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Samsung SyncMaster 204B 20.1-Inch LCD Monitor (Black) | List Price: $379.99
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Brand: Samsung
Binding: Electronics
Warranty: 3 years warranty
Features: - 800:1 contrast ratio, 0.255mm pixel pitch, 1600 x 1200 maximum resolution
- Ergonomic four-way adjustable stand: height, pivot, tilt and swivel
- MagicTune, MagicBright and MagicColor technologies make tuning the monitor easy
- Horizontal/vertical viewing angle of 160°/160°
- 20.1-inch TFT-LCD monitor with 5 ms response time for enhanced gaming and DVD viewing
Best Widescreen Alternative [Posted on 2008-04-16]
I bought two of these, so far so good. I do a lot of spreadsheet work and like the squarish format over widescreen, I am able to open 4 to 6 spreadsheet windows and place them all. With a widescreen, the vertical placement is difficult. I used them at work for hours on end, really comfy on my eyes. I am glad I got them. Am a bit leery about the problems mentioned, but so far so good. I hope they will make this squarish format for a long time to come and not go with the widescreen fad. I run it at 1600 x 1200, which is perfect for me. Hope the industry goes back to squarish monitors, much more practical for work, with spreadsheets and word processing, powerpoint, coding, etc. Widescreen just doesn't have the vertical distance.
Poor picture quality [Posted on 2008-08-01]
Pros: It lights up and displays stuff.
Cons: Tested on two different PCs, it has poor gamma and gray-scale tracking. Near-whites are clipped into white. The MagicTune software can mostly correct these issues, but it is a pain to use. I use this monitor with my laptop, and whenever I use the laptop's own internal display, MagicTune forgets all about the monitor settings when I reconnect the 204B. I've gotta open the app, and a bunch of clicks later I have its gamma correction re-enabled. Every time. And, occasionally the monitor thinks it's not connected to anything (displays "check cable" or somesuch) when it is connected. I have to power-cycle the monitor to fix.
Excellent when it works -- but beware of hardware failure [Posted on 2008-09-04]
I've owned two of these and one of them is dead. What happened? I noticed that when resuming from sleep mode (the 204B automatically turned off to save power based on the interval I set in the Windows control panel), it took longer and longer to regain full brightness -- it would get lighter in noticeable "steps", and over the course of weeks, the process got more irritating. I googled and found matches for other hardware defects, but not precisely my problem.
Alas, after leaving my 204Bs off for a week's span while moving house, one of them failed to work and would no longer show a picture after turning it on -- it emitted strange clicking sounds, and failed to recover.
The same thing is now happening with my other 204B almost a year later; not sure why, but it's frustrating. Both 204Bs were originally purchased within weeks of each other and I thought they were a great value at the time (it was hard to find affordable 1600x1200 monitors and widescreens weren't as popular as they are now), but these problems have made me very sad and I hope you aren't burdened by them.
As for the day-to-day use, image quality is crisp and text looks great. Compared to newer monitors, the white isn't as white as it should be and the overall gamut isn't as comprehensive as, say, a Dell E248WFP (which I got to replace the dead 204B). Colors aren't as vivid either, but at the time, this was a good buy. I'd suggest looking for other options out there unless you can get a really great deal on this.
The best monitor I have ever owned, stunning picture quality [Posted on 2008-10-14]
I am a very critical monitor user.
I have all kinds of monitor adjusting and testing software. I need to see the correct color rendition and temperature for scientific purposes.
I take digital pictures, and the screen MUST look like what my camera sees. I use this monitor for highly critical picture editing.
There are no stuck pixels, no problems whatsoever. The picture quality on this monitor is amazing, stunning.
And it is fast rendering, quite good for gaming.
The view angle is wide. If you are within 120 degrees of center, it is fine, and that is exceptional.
In over 8 years of searching for the best monitors, this is the best I have had yet. Or seen, for that matter.
When these monitors are in the stores they sell out fast to knowledgeable buyers.
Snap one up if you like the 20 inch size.
Alright for a normal computer [Posted on 2008-11-07]
The Samsung SyncMaster 204b is alright for any normal computer. If you use 1280x1024 resolution however, you will be really pissed off. Don;t buy if your looking for a gaming monitor. Bad for graphic designers too. Good for use in normal family computer needs despite it's 1600x1200x32 problem.
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