COMPUTERS N LAPTOPS

Review by Paul Tinsley:

It isn't the design of this LCD that earns merit, although it is a rather timeless looking item and will look smart in any situation. It's the feature set, and there is certainly far more function over form than meets the casual eye!

Pros:

- Can be set to auto detect the exact input source resolution and display the image without any stretching. This is great if you play games that might need 1280 x 1024 or 1680 x 1050. Your treasured vintage game collection will still look splendid!

- Has a great software tool that will set the correct color / contrast / brightness balance. Make sure you run MagicBright after installation - the image is stellar once you have this set.

- Low power consumption - do your bit for Gaia

- The memory resident tools do not task the CPU.

- Tack sharp display with almost non-existant light bleed at the edges

- Games look superb!

- No dead pixels

- Comfortable viewing size - I find larger displays somewhat taxing on the eyes

- Has a great tool that can divide your display into various logical units - a bit mike having multiple displays - very cool as this makes apps snap into the regions just like extra displays

- Amazing price - 2ms + 20,000:1 contrast ratio + Samsung quality + auto resolution detect + much more!

Cons:

- No height adjustment - but by no means a show-stopper when you bear in mind the spec.

- Tilt only tilts away, not towards you. The assumption is that you will be looking down at the screen up to horizontal, which is ergonomically incorrect. The user should have the option to view at 90 degrees or above to avoid neck strain. I resolved this by buying a sturdy stand so I can have the mid-screen point at eye level

- No frame color options - just translucent burgundy, which looks blackish most of the time in low light conditions.

- Software installation is confusing. It recommends that you download the latest software. When you click the link, it's very unclear what you need to do. I couldn't see a option for the T220, so I just installed what was on the disk and everything ran fine. You must run the software installer using Internet Explorer, otherwise you need to manually run the install exe from the CD.

Review by E. A. DiGiacomo:

The Samsung T-220 is a fantastic monitor, not only in design and curb-appeal but in performance. No matter what you use it for, the screen will be sharp and crystal clear for text, images, photos and background. I'm using the T-220 for a CCTV system with a DVR and the images from all 5 camera's are perfectly stunning. If your wondering then why I gave the T-220 4 stars instead of 5? It's because for some unknown reason Samsung decided not to make these T-220 monitor's VESA compliant (no mounting holes in rear of monitor) wall mountable. When I contacted Samsung their tech-rep admitted the T-220 were their newest monitor addition and could not understand why the T-220's were not designed to be wall mountable? This is the only flaw I could find, but it could be a major one if you want the monitor mounted on a wall. I had to return one monitor for this specific reason. If your not mounting your monitor to a wall, I would recommend the Samsung T220 to all, it's just a great product.

Review by Forznoles:

I just received the monitor, so my intention is to write a review based on initial impressions. In-depth reviews and long-term reviews I'll leave to others.

Out of the box, not much of a problem. I didn't have much a problem with anything. Just put the two pieces of the base together, insert the metal base piece into the bottom of the monitor, take off the back plate and insert your power cable and whatever cable you are going to use to hook it up to your computer, and pop the back plate back on. DVI, analog and USB are supplied, as well as the power cord, so you get four cords, and will wind up using two (the power cord and the cord you choose to hook up to your monitor). No tools required.

Asthetics - a nice, nice black with a red/rose tinting around the edges, and then silver at the very edges. I like it - this will be personal preference, but it looks nice to me.

I plugged it in and it immediately started going between modes looking for a signal. I turned on the computer, set the Source to the way I hooked it to my computer (DVI, in my case), and it was up and running! No dead pixels!! I had an older Syncmaster T213 from a few years ago, and it had no dead pixels either, and my review of online reviews notes that pretty much all Samsungs go out of the factory with no dead pixels. This was an important issue with me, as sometimes companies don't take back monitors with only a few dead pixels, but I have had none with two Samsungs so far.

Then I set my computer for 1920x1200 resolution, and here I am. Done. It has a driver disc, but I haven't found the need to install the driver yet - maybe I will later, but it seems plug-n-play to me.

Initial review of screen - great. I popped in a Blu-Ray disc and love the results. Internet/general use, pictures, movies, etc. all look great. As noted, I had a Samsung Syncmaster before this one, and I love them both.

