Samsung SyncMaster 940BW 19 inch LCD Monitor
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- Aspect Ratio: Widescreen (16:9)
- Response Time: Super Fast (Less than 4.9 ms)
- Contrast Ratio: 500:1
- Screen Size: 19 inch
- Monitor Type: Flat Panel LCD TFT (Active Matrix)
- Family Line: Samsung SyncMaster
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Flat, Wide, and Inexpensive - Will Look Even Better With A New Video Card
Pros
Price. Both Analog and Digital Connections.
Cons
Instructional Manual is horrible and hard to read.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Could be mad that I need to spend more money; but upgrading is not a bad idea. Good monitor, vibrant color, low price make it a great buy.
As I write this I am staring at my imperfect LCD purchase as my old CRT looks faded towards the left. I went into Best Buy thinking that buying my first flat screen monitor would be as easy as walking out the door and utilizing Microsoft's plug-and-play technology – only to discover that although my plugs may be good, that my play however is out dated.
Apparently, I need a new video card. My old one is about 3 years old – but technology continues to change at a rapid pace enough that I need a new one already. At the time of publication – I have not bought a new one yet; even still my review should suffice.
The Samsung SyncMaster 940BW is a great LCD flatscreen monitor. I am confident that with the purchase of an updated video card it will get even better. In the mean time I have utilized the digital port on the back of the Samsung monitor to make it my secondary monitor so I can use it in conjunction with my old Dell CRT. I can immediately report that the new monitor; the Samsung is brighter, more vibrant, and of course more wider than the old heavy, duller, yet sharper with better resolution CRT.
I took about 20 minutes to look over monitors at Best Buy (and yet, was never approached by a representative). Most of what I saw I still feared. Most flat screen monitors were still over the $300 mark. I looked at one and it registered in at $900. I closely compared the remaining Samsung model to another name brand before deciding that both looked great yet spending a lot less money was more important to me and so the Samsung model won out.
I returned home and took the monitor out of the packaging. Included in the box was the monitor itself, an easy to put together stand, analog and digital cables, power cord, software CD, and various documentation. The "instructional manual" was however pretty confusing as it comes in multiple languages. This is made worse by the lack of the manual being a book instead it is a large piece of paper folded several times with a paragraph in English followed by all the other languages. Determining where the steps are is a bit cumbersome as you read the first paragraph and then navigate down across all the multiple languages to find the next paragraph in English. Being an intermediate computer user I could plug in the analog and digital cables without reading the manual and did so connecting them both to the back of my computer. I tried to access my desktop utilizing just the digital connection but found that I was unable to do so. In the end it didn't matter what connection I tired as I found picture quality, especially text, blurry, jagged, and unusable. After reading the manual some more I noticed that in order for the 19" monitor to work best it needed to be in 1080 x 1024 mode which my video card does not support. The best I can achieve is 1080 x 800. The missing quality is what I believe is hindering my full enjoying of my new purchase. My research online has indicated that my old Nvida GeForce video card is an "entry level" card and incapable of supporting my new LCD monitor.
Installation of the software was extremely straightforward and easy to understand. However, it did nothing to fix my blurry and jagged problem. I even stood in line at Best Buy's Geek Squad line where I met a rather inpatient fellow who upon my quick audition reaffirmed my suspicions telling me that either my video card did not meet the new monitors' requirements or it was a bad LCD. Because I had run the digital connection and configured my DVD software to play a DVD utilizing it and had seen the amazing picture quality I knew that the LCD was not bad but that my video card was just not capable of supporting my Microsoft applications. At this moment it works great to watch movies – but is seriously lacking usability for office applications.
Hopefully in the future I will be able to upgrade my hardware and utilizing many of the functions this new monitor claims to support. One day I may even hang it on the wall as this can apparently be accomplished with additional tools (not included).
There are a few things I don't like about it (besides its poor picture quality at the moment). The monitor can pivot up and down making it easier to see but the base cannot move up or down. The instructional manual seems to imply that this feature is available but my attempts have been thwarted. At the moment if I wanted it raised I will have to add a few books underneath the base. The manual states that there is a lever on the back of the monitor that you release, then adjust the height, and then move the lever back down. But I cannot find this lever on the back of my particular model.
I also do not like the poor user interface buttons on the front of the monitor used to change brightness, contracts, positioning, etc. It takes four buttons to navigate these menus although there is a fifth button "Auto" which with one press is supposed to automatically adjust many of the settings to work with your current resolution. Again, this button does nothing to fix my problems but I guess it wouldn't be able to at the moment. There is also a nice little blue power button that flashes with the unit is off. Some of the models I looked at had many of these buttons hidden behind the right side of the monitor but I picked out a model that had them easily viewable on the front. Perhaps a future LCD or flatscreen television would benefit from them being hidden behind (since at least they would have a remote) but I'm glad that these are readily available upfront.
And, I have already discussed the poor "manual". That's my last negative thought about this monitor.
