8 ms - 1600 x 1200 - 16.7 Million Colors 24-bit - 300 Nit - DVI - VGA - Black - MPN: 214TBLACK
Strengths: Contrast, Adjustability, Size
Weakness: Blockiness of display, Pictures look Photoshoped
My 21" Viewsonic P815 Professional Series shorted out a few days ago and based on the reviews here I replaced it the Samsung 214T.
I was pleased with the adjustability of the monitor. I used to have my monitor on a 6" block of wood to raise it up. With the Samsung 214T it is not necessary. The height adjustment is a little tricky because you have push down on the top so that you can push in the button that allows the stand to go up.
The contrast is amazing. Pictures that used to be displayed with just a black background, I can now see all the detail.
As far as LCD's go I feel the 214T is the best combination of size and quality for the money. I am using it with digital output from a Nvidia Quadro FX 3400 Video card.
I am disappointed with the blockiness or grainy looking display that is common with LCD displays. I was using 1152x864 on the Viewsonic and angled lines were pretty smooth. When I set the 214T to anything but the max setting of 1600x1200 the display is blocky. To use the 214T at 1600x1200, I had to change all the display options to large fonts and icons. I still have trouble reading incoming 10-point font emails and even writing this review is a strain on the eyes.
The images are so sharp that they don't look natural. The transition from foreground to background is so sharp that the pictures look like they have been edited in Photoshop.
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TopI'm afraid what you're talking about - the blocky look - is something indicative of fixed-pixel displays. If you're only familiar with CRT, which is NOT fixed-pixel, then this might be something new for you. But ALL LCD's do not scale well outside of their native resolution. That's why an LCD rated at 1600x1200 native for LCD is so much more expensive than one rated at 1280 x whatever.
A lot of PC people (I'm a mac head) love to have giant text and icons on their display, while also having a giant display. I'm afraid you can't have this anymore. No professional wants to run 640 x 480 on a 20 inch display... I know I don't! You'd be better off with a typical 19" LCD from Samsung... it's a similar size, and will give you the lower res/bigger buttons, text, icons that you're looking for.
Could be worse... you could be complaining about "those 2 little dark lines" in your Trinitron CRT!... for those in the know, you know what I mean.
Strengths: Text sharpness and readability; monitor pivots up, down, left, right, rotates 90 degrees, and angles forward and backwards; my monitor has zero dead pixels
Weakness: None found - yet
This was my first LCD purchase. I'm finally getting rid of my 13 year-old 15" CRT from Viewsonic. I just built my dream computer and wanted a monitor to match it in quality and performance. Selecting an LCD was the most difficult choice to make because I haven't been happy with the readability of many LCD monitors.
I wanted 1200x1600 resolution and had to decide between a Viewsonic, Sony, NEC and Samsung. It was a difficult choice becuase I couldn't find a retail store where I could view all of these monitors.
What is especially important to me is text clarity - especially at 1200x1600. I'm not a gamer, nor do I watch DVDs on my computer, but having a high performance monitor with great text legibility is what I was after. However, I couldn't be happier with my choice of the Samsung 214.
Additional note: I'm finding that text is more legible *without* smoothing screen fonts in the Display Properties, Appearance (tab), "Effects." I understand that clear-type smoothing is beneficial for LCD displays, but I do not prefer it.
If you're looking for other reviews of this product, check out the e-zine Networkcomputing and look up the Dec. 20, 2005 head-to-head reviews of 5 LCD monitors. The article is titled, "Lucky 21" by John Marrin.
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TopMost people have found that ClearType reduces readability of text on LCD monitors. Best not to even try it in most cases.
Strengths: Easy installation, 4 pre-set brightness settings for internet, custom, text and entertainment use. Screen rotates for landscape viewing.
Weakness: Stand is not adjustable up and down, only has a tilt angle.
I was looking for a second 21" screen for side by side use and decided on a SyncMaster since I've had a Samsung 213T for several years and found it very reliable. Although they both have the same stand, the 214T stands about 1/2" taller than the 213T. The stands are not adjustable up and down, so placing the two displays side by side for large project displays makes the 1/2" difference slightly annoying. I would still recommend this display for anyone purchasing either a single or second display because of it's quality.
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TopActually, the stand is indeed height adjustable. There should be a button at the very base of the stand which unlocks the stand for height adjustment. This is similar to stands for Dell monitors such as the 2001FP.
I concur. The 214T stand is height adjustable.
The prior 2 knowledge-is-power comments were very much not helpful to Mary's post.
