I'm not a huge fan of using LCDs for gaming, but with today's new faster panels, I wonder if they are ready for prime time gamers.
The first LCD display I owned was the
Princeton LCD1910 19" LCD monitor. Even on the analog VGA connector, the display was crystal clear. However, I originally complained that the black level was a little bright, causing a washed-out look throughout the image. The color reproduction was off, and there was a slight hint (though not too noticeable) of ghosting on fast images.
Still, it was a cheap LCD, and all those flaws were forgivable. It'd be perfect for the office user for web surfing or mostly static images. Not for the gamer or movie watchers. The 16 ms response time was the problem, but then again it is the advertised number. Who knows what the response time actually was. I actually left the Princeton boxed up and tried to find buyers for it while using my Proview 19" CRT monitor (any takers? lol).
The Samsung Syncmaster 204B was on sale at Fry's for R9 with a $30 mail in rebate, and was rated at 5 ms. The larger 20" screen also afforded its ability to display a native resolution of 1600x1200 compared to the Princeton's 1280x1024. It was a tough sale, but I bit.
Specification
Panel Type: a-si TFT/TN
Viewable Size: 20.1"
Pixel Pitch: 0.255mm
Brightness (Typical): 300 cd/m²
Contrast Ratio (Typical): 800:1
Viewing Angle (H/V, Typical): 160°/160° (CR>5)
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Interface: Analog/Digital
Response Time (Typical): 5 ms
Native Resolution: 1600 x 1200
Maximum Color: 16.7M
Input Video Signal: Analog RGB, DVI Digital Link
Sync Type: Separate H/V, Composite HV, SOG
Input Connectors: 15-Pin D-Sub, DVI-D
Power Consumption: 36 Watts (max)
VESA® Wall Mount: 100 mm (optional)
Emission Standard: TCO '99
Bezel Color: Silver
Dimensions: 17.5x16.8x7.9 (WxHxD) inches (w/stand)
Weight: 16.9 lbs
Special Features: Narrow bezel, rear main power switch, Magic Tune with asset management, MagicColor, Magic Bright, and Magic Speed.
Warranty (P/L/B): 3/3/3 (years)
In the Box
The monitor came in the box in the 90 degrees position with the base already on the display. It comes with manuals and a warrantee card, as well as the software CD, a DVI cable, and an analog VGA cable. Unlike the Princeton, which was slid in the box very tightly, the Samsung opens on the side, which lets you access the monitor much easier.
There was no plastic screen protector like the Princeton, but the screen was still flawlessly clean.
Installation and Connections
The connections are on the rear bottom of the unit. You get one VGA, one DVI, and one power connector which use the standard PC power connector. There is a master rocker switch for the main power, while a soft power button is accessible on the front.
Plug in either the VGA, DVI, or both (just don't confuse yourself if you decide to use both on the same source!). Once you turn on the monitor, it will automatically search for an available signal both connectors.
If you use the VGA, you can hit the "Auto Adjust" button to get the monitor to automatically sync the timing. If you are using the DVI connector, "Auto Adjust" is not available to use, since the timing is completely digital and is recognized automatically.
Very simple! I never use the driver CD since its just more clutter. However, maybe one day I will update this epinion if I do decide to use it. Supposedly, it comes with Magic Tune, which allows you to adjust the monitor via software instead of using the front panel buttons.
Ergonomics
The buttons are well placed at the bottom right area. The buttons are Menu, Down/Brightness, Up/Brightness, Auto Adjust, and Power. The Up/Down buttons are used to move around the OSD, or if you are not in the OSD, you can use those buttons to adjust the brightness quickly.
The power button lights up blue. If anyone knows me here at ePinions, they know I despise blue LEDs, as they are overly bright and blinding. They are worse when positioned near the display, as it is distracting. However, the blue light was not overly bright, and is very comfortable (and barely noticeable) while in use. Bravo to Samsung, as the blue LED still looks "cool", but not in the way.
The display can be rotated 90, 180, and 270 degrees. However, without the driver/software installed, your own display adapter driver needs to support this function. Thankfully, ATI and nVidia has this support in their latest drivers.
Although the view angle of 160 degrees left/right is pretty good, the view angle of up/down is much less. I felt it was more like 30 degrees. With the display rotated 90 degrees, your up/down becomes your left/right, and it was barely usable if you are not sitting directly in front of the display.
