BlueSmoke - Review : Samsung SyncMaster 210T
BlueSmoke - Review : Samsung SyncMaster 210T
|
Date | : Mar 4th, 2002 | ||
| Category | : Video | |||
| Manufacturer | : Samsung | |||
| Author | : Tom Smith | |||
|
|
When most people talk about building or buying computers, more often than not they only talk about the computer itself, and rarely do they talk or think about monitors. If you think about it, you can have the latest and greatest of everything in your box, but you neglected to think about buying a monitor. So what good is it to play Quake III on a 15 in monitor at 800X600.
Today we have the Samsung SyncMaster 210T LCD monitor on the bench. I normally do not review anything that I cannot personally afford, but I could not resist the opportunity to review this piece of hardware. Right up front I am going to tell you that this puppy is around $3000 to $4000 USD. It is quite expensive. So is it worth the price? How does it compare to my Viewsonic 19" flat CRT monitor. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Features
Specifications
| Panel: | Type | a-si TFT LCD (active matrix) |
| Size | 21.3" | |
| Pixel Pitch | 0.270mm | |
| Brightness | 200cd/m² | |
| Contrast Ratio | 230:1 | |
| Viewing Angle | 160°/160º (H/V) | |
|
|
||
| Frequency: | Horizontal Rate | 30-93KHz |
| Vertical Rate | 56-85Hz | |
| Maximum Pixel Rate | 200MHz | |
|
|
||
| Resolution: | Maximum | 1600 x 1200 @ 67Hz (Analog) |
| Maximum | 1600 x 1200 @ 60Hz (Digital) | |
| Native | 1600 x 1200 (Analog, Digital) | |
|
|
||
| Controls: | LCD Panel Controls | Power, Brightness (+Up -Down), Auto Adjust, Menu, Video Select & Video Indicator (15-Pin D-Sub or DVI-D) |
| OSD Controls: | Brightness;
Contrast; Image Lock: Coarse, Fine; Position:
H/V; Color Control: Red, Green, Blue; Reset: Geometry, Color; Image Size: Normal, Expand 1 & 2; Language: English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Swedish; OSD position: H/V; PIP; PBP; Zoom; Video; OSD Display Time: 5, 10, 20, 200 seconds; Display Mode: H/V Frequency & Resolution |
|
|
|
||
| Color: | Maximum | 16.7M Colors |
|
|
||
| Signal Input: | Video Input | Analog RGB, DVI-Digital Single Link |
| Video Level | Analog:
0.7Vp-p Digital: TMDS™ |
|
| Sync Type | Separate H&V, Composite H/V, SOG | |
| Connector | Analog:
15-Pin D-sub (female) Digital: DVI-D (female) |
|
|
|
||
| Plug & Play: | DDC | DDC1/DDC2B |
| Wall Mount | VESA-Standard 100mm Compatible (100mm x 2 ) | |
|
|
||
| Power: | On/ Working | 64 Watts Maximum |
| Stand-by/Suspend/off | 5 Watts | |
| Regulations | VESA DPMS, Energy Star, NUTEK | |
|
|
||
| Regulations: | Safety | UL 1950, CSA, TUV, IEC 950, Korean, NEMKO, SEMKO, CCIB, GOST, MEEI, EZU |
| EMI/Emissions | FCC Part 15, DOC, FTZ, DIN, VDE, CISPR 22 (CE-EMI), EN50081(CE-EMS), MPR-II, VCCI, BCIQ, TCO95 | |
| Ergonomics | GS ZH1 /618/10.80, ISO 9241-3(display)-8(color) | |
|
|
||
| Dimensions: | Set (W x H x D) | 21.6" x 19.0" x 9.0" |
| With stand | (549.1mm x 483.4mm x 228mm) | |
|
|
||
| Weight: | Net | 24.86Lbs (11.3kg) |
|
|
||
| Warranty: | 3
years parts and labor 3 years Backlight |
|
|
|
||
| Included Items: | 15-Pin D-Sub Signal Cable, DVI-D Signal Cable | |
|
|
||
| Optional Accessories: | USB
powered hub, Sun Microsystems adaptor - 13w3
resolution @ 1152 x 900, 66Hz, Macintosh Adapter (MacMaster™), Multimedia Speakers |
|
|
|
||
| Compatible Computer Systems: | PC/Windows, Macintosh and Sun Microsystems | |
| Platform Information | |
| CPU/s | AMD AthlonXP 1800+ |
| Motherboard | Soyo Sy-K7V Dragon Plus! |
| Memory | Micron 256 PC 2100 DDR CAS 2.5 |
| Hard Drive | Maxtor 20GB ATA-100 4 Maxtor 40 GB ATA 100 RAID 0+1 |
| Video Card/s | WinFast GeForce2 Pro w/DVI |
I tested both the analog and digital inputs along with the video in.
I tested DVD Playback with PowerDVD 4.0.
I tested gaming with Serious Sam, Ultima Online Third Dawn, and Quake III.
For the Video in I ran an RCA from the Video out on my cable box to the Video in on the connection panel on the monitor.
Digital Connection
This was the first time I had gotten to play with a DVI connection, so I was unsure what to expect. So I connected the monitor up to the DVI connection and booted into Windows 2000. Every thing looked really fine. I set the resolution to 1600X1200.
So the first thing that I did was bring up some Serious Sam. The picture quality was great and very sharp. I then brought up some Quake III. Upon launching Quake III I noticed that it started to flicker a "ghost" image about half way down the screen. The flickering was so bad that it made Quake III unplayable. The same for Ultima Online.
DVD playback was clean except for a few flickering images like what I have described before.
I did bring up a trial version of AutoCAD and played around with that. It looked very good. The size of the monitor makes it really easy to work on large drawings in close detail.
Analog Connection
I pulled out the DVI connection and used the analog connection next. Again I brought up Serious Sam. It still looked great. I was able to play Quake III and Ultima Online with no flickering images or any other anomalies.
DVD playback was sharp and very clear. Again no flickering images. One thing that I did notice was how clear playback was compared to my CRT. The picture was at least 100% sharper on the LCD monitor.
The PIP function is cool. I did not run into any problems trying to play a video signal into the monitor. It looks way better than a regular TV. You have the ability to have a PIP of the video in on your desktop, run video in at full screen, or have a PIP window of your desktop on the video full screen.
Now I have heard that LCD screens do not have the contrast that CRTs do. Well it appears that this is not true with this monitor. The images were sharp and clear. The overall monitor picture was bright.
Pros
Cons
Overall I am happy with this monitor and I would highly recommend it for anyone doing CAD/CAM or graphics work. The price, however, will keep it out of the hands of most consumers. However, Samsung does make some quite affordable LCD. This monitor comes Very Highly Recommended!
Copyright © 2000-2005 BlueSmoke. All rights reserved. Terms, Conditions and Privacy Information.
Site Design by Jin-Wei Tioh
Sitemap
