the reasons. Go for the 940Be if you insist on 940 series.

Professionals: [**---] The SyncMaster 940B belongs in standard office applications but ergonomics are greatly limited due to the annoying viewing angle limitations and the very restrictive stand of the 940B. Word processing and similar application are fine if you stay relatively static in front of the monitor. Color consistency and brightness vary greatly by viewing angle and far too much for any kind of DTP applications. CAD applications may be fine, but the resolution may be limiting for demanding users (like myself).

Gamers: [***--] Unlike "older" monitors, response time is not an issue with the 940B. At eight milliseconds (0.008 sec) this is well within video capabilities and there is virtually no situation where the ghosting becomes visible. This seeming greatness is strongly limited by the viewing angle. Despite the moderate sounding 160 degree, brightness shifts are already very visible beyond roughly 100 degree. Video inconsistency depending on the viewers position turn into an annoyance that's hard to ignore -- as most gamers engage vividly in action games.

Home: [****-] It may sound benign, but most users are not as demanding and many home computers are downgraded to access the Internet for most of the time. In such applications, the low cost and reasonable performance win the argument. It's also a fairly large monitor for the money and may well exceed many needs in this regard. (Just make sure to match the native resolution since many home users still downgrade display quality by reducing resolution to increase text size instead of the more proper system settings (i.e. large fonts). (Native resolution at standard settings may appear too small for some viewers)

Follow this link to find out: "How to find the right monitor for you."


DETAILS

Panel Size: [****-] The nineteen inches are a a good size to fit a letter sized page in portrait mode and still have room for controls. It's also a reasonable compromise in landscape mode with nearly 90% for the same page. Either way, it's typically a single page only and the relatively low pixel count of 1280x1048 prevents smaller magnifications from being legible (i.e. double page display). At that amount of information there is no pressing need for a powerful graphics board unless you're attempting to use it for the latest games. (This does not mean that a better board won't yield better results.)

Resolution: [***--] The 0.294 mm pitch translates into a relatively low 86 dpi and pixels start to become quite visible at normal eyesight. It's also a relatively large deviation from Windows' 96 dpi setting which results in 100% being "larger than life". There is rarely a monitor with exactly 96 dpi (ppi) available, and fortunately DTP software like CorelDraw and Illustrator have resolution calibration included. (Using Windows' custom setting typically degrades text rendering.)

Response: [*****] With a rated eight milliseconds of response time, Samsung does not share the details on how this number was measured. Comparing it to similar performing monitors, the measure is most likely grey-grey, which suggests that the black-white-black rating should be around 16 ms. That's fine for 60Hz progressive video refresh rate and "guaranteed" to eliminate ghosting.

Display Quality: [***--] The most visible problem with the 940B is the viewing angle of 160 degree in both orientations. The number suggests moderate performance, but in reality, it reminds me a lot of my old Planar PX171M which was rated at only 140 degree viewing angle. The larger screen might have to do with it but brightness changes are quickly visible when moving in front of the monitor. Despite the high contrast ratio of 700:1, the 300 nits brightness still easily overpowers the black levels and requires reduction anyway (leaving room for age-related degradation). Color depth is limited to the typical 24 bit (16 Mio shades). Weakness in dark color levels is apparent without correction. Check out the Samsung SyncMaster 244T for a much better display quality.

Ergonomics: [***--] The standard base of the 940B meets only minimal ergonomic requirements and sports tilt as the only feature. The 940Be offers much better adjustments with height, tilt and pivot. The latter is purely mechanical and does not feed the screen orientation back to the OS to allow automatic switching. The viewing angle plays into ergonomics as well and eye strain may result from "excessive" brightness variation across the screen. The bezel is thin enough to reduce the strong contrast between the bright screen and surroundings.

Hot/Dead Pixels: [*****] The higher the resolution the greater the difficulty to make sure every single cell is working properly. As mentioned before, the 940B sports a relatively large pitch of 0.294 mm (86 dpi) and that may be the reason for the "lack" of any hot (bright) or dead (dark) pixel -- at least in this particular monitor. This may not be fully representative, but the pitch suggests a higher turnout anyway. (Or call it the Samsung bonus.)

Connectivity: [****-] The SyncMaster 940 connects to your computer via one DVI-D or one VGA port. Both inputs are basically the same and while the user can select via OSD which one to use, there is no good support for two individual sources (preferably 2x DVI-D). Naturally, the DVI-D yields sharper pictures due to avoiding the need for double conversion digital-analog-digital of VGA (LCD monitors and graphics cards are digital by nature.)

Magic?: [****-] Samsung tries to battle typical LCD shortcomings with magic, or at least features they call MagicTune, MagicBright II and MagicColor. All those are geared towards battling dark color rendering issues and boost colors to make the image more vivid. For most consumers within the target group, this is actually a welcome set of features that make media files (i.e. videos) more enjoyable. Even dark corners of some games receive a boost in visibility. Unfortunately those features cannot be turned off quickly, and that makes it less useful for applications where correct color and brightness are needed.


© 2006, theuerkorn

- Planar PX171M - 17 inch LCD monitor
- Viewsonic VP201s - 20 inch LCD monitor
- Samsung SyncMaster 244T - 24 inch LCD monitor
- Colorvision Spyder - monitor calibration

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 250
Operating System: Windows