The base does not allow for you to swivel, but it does let the user to move the display's level up or down, which is a great feature. The display stays at the level without help (such as a locking mechanism). A temporary pin was inserted to lock this screen in place during shipment, much like one would find for scanners.
In Use
The factory brightness and contrast settings were set at 100%, and was too bright for me. After setting it at exactly 50%, the picture looks perfect. After using nVidia's driver to calibrate the monitor, I found that color representation was perfect, as well as the black level. You can tell black from dark gray, while white and off-white was barely noticeable as well. And this was out of my own gut instinct to adjust the brightness and contrast to 50% out of the box!
After displaying solid colors to check for bad pixels and uniformity, I found the display to be nearly uniform. There were no dead pixels, which is amazing with a display this size.
The picture was crystal clear at the native 1600x1200 using DVI, and using the analog VGA connector was nearly as clear (though shimmering was just barely noticeable if you eyeball each pixel).
Samsung was able to scale low resolutions very well! This is great news for gamers, since even the fastest video card can barely be playable at resolutions of 1600x1200. 1280x768 resolutions still displayed very well. In fact, the picture was clear enough to make you second-thought the 1600x1200 native display (thinking it was 1280x1024 native). Further lowering it to the some-what oddball 1152x864 resolution still display a relatively clear image. Lowering father to 1024x768 made it somewhat noticeably blurry, but not to the point where it is annoying. At 800x600, it looked to blurry to be usable - the entire picture looks like there is a thin layer of Vaseline or condensation.
The Princeton doesn't fare well at any resolution lower than its native. So the fact that Samsung can go as low as 1924x768 without that "hazy" effect was impressive.
As with the Princeton, the high resolution shows every flaw of the DVD compression method (MPEG-2). As stated before, it is not the display's fault, but the fact that any compression produces artifacts. DivX movies were worse than DVDs. Sit back around 4 feet away, and you will not notice the artifacts. With the large 20.1" viewable screen, you'd want to sit back anyways!
Even at 5ms, ghosting was noticeable, but only if you are up close and scrutinizing it. However, sitting back 2-3 feet away, I can honestly say I see no ghosting what-so-ever. This is great news for gamers and movie watchers.
Conclusion
After all is said and done, I think it was $500 well spent. I feel that this monitor will be very satisfactory for what I will be using it for, and be perfect for my daily monitor, unlike the Princeton.
Color reproduction was near perfect and the black level was very low. Ghosting was a non-issue, and the monitor was able to upscale the lower resolutions very well down to 1024x768. 800x600 or lower resolutions will have the typical hazy look that LCDs monitors have when they upscale lower resolution to fit the native resolution.
If you have around $500 to spend on a large LCD monitor, the Samsung 204B does very well for itself. You really can't go wrong with it. It is a relatively new model so I was not able to find magazine or online reviews, since I would like to know how it would fare against Viewsonic's highly raved 930B and the 191B.
Also, the bezel can be had in either black or silver. Although the ePinions state that this is a silver model, I currently have the black one. Everything else is exactly the same. Though, I will admit, if I had the chance to purchase the silver model, I would buy it in a heartbeat, as my
Antec Super Lanboy case is also silver.
It is a very good monitor to pair up with a high-end graphics card. Currently I am using it on my new
eVGA Geforce 7800GT CO (factory overclocked). This monitor begs for SLI or Crossfire setups, since it would be greet to play at the native resolution of 1600x1200. Even if you have a single card, as long as you play above 1024x768, the Samsung will perform admirably.
UPDATE: I found a silver version of this LCD monitor and tested it just for just as long as it took for me to evaluate it as a different product. Therefore, I will move the BLACK version of the review. I saw that ePinions finally have it specifically for the black version.
Everything is identical, so this review for the silver done on a black version is still relevent. However, I do notice that the silver in my bedroom (normal household lighting conditions, not bright office flourecnents) that the silver version do produce a better contrast, not because of the screen itself, but because the benzel is silver, it blends in better with the lighter (off white) wall that is behind it. With my black monitor, you see off white in the background, and then absolute darkness around a brightly displayed image. I found the silver benzel to be easier on my eyes in this case (not to mention looks much better match with my silver aluminium Antec Super Lanboy case).
This difference may be worth investigating in your own purchase of this monitor if you are in a different lighting enviroment. It sure sounds like nit picking, but it's your eyes afterall, and it is your perception of the info the computer is trying to relay to you. Mind as well be a conformtable one!
