Past reviews on Epinions :
Samsung 19"LCD :
http://www.epinions.com/content_228962438788
Sony 19" LCD :
http://www.epinions.com/content_228963290756
Dell 24" WS:
http://www.epinions.com/content_356930195076
____________________________________________________________
And now, the Samsung SyncMaster 225BW.
I purchased this monitor for my daughter (she's 11) after I moved monitor to my girlfriend's PC. My daughter is a gamer who loves HL2, CS:Source, Oblivion, America's Army, Garry's Mod, Sims2 as well as a slew of other smaller, less graphically challenging games. If she could write this review, I'd let her. If I did, she'd just say "it's cool!" and I'm pretty sure you are looking for more information than that right?
-----------------------------------------
Price: After a $20 MIR offered by Newegg/Samsung, I got this monitor for $249.99. Not a bad price at all when other 'lessor' names (Acer,Chimei, Hanns-G) were costing $210-240, I felt this was a good deal since I KNOW FIRST HAND of Samsung's quality. My 19" served me very well and performed wonderfully in games before I sold it with a system. My Dell 24" has a Samsung panel in it, so this has to be a safe purchase.
Packaging: Packaging seemed adequate but not over done. These days, I'm sick of seeing manufacturers use too much packaging since most of it ends up in the trash in the end anyway. I store my boxes since I anticipate warranty issues or plan to resell the item down the road, so, it's nice to store a smaller box with only necessary packing materials included.
Setup: Setup was typical. take the monitor out of the box, attach the stand, connect DVI cable and power cables, connect to PC, connect to your UPS/Surge protector and boot. Simple as it gets. Included inputs are DVI or VGA(db15)
Physical adjustments: This unit allows for forward/backward tilt, but not side tilt. Fine for me. I have the side tilt on my Dell and never use it other than to straighten out the Dell's factory defect of being slightly tilted enough to make you go "ugh!". Remove the pin from the back of the Samsung and you can adjust the height of the unit. Gives you about a 3-4 inch raise and stays put when you only need smaller increments. I suggest using some blue painter's tape (won't leave glue when you remove it down the road) to tape the locking pin to the back of the stand so you'll have it later should you need it. The monitor also includes a swivel features that you don't really notice until you play with it. When you swivel the unit, it looks like the entire base is moving, thus, potentially scratching the surface of your desk... AH HA! I noticed it's a lazy-susan design and the inner part of the base that makes contact with the desk does not move! Good stuff.
Picture and other: You are looking at a widescreen monitor, make sure you video device in your computer or whatever you're using for input supports the widescreen resolutions. Most video chips produced in the last 5-6 years support widescreen resolutions based on driver updates. If yours doesn't, look into driver updates and for the brave, I suggest looking for a firmware update for your video card.
My daughter uses the eVGA Nvidia 7900GS video card (with water cooling on the card) and she games at max resolutions. The native 1680x1050 res of this monitor looks great in games. Desktop icons are clear and legible, based on your vision (i use glasses sometimes). Colors are vibrant, but not as good as my Dell. For less than HALF the price of my Dell, this monitor looks great. Great for games, movies, surfing, etc.
Never see any issues with glare, although, like most displays, it is best not to have the blinds fully open in a room when it is on.
Settings: I honestly never had to adjust the settings other than dialing the brightness/contrast levels down a little. I do this to help elongate the life of the monitor. The brighter you burn the backlights, the faster they will die on you.
Build Quality: I don't use this in an office with overhead fluorescent lighting, but I'm pretty sure the screen would handle it just fine. The monitor feels as sturdy as any other model I've owned (except the sony, it's stand is superb). The buttons feel nice and tight when pressed and should last a long time before any wear issues come about. I don't see any backlight leakage when booting my PC or in a dark on-screen environment. I've checked this with the lights off and the room dark. What I've seen is minimal when it comes to light leakage. Sometimes I think people mention light leakage to show that they've read some reviews on displays before and know what they're talking about. I had NO dead pixels on my unit and use a dead pixel finder to check upon first boot with this monitor. It's a must when you get a new display... download something similar to this http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Benchmarks/Dead-Pixel-Tester.shtml and make sure your monitor doesn't have any dead pixels. Retailers such as Newegg.com will only replace if dead pixel count is over 8. Mine had ZERO, so I'm all fine.
