19", 1280x1024, 8ms, DVI, PC/Mac - MPN: 930B
Strengths: Refresh rate, color, brightness, quality of picture, movie and gaming capabilities.
Weakness: Doesn't include a DVI cable in the box, but if that is the worst then this is the best.
I had researched monitors for what seems like a year. I wanted large size, fast refresh rate, and resonable price. I couldn't decide with which monitor to go with, or even which company to choose. I was about to purchase the Hyundai L90D, which is suppused to be very good for the buck (close enough that the credit card was out of my wallet and in my hand), when I stumbled onto this on a random website. I searched best I could and there is very little information about it as of yet. I saw that best buy carried it and went into the store to take a look. The screen is gorgeous! It does not have the highest chic rating but it more than gets the job done. And getting it with a $70 rebate putting the price in the mid $300's it seemed to be too good to be true. I felt like I was going out on a limb when I bought it because I knew so little, but I am anything but disappointed. If you are looking for a monitor that is large and yet blistering fast with games and movies, but will still not break the bank, you have made your match. You won't regret it. Be sure to shop around, even pricegrabber does not have very many companies selling this product yet, it actually just showed up on their website a few days ago. Happy purchasing!
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TopStrengths: Price, clarity, pixel resopnse time
Weakness: Tilt but no elevation adjust
Just bought this monitor at Best Buy yesterday for $350. This is an excellent monitor good for games, DVD's etc. I watch internet baseball games on mlb.com and the games look great. I believe this is the best 19" monitor you can buy for the price. Half-Life looks great on this monitor. I am using the analog input and it still looks great. Can't wait to see how the digital input looks when I upgrade my comp.
Update: I recently updgraded my computer so now I am using the DVI input on this monitor through a XFX GeForce 6800GT. I must say Battlefield 2 and Half-Life 2 look awesome with this monitor. No ghosting at all. I had to call Samsung today because I still have not received my $80 rebate from them. They said I was pushed out 4 more weeks to get the rebate and I said "I don't think so" so now they are sending it in 10 business days. Don't let corporate America make interest free loans off of consumers and then not have to pay you back!
86% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopStrengths: Excellent Refresh Rate, Digital Input, Price!!!
Weakness: No swivel on base, awkward cable layout
This monitor is the best you can buy for the money. The refresh rate is unheard of on a 19 in monitor and the colors are amazing. There is a rumor that the best LCD doesn't come close to the picture quality of even a mid priced CRT but after seeing this monitor in action I know that isn't true. If you are still holding on to your bulky, heavy CRT because you don't think an LCD can match up...think again.
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TopStrengths: Very Clean, Uniform image, great for all but the most breakneck games, great for movies after adjustments (used video card tuning wizard). Excellent built-in scaling. Great color
Weakness: tiny bit of drag in Unreal Tournament, can see dithering of colors, must use DVI to get best picture, looks horrible using VGA, odd aspect ratio 16x12.8, not the greatest viewing angles
I bought this monitor in July '05 at Best Buy after doing price matching between Circuit City and then Best Buy again to get it down to $369, didn't need a rebate! The 3 screens from CC all had irregularities in the pixels that I could not stand (1-2 half dead pixels). The CC units were all made in Malaysia; the BB unit was made in Mexico, go figure. It was the best one and had a perfect picture, no dead pixels. i love the picture quality on this monitor, I bought an 8ft Monster DVI cable from BB for $130 to go along with it. I never notice eye fatigue using this screen. It is good for personal movie watching only, not groups. Viewing angles are not the best, screen is still tolerable at off angles but goes slightly brown to the sides and gray up or down, never notice unless not sitting at the computer. When viewing high color photos of nature scenes or certain colors you will see a dithering pattern that points out that this screen is 16.2 million colors instead of 16.7. I thought it would bother me more but I've learned to live with it and don’t notice unless I’m close, similar to the aperture grill lines on Trinitron CRT screens. The dithering may bug Photoshop users, videophiles, and those with type A personalities! :)
71% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopStrengths: Color clarity and accuracy,consistent quality, spacesaver.
Weakness: No DVI cable,a bit pricey, but worth the money.
I have had this monitor for about 3 months. I am impressed
with the quality, being an avid digital photographer,color
depth and detail are critical,I'm using a 256mb ATI Graphic
Card, via DVI connection WOW! I could view for hours at a time, Analog was eh...so.. so..
Gaming...Ghost Recon- is above average,
DVD's are exceptional, minimal to no ghosting,
Samsung is lax in returning the rebates, been almost 3mos.
GRRRRRRR!!!!!
However, I'm very satisfied overall.
71% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopStrengths: No dead pixels, sharp colors, good response time. Good value, excellent value with rebates. Good 3 yr. warranty.