I can't complain too highly about my current configuration. It is pretty nice to have two monitors and the ability to move windows and programs from one to the other. But hopefully soon I will buy that new video card and truly take control of my new flatscreen monitor (maybe right around the time I upgrade to Windows Vista!)
At $219 the price was very affordable. Friends tell me that they spent a lot more for a flatscreen but not widescreen monitor. The price did include an instant rebate of $20.00 but even still at $239.00 compared to many of other models available at Best Buy the Samsung SynchMaster 940BW is a steal for its quality.
Apparently, I need a new video card. My old one is about 3 years old – but technology continues to change at a rapid pace enough that I need a new one already. At the time of publication – I have not bought a new one yet; even still my review should suffice.
The Samsung SyncMaster 940BW is a great LCD flatscreen monitor. I am confident that with the purchase of an updated video card it will get even better. In the mean time I have utilized the digital port on the back of the Samsung monitor to make it my secondary monitor so I can use it in conjunction with my old Dell CRT. I can immediately report that the new monitor; the Samsung is brighter, more vibrant, and of course more wider than the old heavy, duller, yet sharper with better resolution CRT.
I took about 20 minutes to look over monitors at Best Buy (and yet, was never approached by a representative). Most of what I saw I still feared. Most flat screen monitors were still over the $300 mark. I looked at one and it registered in at $900. I closely compared the remaining Samsung model to another name brand before deciding that both looked great yet spending a lot less money was more important to me and so the Samsung model won out.
I returned home and took the monitor out of the packaging. Included in the box was the monitor itself, an easy to put together stand, analog and digital cables, power cord, software CD, and various documentation. The "instructional manual" was however pretty confusing as it comes in multiple languages. This is made worse by the lack of the manual being a book instead it is a large piece of paper folded several times with a paragraph in English followed by all the other languages. Determining where the steps are is a bit cumbersome as you read the first paragraph and then navigate down across all the multiple languages to find the next paragraph in English. Being an intermediate computer user I could plug in the analog and digital cables without reading the manual and did so connecting them both to the back of my computer. I tried to access my desktop utilizing just the digital connection but found that I was unable to do so. In the end it didn't matter what connection I tired as I found picture quality, especially text, blurry, jagged, and unusable. After reading the manual some more I noticed that in order for the 19" monitor to work best it needed to be in 1080 x 1024 mode which my video card does not support. The best I can achieve is 1080 x 800. The missing quality is what I believe is hindering my full enjoying of my new purchase. My research online has indicated that my old Nvida GeForce video card is an "entry level" card and incapable of supporting my new LCD monitor.
Installation of the software was extremely straightforward and easy to understand. However, it did nothing to fix my blurry and jagged problem. I even stood in line at Best Buy's Geek Squad line where I met a rather inpatient fellow who upon my quick audition reaffirmed my suspicions telling me that either my video card did not meet the new monitors' requirements or it was a bad LCD. Because I had run the digital connection and configured my DVD software to play a DVD utilizing it and had seen the amazing picture quality I knew that the LCD was not bad but that my video card was just not capable of supporting my Microsoft applications. At this moment it works great to watch movies – but is seriously lacking usability for office applications.
Hopefully in the future I will be able to upgrade my hardware and utilizing many of the functions this new monitor claims to support. One day I may even hang it on the wall as this can apparently be accomplished with additional tools (not included).
There are a few things I don't like about it (besides its poor picture quality at the moment). The monitor can pivot up and down making it easier to see but the base cannot move up or down. The instructional manual seems to imply that this feature is available but my attempts have been thwarted. At the moment if I wanted it raised I will have to add a few books underneath the base. The manual states that there is a lever on the back of the monitor that you release, then adjust the height, and then move the lever back down. But I cannot find this lever on the back of my particular model.
I also do not like the poor user interface buttons on the front of the monitor used to change brightness, contracts, positioning, etc. It takes four buttons to navigate these menus although there is a fifth button "Auto" which with one press is supposed to automatically adjust many of the settings to work with your current resolution. Again, this button does nothing to fix my problems but I guess it wouldn't be able to at the moment. There is also a nice little blue power button that flashes with the unit is off. Some of the models I looked at had many of these buttons hidden behind the right side of the monitor but I picked out a model that had them easily viewable on the front. Perhaps a future LCD or flatscreen television would benefit from them being hidden behind (since at least they would have a remote) but I'm glad that these are readily available upfront.
And, I have already discussed the poor "manual". That's my last negative thought about this monitor.
I can't complain too highly about my current configuration. It is pretty nice to have two monitors and the ability to move windows and programs from one to the other. But hopefully soon I will buy that new video card and truly take control of my new flatscreen monitor (maybe right around the time I upgrade to Windows Vista!)
At $219 the price was very affordable. Friends tell me that they spent a lot more for a flatscreen but not widescreen monitor. The price did include an instant rebate of $20.00 but even still at $239.00 compared to many of other models available at Best Buy the Samsung SynchMaster 940BW is a steal for its quality.
