Monitors are something that most of us stare at for many hours per day, myself included and having a good monitor can make a big difference in how you view things. Yes that pun was intended. A good monitor will have a high resolution, good color reproduction and a low refresh rate, these things combined will make your viewing experience much more enjoyable for all things that you do. Personally I run four monitors, why, well they seem to have multiplied and it seems like I still don’t have enough desktop real estate.
Today for review I’ve got the Samsung SyncMaster 2233SW. It’s a relatively low priced monitor from Geeks.com. It features a nice high contrast ratio, HD 1080 resolution and a relatively low refresh rate at 5ms. These things combine for a very nice viewing experience overall.
Specifications:
21.5-inch Samsung SyncMaster 2233SW DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor
General Features:
-High Gloss Black cabinet color
-Screen Size: 21.5-inch wide viewable display
-Pixel Pitch: 0.248 mm
-Brightness: 300 cd/m²
-Contrast Ratio: 1000:1
-Dynamic Contrast Ratio: 15000:1
-Vertical Viewing Angle: 160°
-Horizontal Viewing Angle: 160°
-Response Time: 5 ms
-Number of Colors: 16.7 million
-Resolution: 1920 x 1080
-Horizontal Scanning Frequency: 30 – 81 KHz
-Vertical Scanning Frequency: 56 – 75 Hz
-Aspect Ratio: 16:9
-MagicBright 3
-MagicTune
-Custom key
-OSD Menu
-Integrated rear cable housing
-Wall Mountable: 100 mm x 100 mm VESA
-CCFL backlight
Connectors:
-15-pin VGA
-DVI-D with HDCP
Power Specifications:
-100 – 240V, 50/60Hz, 0.8A
-Power Consumption: 40-watts
Dimensions:
-With Stand: 15.44 x 20.43 x 8.22-inches (H x W x D, approximate)
-Without Stand: 13.6 x 20.44 x 2.8-inches (H x W x D, approximate)
Price: $139.99
Unboxing:
As you might be able to tell by the picture of the box below, this is a refurbished product. The monitor inside though is packaged as one might expect to receive when new.
The monitor comes packaged with both DVI and VGA cables which is something you don’t often see. There’s also the stand and power cable as well.
The Monitor does have a black glossy bezel, with a clear part at the bottom.
On the back we find funky but refreshing flower pattern, on the back is also where you’ll find the audio, power, DVI and VGA connectors.
On the right hand side of the monitor, out of view, are the buttons for controls. menu, up, down, select, auto and power.
Installation, Performance, Comparison
When I opened up the menu to check things out I was surprised by something I’ve never saw before on a monitor, the button line up with the icons on the display menu. This is very nice as you don’t have to feel for the buttons or look for them like you would on other monitors.
The first option is Picture:
Next would be Color:
Then we have Size and Position:
Then Setup and Reset:
Then lastly the Information:
There are quite a few options for adjusting things but some selections are inactive as you may have noticed.
I’ve actually been using the monitor for quite a while now and I like it. The colors are very good, the blacks are nice and dark. The whites however do have a slight blue tint to them that I just could not make go away no matter how I changed the settings. After using the monitor for while though you don’t even notice it, it’s very, very slightly off-white, nothing that would even bother most people.
The response rate is fine, no ghosting or anything like that.
I’ve got this Samsung in a multi-monitor setup, four monitors actually, and I use this one for watching movies and TV while I’m doing other thing on the other monitors.
The picture is nice for pretty much everything really. Text and graphics look very sharp and clear overall.
This monitor does features dynamic contrast up to 50,000:1, but I id not use it as I do not like how it changes the settings all of the time automatically.
The standard contrast ratio though is 15,000:1 and that’s just fine.
It is an HD display at 1920×1080 resolution, but there’s not HDMI input only DVI and VGA. I have a blu-ray drive in my computer and popped a disc in and it look great in hi-def.
As far as adjusting the monitor, you can only tilt it forward and back, there is no vertical adjustment.
I mentioned in the very beginning that this was a refurbished product, well to me it looks new. I examined it very closely and found no marks, scuffs or scratches at all. It looks brand new really.
Conclusion:
This monitor from Geeks is worth the cost really as it seems to be brand new. I checked the price over at Amazon and the cheapest I found it is $189.99 for new, so for $50 less you can get the same monitor that you’ll never know isn’t new.
This monitor works well and I found no real issues with it. Yes there’s no HDMI and the stand doesn’t allow for much adjustment, but as a computer monitor I can live with that.
The colors are nice and vibrant, and everything from movies to games look very good.
Whites aren’t exactly white though, but I can live with it as it’s not that bad.
All in all I’m very happy with it.
Pros:
+Crisp and clear picture
+Bright
+Seems well made
Cons:
-No HDMI
-Limited stand adjustments
-Whites are slightly off
Ratings
Overall: 4 out of 5
Performance: 4 out of 5
Aesthetic: 5 out of 5
Build Quality: 5 out of 5
Disclosure: http://www.bonafidereviews.com/disclosure-policy/