Weakness: No height adjustment, no DVI cable (given the price of DVI cables, this is understandable)
I do a lot of word processing and spreadsheets (7-10 hrs. per day) and this monitor is a joy for the eyes. I would recommend going digital and pay the price for a male-male DVI cable as there is a difference - I would assume with most any digital monitor. The cables generally retail between $50-$99; however, I got a closeout @ $13. The only snag on my monitor was the female DVI interface did not have the 4 pins surrounding the "blade" punched out. Because I received the monitor as a gift (no proof of purchase) and the nearest service center is 350 miles away, I punched them out with an ice and it works great.
71% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopStrengths: Sharp picture, DVI connection, Brightness
Weakness: No negative tilt angle, Bleeding
I had a MAG 19 LCD and liked it but decided to trade up to this model for the better contrast and DVI connection. I must say that when connected digitally, the picture is beautifull and sharp. The blacks are very dark... in the middle of the screen. The edges, mainly the top, have a very visable bleed. IT is worst when viewing in the dark. I had a friend warn me that they had had to go through three of this model before finding one without this problem. I figured they must have had a bad batch where he worked and tried one anyway but I have the same problem. I don't think it is somethign I can live with personally but everyone might not feel the same. My cheap MAG that I had prior did not have this problem.
57% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopStrengths: Easy on the eyes, picture clarity, brightness
Weakness: Doesn't scale well outside the native resolution, minor ghosting problems
As a gamer who cares about image quality, I used to be a die-hard CRT fanatic. I never dreamed I would switch to an LCD. Unfortunately, my CRT began to wear on my eyes and I needed an alternative. Plus, LCDs are the future, and having a CRT just isn't in style anymore.
I chose the Samsung 930B because it was the only 8ms model I could find at the time (September 2005) at a reasonable price. I was always told 8ms is great for gaming. I also bought a DVI cable to go with it.
The picture quality at the desktop is outstanding. No CRT i've seen can match it. It was like taking a huge load off my eyes. The colors are also very bright and vibrant. Everything looks how its supposed to. No flawed geometry like CRTs have either. From a Windows/2D perspective, this is one awesome monitor.
Gaming is where this monitor has its biggest weaknesses. The quality just can't match up to my old CRT in this area. Yes, its satisfactory, but its just not that great. There is some definite minor ghosting problems in first person shooters. Its minor so it doesn't hinder gameplay, but it is noticeable. It also doesn't scale well outside the native 1280x1024 resolution. Anything other than 1280x1024 will look absolutely awful. This means I will have to upgrade my video card pretty frequently to keep up, being as 1280x1024 is no easy resolution. The black level is also a noticeable problem in gaming. While its better than on a lot of LCDs I've seen, it takes a lot of the realism out of dark games like FEAR and Doom 3.
Movies are pretty clear on this LCD. I have yet to see any ghosting in movies.
I give this LCD a 3 out of 5 stars. Its great for desktop purposes, which I do plenty of as a student. Its great for movies, but falls short in gaming. If it wasn't for the tremendous burning in my eyes that my CRT causes, I would have switched back to it for gaming. If you are a gamer, i recommend looking at one of those 2ms Viewsonic LCDs or just sticking with your CRT until something better comes along like HDR-LCD or SED panels.
50% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopStrengths: Clear Picture, Fast Response Time, 8ms, Sharp Picture, No Bleeding with Analog connection
Weakness: Doesn't include DVI cable, but they are truly expensive. A little awkward to connect the cable, but you only do it once so who cares really.
I waited a long time to find a decent LCD monitor. Response time was my big concern, and of course a good price. I found both in the Samsung 930B. I was actually looking at the 15" model when I saw this one displayed in use at Best Buy. I was amazed at how sharp the picture was, and how black the blacks were. It didn't look digital. I didn't buy it that day, but purchased from J&R Music World at a great price, and at the time there were two separate rebates, both fulfilled within 8 weeks. I highly recommend this monitor to anyone looking for a great LCD monitor for gaming, movies, or just general use. The price is great. You'd expect to pay much more for the response time alone.
50% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopStrengths: Picture Quality, Response Time
Weakness: None that should keep you from buying it
I originally bought the 17" version of this monitor but quickly realized that for only $100 more, I could get this one, and for gaming or just regular work, the larger size makes a big difference. I feel bad for the folks that had bad luck with this screen, I think it's excellent. The picture is bright, sharp, and the colors are very good. Gaming is incredible. I had read about how so few LCDs, especially in this size range, are fast enough to play games or video. Well this one is- Half Life 2, Quake 4, even MS Flight Sim 2004, all look great. I'm telling you, you can't tell it's an LCD. The native res is 1280x1024, which is wonderful, but even if you have to step it down for some games, (I use 1024x768 for F.E.A.R.) it STILL looks great.