My only things to discuss - the tilt feature is kind of tough - you have to be careful but forceful, and at first I was nervous it didn't have a tilt feature, but it does. And the back plate seems kind of cheap, but you're most likely only going to access that a few times in the life of the monitor, if you're just going to hook it up to your computer and use it. Finally, the USB ports are in the back behind the plate, so the ports are okay for plugging in something you're not going to be messing with for awhile, like a keyboard, mouse or printer. But they're not practical at all for mp3 players or memory sticks or anything you'll take in and out regularly.

One thing I'd like to note is the monitor is HDCP-compliant. This is important if you want to play Blu-Ray discs, but not a lot of places list this important specification where you can find it easily.

In conclusion, a nice monitor that you will love for home or home office use.

Review by AHW:

The T260 is a TN panel with a very narrow viewing angle: from top to bottom and left to right there is a considerable variation in brightness and color accuracy. I found myself unable to get an accurate gamma setting on this monitor and after a week of trying I gave up and returned the monitor for a refund. For Internet surfing, watching videos and gaming this monitor will do the job. For serious photo work forget it.

Review by SkyPapa:

Received this last week and so far couldn't be happier.

I'm using this as a HDTV only hooked up by HDMI to my cable box.

Great hi def picture and pretty good sound.

SD pictures are not as good but plenty watchable.

I have it sitting on my desk next to my Dell 2407 (1920 by 1200) computer monitor and from about 3 feet, the TOC is the perfect size and the HD picture looks great.

As someone reviewing the 22 in. TOC said, it is a 16:10 screen so you get about .6 in. of black screen on the top and bottom when viewing a 16:9 hdmi input, but it doesn't bother me.

Someone also said that not filling the screen will cause burn-in.

I have hundreds of hours playing games on my 24 in. 1080p LCD with an un-filled screen and have not had a problem, so I'm not worried.

Some shows on my cable fill the screen so it's not as if that part of the screen is always black.

Oh yeah, 3 year warranty for monitors instead of 1 yr for TVs

As usual, fast, free shipping (super saver- 7 days for me) and good service from Amazon.

Review by Rodger A. Schlink:

I have this Momitor/HDTV wired to my OTA. All the local digital signals come in great. If I had one complaint, the Monitor does not come with mounting holes on the back to use a under cabinet or wall mount.

Review by Doug Oriard:

The Samsung T260HD is the best monitor I've ever owned. I was using dual 19 inchers (Samsung 940BX and Samsung 971P) and this blows both of them away. I'm an amateur photographer and my photos look amazing on this monitor -- big screen, high resolution, clear bright colors. The images are very sharp and detailed. There is so much detail in the images, it's almost like being there. Photos have more detail in both the highlights and shadows than any other monitor I have used. I love this monitor.

With the default settings, the monitor was a little too bright, so I turned the brightness down to 50 and then profiled the monitor with my Monico Optix XR color puck. Now the monitor produces less bright and more natural colors. The photos show more detail in both highlight and shadow areas than any previous monitor. The built-in 1080P HDTV works great too. It automatically found all of my DTV stations without a cable box -- in fact it found even more than my cable box shows. Standard DVDs look very good on it too. The monitor was easy to setup and use both as a monitor and as a TV. The remote is just the right size, with all the essential buttons and enough space between them for even my large fingers. The remote lets you switch between TV mode and monitor mode with a single button push.

Initially I couldn't play Blu-ray movies on this monitor and the Cyberlink Blu-ray advisor reported a digital connection that didn't support HDCP. The problem turned out to be lack on HDCP support in the GeForce 7600GT video card. I upgraded the video card to a GeForce 9800GT and now Blu-ray movies play just fine. Blu-ray movies have a little more detail, but standard DVDs look great too.

The screen seems to have an anti-glare feature -- light coming in my window that used to cause glare on my other monitors, is not a problem on this monitor. I haven't verified this in the specs, but it just seems to have less of a glare problem than other monitors.

Now that I have this large widescreen monitor, I've started watching DVDs and instant Netflix movies on it. Both look great. With a high speed connection, the instant view movies look almost as good as DVDs.

I still have a 19inch monitor to the side of this one for games that don't display well at this resolution. It also adds as an overflow monitor when I get lots of stuff running.

This monitor is a little slow to wake up after being asleep (Windows power management). I discovered that it wakes up better when detecting a mouse click than just moving the mouse.

I tried using the monitor from both the HDMI and DVI connectors and found no noticeable difference in display quality.

