Samsung revisited
Written: May 17 '05 (Updated May 19 '05)
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Pros: A dollar goes a long way with Samsung products
Cons: Plain looks with lack of DVI cable and hard to read buttons
The Bottom Line: Look at the features, price, and the picture it displays and then you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya?
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| nutrasweet's Full Review: Samsung SyncMaster 930B 19 inch LCD Monitor |
HISTORY: Three years have past since my last monitor purchase and review (see Samsung 955DF). Many changes have taken place such as the increase demand for LCDs and the increasing acceptance of Samsung as a brand that paves the way to leading edge technology in this area. One area that Samsung remains to be beaten would be its competitive pricing with feature rich reliable products.
THE UPGRADE: With that said and based on my prior Samsung experience, I've decided to upgrade to a 19" LCD during the times when gazillion rebates are flashing before you on every Friday and Sunday's newspaper ads. What about the old Samsung 955DF you ask? Well, that will serve as my second system in the guest room and it is still running as beautifully as when I purchased it 3 years ago.
THE PURCHASE: After a day's worth of research, the best price I found was at Best Buy at $429.99 with a $80 rebate. That would basically bring the total to $350+tax. Amazing... can you believe that is the price for a 19" LCD! But wait, there are so many 19" LCD out there currently that are offered at the same or even less e.g. Acer, Princeton, V7, MAG, KDS, Gem, Hyundai etc... hmmm... well let's start diving into the specs.
THE GOODS: What differentiate the men from the boys would be their packages. The features that stand out on paper would be 700:1 contrast ratio, 8ms response time, digital/analog dual inputs (but no DVI cable), 300 cd/m brightness, TCO99. The picture seems a bit clearer now once you put all these features into perspective and with a $350 price tag offering, it was hard to beat (except for the Hyundai L90D+ which had similar specs/price). The monitor comes in a nice matte black exterior finish and had no dead pixel. Lastly and more importantly, I was able to save about a 'boxful' of space on my desk.
THE NUANCES: The height is non-adjustable thus you may deploy the aid of your neighborhood's phonebook to boost another 3 inches from the ground level; the buttons and writings are also in black surrounded by the black matte finish (go figure?!?) but at least it could give you that "stealth" look; no DVI cable but has DVI input (a bit cheap IMO on Samsung's part but whatever keeps the price down; majority don't use DVI anyhow and with my non-superhuman eye, I can't really tell the difference between analog vs digital when I tried them both; DVI cable would cost about $10-30 extra, don't pay for anything more); disturbed by the whole deal with best viewed at "native" resolution (but this is the limitation of LCDs altogether); skimpy on the paper instructions (majority is contained on the CD) but at least we're saving the trees; hardly any "professional" reviews posted since the monitor is a fairly new model.
PERFORMANCE: Looks good. Brightness was sufficient and even had to be toned down initially. Several preset settings that can be controlled via MagicTune program. Fast response does help since there's no lag that I've seen with some gaming but I'm not an intense gamer thus you may want to evaluate this section based on your 14-day or 30-day trial period depending on the store's policy. Text wise, it looks crisp and clear. Movies was good to excellent to view (think it looks better than my 955DF CRT). Overall, it meets and even exceeds day-to-day all-purpose activity that I'm accustomed to.
Note: there is also a new type of LCD that has that extra coating or glass layer that adds extra brightness and so call clarity to the picture (I've seen these in some Sony and NEC models called Xbrite technology) It's great if you have the money for it (kinda pricey IMO) but with any kind of glass type of screen, it tends to produce glare so watch out for reflections when these monitors are tilted at an angle. They are nice looking though.
BOTTOM LINE: Besides from just comparing the specs on a piece of paper, I would recommend taking a look at these individual LCD personally before making any purchase decision, reason being varies from different tastes in their exterior (it's looks) and the actual image it displays (softer/harder, brighter/dimmer, vibrant/neutral etc...). Play with the buttons, make adjustments, and feel it out between various monitors. I would also recommend buying it at your local store instead of the internet reason being you have time to play with before you decide to keep it, check for dead pixels, and lastly prevent returning things via the mail because of 1 dead pixel or change of heart not to mention at an added cost to you for shipping. Just be patient and scope the ads for rebates, price drop, and maybe see if they price match. Once the price is within your allowed budget, go for it! Just remember, prices between 17" vs 19" LCD are not that greatly different, thus go for the real estate. Coming from a man's perspective, the bigger the better :) Overall, I am pleased with my purchase and will recommend it to any potential LCD buyers who is looking and remain confused amongst the myriad number of choices.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 350 plus tax
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
nutrasweet
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Member: Danny
Location: San Diego, CA
Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 1 member
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