Yes, it's plastic. Yes, you have to buy your own DVI cable. And yes, in certain situations (NOT all the time) you can see a little tiny bit of light bleed at the top. SO WHAT! This are minor complaints. The overall image quality of this screen is very, very good and the speed is excellent. For the price, it's astonishing. If you need a 19" LCD that you can "game on," this one will make you very happy, and your wallet will be happy, too.
43% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopStrengths: Good price, rebate
Weakness: Adjustment buttons are worthless but 'Magic Tune' bypasses them
Thanks to the info herein, I asked Circuit City if a DVI cable was included. Two of their sales people assured me that it was. After buying the monitor (with a $70 discount/rebate) I complained to the manager that I had been told that a DVI cable was included but it wasn't. No problem, they gave me a DVI cable at no charge! I am happy!
The software that enables adjustments is excellent. Most monitors nake you jump thru hoops to adjust gamma, etc., but not this one.
40% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopStrengths: fast 8ms, 700.1, no dead pixels, you can hang it on the wall.
Weakness: DVI cord not included.
I bought this monitor at Circuit City, and they have a 14 day any defect (1 dead pixel, and they will take it back) warranty. The 930b is a very nice looking monitor, its fast, looks great, and easy to setup. I had been looking, and reading reviews for the last 3 weeks, and I tell you this is the best one for the right price. Before you take it home from Circuit City have them hook it up, and see if everything is ok.
33% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopStrengths: Relatively inexpensive if purchased with rebates from various retailers.
Weakness: Construction is very cheap. Dead pixels out of the box. Light bleeds in from the top of the bezel and washes out colors at the top of the screen. The response rates from the spec. are a work of fiction.
Do yourself a favor and skip this model. I wish I had. The least you'll save is gas money from having to drive to the store and return it. Whether it's the annoying light bleeding onto the screen from the top of the bezel, or the likelihood of dead pixels, you probably won't be happy.
If you do decide to roll the dice and purchase one of these, make sure you have the store clerk take the panel out of the box and connect to a PC so you can test it before you buy it.
Samsung has better LCDs for only a few dollars more that are fully adjustable and aren't so sloppily put together.
32% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopStrengths: No dead pixels,Magic Tune software is great,Picture and text quality is great "Use DVI",Warrenty is vey good.
Weakness: None
Picture quality is just as good as my Nec Multisync FE950+ 19" crt monitor in games,dvd's and text when put side by side.Just be sure to use the DVI connection.Nuff said.
29% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopStrengths: Fast response. Bright display. 3 year warranty
Weakness: monitor will only adjust forward or back tilt. No Height adjustment. No DVI Cable included Pricey. No rotation between Portrait/landscape modes. Very difficult to connect cables to monitor. Pricy
Very basic monitor. Very disappointing that this monitor only included the Analog VGA cable and not the Digital DVI cable. Cheap Plastic. The rear cover that was included to cover the cables did not stay in place when the monitor was adjusted. The cable connectors are very difficult to fasten securely. Even using a screwdriver to attempt to secure the cables was difficult because of the cable layout and cover.
Returned monitor due to poor product quality and high price.
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Display is Average according to 1 Monitor experts. -- "its performance is just good enough for basic productivity tasks in a home or office setting."-reviews.cnet.com -- "Text looked relatively crisp,tinge."-reviews.cnet.com -- "native resolution of 1,280x1,024"-reviews.cnet.com Read more to find expert opinions on more features like Sound, Connectivity, etc.
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Samsung Syncmaster 930b (black) 1" Lcd Monitor receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS score of 3.02 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #112 computer monitor of all time. The overall rating represents an intelligent balance of features, value as a function of price to features, and a summary of reviews from a variety of sources. The TopTen REVIEWS' formula gives a picture of important consumer features,...
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Samsung SyncMaster 930B Black 19" LCD Monitor
Strengths: 8MS display, Magicbright one touch settings change for gaming, typeing etc. DVI and VGA ports, built in Power supply (no brick), 3 year warranty! :)
Weakness: Plastic base, no DVI cable, no handle for easy LAN party transport. Some Acer models are metal and have handles.
Excellent budget Ultrafast LCD panel. Mine had no dead pixels and with Samsungs 3 year no dead pixel warranty, that is the best in the business.
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Jun 13, 2005
Where did you see the "no dead pixel warranty"? That is not what they state on their website:
SAMSUNG USA
FAQs/Support
What Is The Pixel Defect Policy On LCD Monitors?
...
The minimum number of defective pixels we allow before we will replace an in warranty monitor is as follows:
For a 15" Monitor - 7 or more bad pixels
For 17" and 19" Monitors - 10 or more bad pixels
For 21" - 24" Monitors - 17 or more bad pixels.