AkinsTech

Got me a new monitor and I must say that I am now jaded!  I got the Samsung 245BW 24" LCD, 1920×1200 resolution.  More information here.

Here it is on my desktop.  I set my IBM Lenovo 15.4" laptop next to it for reference.

In my home office I currently run 2 identical boxes; one as my main machine, and the other as my development or test box.  Well, they both had matching Viewsonic vx2255wmb 22" wide screen LCD’s which I think are excellent monitors.  They even have integrated webcams and microphones which comes in handy sometimes.  Well, I was doing some rearranging in the office, and as I was moving my speakers around, I accidentally put a big scratch on the screen of the monitor…ouch!

So, I returned the monitor to Costco and they gladly took it back. (gotta love their return policy).  Well, they don’t do exchanges there…always just a direct refund.  So I told them since I was just going to turn around and buy the same monitor again to just stick the refund on a gift card to make it easier.

So after what was no more than a 4-minute return process, there I was back in the monitor isle, looking down below for the most pristine Viewsonic box.  The plan was to grab a monitor, and then shoot two isles over and grab this set of 8 wine glasses they had.  So I found me a good looking box and I headed over to grab the wine glasses. 

Then as I was on my way back by, I caught a glimpse of the Samsung 24" LCD.  Now I knew it was there as I saw and acknowledged it earlier, but for some reason I didn’t pay it any attention.  Honestly, I think I subconsciously deemed it out of my price range for some reason, which caused me to never really take a hard look at it.  Now, anybody that knows me knows I am a huge Samsung fan.  My HDTV is a Samsung and it’s an excellent TV.  Any time I am advising somebody on a home theater setup, I am always pushing Samsung.  But, like I said, I hadn’t considered this monitor for fear it would break the bank.

Anyway, as I passed back by on my way to the checkout line, from the angle I saw it it was literally DWARFING the 22" Viewsonic I was about to buy.  Then I looked at the price and realized that it was only $100 more than the Viewsonic!  A mere $100 for those two precious inches of goodness.  Not only that, the Samsung’s 1920×1200 resolution would put me up there with the big boys…up from the Viewsonic’s 1680×1050 resolution.

So after about 2.7 seconds of intense financial planning, I found myself standing in line with the Samsung in hand.  And I must say that I made the right choice.  This thing is big, black, and bad-ass!  I almost need a bigger mouse pad due to the extra screen area.  You sometimes literally turn your head looking at the left and then the right.   I can now definitely run 2 "full size" windows side by side without reducing them to unusable widths.

Here is my desktop at 1920×1200 showing true side by side windows.

Anyway, out of the box the monitor was WAY too bright.  I found I really had to crank down the contrast and brightness.  It came with both of these maxed out and I turned them down to about 60/60.  Furthermore, I changed the color temperature from cool to warm.  I did some very slight tweaking with some color patterns, but other than that it looked perfect right out of the box.

Here are the pertinent specs on the monitor:

In terms of features, the monitor has vertical adjustment, as well as tilt.  However, it does NOT rotate.  This isn’t really an important feature for me though.  Another thing it doesn’t have is a built-in USB hub, but again, I already have USB ports on the front of both computers, so not important.  This is a nice, high quality monitor with a stunning picture, and nothing else.

While I’m not a huge gamer or anything, I do like to play Counterstrike or Crysis once or twice a week.  I must say that both of these games, especially Crysis, look absolutely stunning on this monitor!  You haven’t lived until you’ve crawled on your stomach through the brush on the island in Crysis in full 1920×1200 splendor.

Another thing this monitor does really well is TV and Videos.  I run SageTV in my house as my sole whole-house DVR solution, and therefore I can watch TV or recordings right on any computer.  At 24" this thing makes a really nice office Television.  While the HD content is stunning, even the Standard Definition stuff looks really good.  The other day I threw on an episode of Jericho from DVD on this thing and that looked really good too.

One thing to consider is that if you’re upgrading from a lower resolution (such as 1440×900 or 1680×1050), moving to 1920×1200 can be quite a strain on your video card.  I noticed right away that some applications were a little more strained than they normally are.  So if you’re looking at going with a monitor like this, make sure your video card has the power to handle it.

After working with this thing for the last month or so, the "wow" factor still hasn’t necessarily gone away.  I still find myself sitting at it going "&$@# that’s a big-ass monitor!"   But at the same time it has turned me into a monitor snob.  Whenever I use my developer machine, I somehow feel like I’m "settling", what with its paltry 22" screen.  And my 21" widescreen at work?  It’s all I can do to even read the text on that thing.

Anyway, I highly recommend the Samsung 245BW 24" LCD for those looking for a relatively inexpensive 24" monitor.  At $399 (at the time of this writing) it’s an excellent value.  But beware…you wont be the same afterwards!

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 10th, 2008 at 5:56 pm and is filed under Must Have. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.