Until one knows the secret way to push the height-adjustment button, the height is for all practical purposes absolutely impossible to adjust.
The height-adjustment button at the rear bottom of the stand can only be pressed inward for height adjustment when you press down quite firmly on the main monitor carriage against a spring action. Then with the height-adjustment button now pressed inward, that spring counter-balances the weight of the monitor as it lifts upward.
Strengths: 8ms response time
Weakness: None so far
I wanted to replace my Sony trintron CRT with a good LCD. I was not able to find many reviews, but I went for it because it was a Samsung. I am on BF2 eavery day and this monitor has been great for gaming... Thank you Samsung.
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TopStrengths: Great picture w. analog or digital, fast response. No dead pixels. 3 year warranty.
Weakness: Reaching here: cannot turn OSD 90° to match screen orientation
Purchased two from ClubIT.com without a hitch. No dead pixels. Stand is height adjustable. Price was great and I got free shipping with a sale. Using Nview Rotate for rotated displays (Not the software that came with the monitor) and an XFX GeForce 6800 GT. No issues whatsoever. The screens heat up a little bit, but nowhere near as much as my giant 65 lb Panasonic S21 did. I had that monitor for eleven years. I hope these prove as reliable as that beastie was.
I am running one monitor Analog through an old (and very reliable) Belkin KVM and the other on DVI digital straight from the XFX card. I can't really tell much of a difference between them. I wonder if all the people who rave about DVI being _so_ much better than analog are using good quality cables between their boxes and the screen.
YMMV
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TopStrengths: Bright, clear picture.
Weakness: None.
I used this monitor to replace my Professional Series ViewSonic P225f. It's screen is about the same size. The picture is just as clear and bright only I have alot more room on my computer desk due to it's smaller depth measurement.
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TopStrengths: size saves space on desk
Weakness: buttons hard to see and difficult to differentiate.
this is my first lcd monitor. nice for games,nice for home office,nice for all around computer work.Will recommend this monitor to friends and family.plan on future purchases.
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TopStrengths: low profile monitor, made alot of room on computer desk. easy set-up. great all around monitor for my needs.
Weakness: None that I have come across yet
first lcd monitor, did alot of research into them and i found this to be best choice, very very pleased with style and performance thus far would recommend to family and friends.
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TopStrengths: size, contrast ratio, response time, resolution
Weakness: none
I am more than satisfied with the quality of this monitor, it's features and funcionallity. I will recommend everyone to get this monitor as an upgrade to my old 19" LCD monitor. You will see the difference, and your eyes would definitely feel it.
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Samsung Syncmaster 214t receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS score of 3.3 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #49 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, market value, and a...
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No compromises 1600x1200 res solution.
Strengths: - Suitable viewing angle for a screen of this size. - Extremely bright with good screen uniformity. - Good contrast and black performance for an LCD. - Fantastic color performance/white balance.
Weakness: - Noticable backlight shine at each corner of the screen on an all-black background (typical of LCD's though). - Suite of software is poorly documented and full of half-understandable Engrish.
Being a former LCD skeptic, I'm quite pleased with this monitor. I was unlucky enough to get one with a dead green subpixel towards the middle of the screen, but otherwise the monitor has met all of my expectations. It's very well setup right out of the box (unless you don't like bright) with correct black and white reference points, and the default color temp looks perfect with no hint of blue tint. The color performance of this monitor would make it suitable for photo-editing with some simple calibration. No issues with response time either, but I do not game so I'm not in a position to notice smearing.
I found the MagicTune program which allows the OSD controls to be used in Windows via the mouse to be very slick, but the rest of the software is either buggy or so poorly explained that it's useless. Also beware the driver installation program crashes on run if your default internet browser is Firefox.
At this resolution, using a DVI connection is a must, and legibility and sharpness is excellent as always with a digital connection. I have not tested the monitor with a D-Sub connection. The height adustable stand moves in any way one could want and has a slicker portrait mode rotation than most. The integrated power supply is also a nice conveience.
Overall, I consider this the best 21" LCD on the market, and I am well informed on LCD panel technology. Aside from LG/Philip's S-IPS mode nothing can touch Samsung's proprietary PVA mode LCD panels for their viewing angle performance and color balance/performance. Be aware though, that even though the viewing angles are good this monitor is so huge that you will still have minor luma falloff at the edges of the screen if you're sitting closer than 12-15 inches from it.
If you're looking for bragging rights over the more typical 20.1" 1600x1200 LCDs then this is the one to get. Highly recommended.
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