After upgrading several of my PC's internal parts I finally decided to upgrade the monitor. An important piece of hardware as the right monitor can not only improve readability but save space and energy. This decision came a year or two back when I saw Best Buy's black Friday ad for this 22" Widescreen monitor for only $199.99. I was still using a pretty old and bulky 17" and was overdue for an upgrade. I was using a CRT model for gaming for quite a while as CRT's were recommended over LCD screen due to faster response times. Well as technology continued to improve the response times in LCD screens improved and prices dropping I just couldn't resist. I got up nice and early and headed to Best Buy and grabbed myself this monitor.

The Look

As was previously stated this monitor is 22" with black trim all around the edges. SyncMaster 220WM is in the upperleft hand corner in white while SAMSUNG is centered right underneath the display. I prefer the all black sleek look to my previous monitor. It is much easier to keep clean too.

The Features

· 22" Widescreen Display - a nice size monitor good for gaming while not being too big. While you may want something larger for watching movies etc it still does a nice job as I've watched plenty of TV shows, movies, and anime on this monitor. It has a 1680 x 1050 Native Resolution which is what I use. All the icons display at a nice size and are easy to see.

· 5 MS Response Time - something gamers consider important the faster the monitor responds the quicker they can act on what they see on the screen. While a few MS might not make much of a difference larger gaps can. 5 MS is a acceptable level for gaming and was the industry low at the time I purchased.

· The Stand - with the monitor you get a stand you can mount it on that does a nice job securing your monitor, unfortunately however it does not allow you to swivel or tilt your monitor at all. For those of you who are interested the monitor can be wall mounted as well.

· Buttons - your control and menu buttons are centered on the bottom of your monitor. You have access to the menu, a quick brightness setting changes for different things ranging from Games, Internet Browsing, to Movie viewing. There is the source button if for whatever reason you wanted to switch between digital and analog and both were hooked up. There is also the auto adjust button for quick monitor setup and the power button.

· Hookup - a nice thing about this monitor is it has both the option for DVI and VGA hookup. You get all the required cables for either setup as well as the audio setup. Also comes with DVI and VGA adapters.

· Speakers - While there are speakers I wouldn't expect too much out of them. They do an okay job but if you are using your PC for gaming or an audiophile you will want to look into a different speaker setup.

· 3 year warranty - When I purchased this monitor it also came with a 3 year warranty

· Energy Star Rating - Epinions says it is a FCC Class B rating not quite sure what that entails however I do know it should be saving my electricity bill.

· Other Tech Specs - Not going to explain what each of these is but thought I'd list them so you'd know  Contrast Ratio 700:1, Brightness 300 cd/m2, HDCP Support, Dot Pitch 0.282 mm

My Experience

Like I had mentioned I had been using an old CRT for a number of years. I was amazed at the difference in colors I was getting upon hooking up my new monitor. Generally you think of the graphics card when it comes to this. However this monitor made a huge impact on how my games were displayed. Everything was much brighter and so much easier to see. Previously I had to turn up my gamma on certain maps in FPS games like Counter Strike Source in order to be able to see. Thanks to this monitor not only was a able to play on a better resolution with bigger models, but I was able to see everything going on in the game significantly better, especially in those dark corners.

I was amazed at how much desk space I saved with this. I was able to push my desk further back closer to the wall as well as having room for my mouse and keyboard on the desk again rather in one of those roll out trays. Cleared up about 1/4th of the desk the old CRT monitor was taking up. Setup was a breeze I just adjusted my resolution now that I had a new monitor. Brightness and Contrast were fine so I really didn't have to adjust anything else.

I've owned the monitor for 2+ years now and have had zero problems as far as dead pixels or any other concerns you might have with an LCD monitor. The only minor annoyance is the blue LED light continues to blink when powering off my PC unless I turn the monitor or powersupply off. Not a big deal but if you don't like turning your power supply off when you power down or turning on and off your monitor it can be annoying. With my PC in my room I have to do one of the two or it aggravates me as I try to sleep.

Note: This monitor is being used along with a GeForce 8800GT graphics card

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 199.99
Operating System: Windows