Samsung SyncMaster 930B 19 inch LCD Monitor
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- Aspect Ratio: 5:4
- Response Time: Fast (5 - 8.9 ms)
- Contrast Ratio: 700:1
- Screen Size: 19 inch
- Monitor Type: Flat Panel LCD TFT (Active Matrix)
- Family Line: Samsung SyncMaster
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Good value for money wit few gripes
Pros
Great picture, small footprint, fast response, runs cool, easy installation.
Cons
No DVI cable means the better ViewsonixVX924 may end up cheaper, buttons, color.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Cheap if you pay around $300, but add in the DVI cable & the Viewsonic VX924 might be cheaper & you get a better monitor too.
You will have heard all the main issues before, the fiddly buttons to adjust the screen, the lack of height adjustment, the lack of a DVI cable... etc etc.
But the 930B is a great monitor at a great price. I got mine brand new for $290 from eBay. That's $100 less than local "discount" stores!
The image is sharp, response time is terriffic & best of all there's no warm up period, as with my old CRT monitor. In the summer the 930B also helps me out by reducing the amount of heat generated & saves my electricity costs too! The tiny footprint for such a large screen frees up desk space to the extent that was able to avoid having to buy a bigger desk.
Viewing angle is good, although there is a definite Sweet Spot when you are at a perfect 90 deg to the screen.
On the bad side there is a small problem with color rendition, reds just don't seem to be right & no amount of adjustment will correct it. The adjustment buttons.....AARGH! I often needed a torch at first to read the legends, although eventually I just knew what each button did & finally got it the way I wanted it so there was no need to fiddle with them any longer. The instructions are also meager, but the software installation went smoothly.
There was a LOT of messing around with the PC as LCD monitors really only work well at their native resolution, in this case 1280 x 1024. Anything less than this meant that the screen, especially text, became fuzzy. No amount of adjustment would overcome this. Moving from 1024 x 768 on my old CRT to the new resolution meant I had to increase font size in Windows & move to Large Icons too. There was also much messing around with font sizes in I Explorer & Outlook. This is not a problem with a CRT monitor which will work at any resolution it can accommodate the scanning frequency for.
I now have the screen to my liking, but LCD monitor manufacturers need to address the resolution issue. Taking half day to get things right isn't acceptable. I SHOULD be able to simply plug it in & continue to work at the same resolution. I happen to like 1024 x 798!
There is also the issue of you video adapter card. My card is a fairly recent NVidia, which was fine at 1024 x 798, but you can see it is slightly slower at 1289 x 1024 as the amount of data it is handling has increased dramatically. It isn't really a problem for me, it is fast enough, but anyone with a slower card may end up swapping video card out too because it gets just too slow. After just spending $300 on a monitor this should not happen.
There is one major reservation with the 930B, the lack of a DVI cable. For a start this shouldn't be an issue, Samsung should include one with the monitor & DVI cables shouldn't be more than $10 anyway. DVI cables are a RIP OFF if you buy one. I've see 6ft DVI cables on sale for almost $90, which defies belief! Quite why people think they need Oxygen Free copper conductors with gold plated pins I'll never know. For a 6ft run very little is needed, certainly nothing that costs more than $10.
And this is the problem with this Samsung 930B, if you can get a Viewsonic VX924 at a reasonable price it isn't worth going for the 930B when you add in the cost of a DVI cable. Once you add the cost of the DVI cable you can get a better monitor with the Viewsonic for about the same price. Since I didn't pay for my DVI cable & I got such a good price on the 930B it was a significant saving for me, but if you are looking at some of the deals on offer some times the Viewsonic will actually work out cheaper & you'll get an even better picture.
But the 930B is a great monitor at a great price. I got mine brand new for $290 from eBay. That's $100 less than local "discount" stores!
The image is sharp, response time is terriffic & best of all there's no warm up period, as with my old CRT monitor. In the summer the 930B also helps me out by reducing the amount of heat generated & saves my electricity costs too! The tiny footprint for such a large screen frees up desk space to the extent that was able to avoid having to buy a bigger desk.
Viewing angle is good, although there is a definite Sweet Spot when you are at a perfect 90 deg to the screen.
On the bad side there is a small problem with color rendition, reds just don't seem to be right & no amount of adjustment will correct it. The adjustment buttons.....AARGH! I often needed a torch at first to read the legends, although eventually I just knew what each button did & finally got it the way I wanted it so there was no need to fiddle with them any longer. The instructions are also meager, but the software installation went smoothly.
There was a LOT of messing around with the PC as LCD monitors really only work well at their native resolution, in this case 1280 x 1024. Anything less than this meant that the screen, especially text, became fuzzy. No amount of adjustment would overcome this. Moving from 1024 x 768 on my old CRT to the new resolution meant I had to increase font size in Windows & move to Large Icons too. There was also much messing around with font sizes in I Explorer & Outlook. This is not a problem with a CRT monitor which will work at any resolution it can accommodate the scanning frequency for.
I now have the screen to my liking, but LCD monitor manufacturers need to address the resolution issue. Taking half day to get things right isn't acceptable. I SHOULD be able to simply plug it in & continue to work at the same resolution. I happen to like 1024 x 798!
There is also the issue of you video adapter card. My card is a fairly recent NVidia, which was fine at 1024 x 798, but you can see it is slightly slower at 1289 x 1024 as the amount of data it is handling has increased dramatically. It isn't really a problem for me, it is fast enough, but anyone with a slower card may end up swapping video card out too because it gets just too slow. After just spending $300 on a monitor this should not happen.
There is one major reservation with the 930B, the lack of a DVI cable. For a start this shouldn't be an issue, Samsung should include one with the monitor & DVI cables shouldn't be more than $10 anyway. DVI cables are a RIP OFF if you buy one. I've see 6ft DVI cables on sale for almost $90, which defies belief! Quite why people think they need Oxygen Free copper conductors with gold plated pins I'll never know. For a 6ft run very little is needed, certainly nothing that costs more than $10.
And this is the problem with this Samsung 930B, if you can get a Viewsonic VX924 at a reasonable price it isn't worth going for the 930B when you add in the cost of a DVI cable. Once you add the cost of the DVI cable you can get a better monitor with the Viewsonic for about the same price. Since I didn't pay for my DVI cable & I got such a good price on the 930B it was a significant saving for me, but if you are looking at some of the deals on offer some times the Viewsonic will actually work out cheaper & you'll get an even better picture.