The sound quality from the built-in speakers is okay for watching standard TV, but I normally use my Logitech THX-certified Z-2300 speakers which are much better. When using the T260HD as a TV I let the sound come out of its own speakers, but when using it as a monitor, the sound routes through the Logitech Z-2300 speakers. They have excellent sound for both movies and gaming and are only on Amazon.

If you are thinking of getting one of these monitors, just do it. You will love it.

Review by E. T. Hildebrand:

I have a Samsung LN52A750 LCD television which is an awesome set for use either as an HDTV or as a computer monitor. I really like the style it has with the TOC (touch of color) and the crystalline bezel design. When the T260HD was announced it seemed like a great idea to upgrade my 22" monitor with this 26" and gain HDTV functions while matching the style of the larger set.

What a disappointment! When used as a PC monitor the text could not be sharper, but the colors are all washed out and blacks are a hazy shade of gray. This performance isn't nearly as good as the cheap 22" ACER it replaces! Since the 52" Samsung performs flawlessly as a monitor I figured this 26" just needed calibration. After adjusting the configuration of the video card AND using the supplied Samsung "Natural Color Pro" software, only very slight improvement could be made.

I then replaced the HDMI cable with a DVI cable to see if that was causing the poor performance... no luck. The images were identical. The DVI cable and video card were the same ones that worked fine with the Acer, so those components could be ruled out as causes.

I even used the menu to rename the port to "PC" in the hopes that would automatically modify the port configuration as it does with the 52", but that didn't help either.

Now here's the really strange part: When used as an HDTV (plugged into Comcast cable) the images simply cannot be better. Even without any adjustments the black levels and color saturation is as perfect as anything I have ever seen. When used as an HDTV this set will not disappoint anyone - no matter how "picky" they are. At least this performance shows there may be some hope in someday finding some hidden method to improve its performance when used as a monitor.

There were four other disappointments prospective purchasers should be aware of:

1) I had already downloaded and read the User Guide from the Samsung website a couple of weeks before anyone began selling this model. Upon unpacking the set I noticed the remote control did not match what was listed in the manual - it was a completely different shape and was missing 7 buttons. This seemed strange because some of those missing functions were very useful. I borrowed the remote from my 52" Samsung which was equipped with those buttons (and many more as well). That remote was able to control everything, including the functions that were missing on the supplied remote! I called Samsung support and found that they have recently updated their online user guide and downgraded the supplied remote to the one I received. While you can still access the missing functions by navigating through their menu system, it makes using the remote a frustrating experience. This is a relatively minor complaint since I can use my other remote or buy an expensive third-party remote to get those functions back.

2) Perhaps a bigger disappointment with this unit is its total lack of VESA wall mounting holes. There is no way to wall mount this set unless you use one of those old fashioned shelves they've used for years for CRT sets. This is a pity because the 1080p performance of this set is unequalled by any other HDTV in its' size or cost range. Even if you don't need it as a PC monitor at all, it can be completely justified for purchase solely for its HDTV performance.... but this function almost REQUIRES a capability to be wall mounted, which cannot easily be done wth this set.

3) The speakers on this monitor are average for a typical HDTV - in other words - pretty poor. My first inclination was to connect a simple set of 2.1 computer speakers because even the inexpensive ones provide a huge audio improvement. It is difficult to justify a full-blown receiver and 5.1 or 7.1 sound system for a TV this small. Unfortunately, the only audio out connection on the back is an optical Toslink connector which no computer speaker system I know of is equipped with. I can't even find an adapter to convert the Toslink to any analog type of connector.

I was successful in connecting to the audio-in jack on my computer's sound card via the earphone plug located on the side of the monitor, but it looks pretty cheap to have the wire stick out like that. That appearance is not compatible with one of my main reasons for selecting this item: it's beautiful appearance. Even with a right-angle jack adapter the cable remains visible and the monitor's side door covering the connections must remain open.

EDIT: 7-28-08

Just installed a Logitech Z-5500 5.1 speaker system. It solved the problem, but at a steep 0 cost. At least it handles optical inputs, as well as digital coaxial and 5.1 channel analog. It now provides the sound system for this TV as well as the computer and an upconverting DVD player. This is a pretty good sound system that has significantly improved my viewing and computing experience. It is not as good as the sound system in use with my 52" TV, but it is a vast improvement over the 2.1 computer speaker system that I previously thought was quite good.

4) The biggest disappointment is the lack of "picture-in-picture" (PIP) capability. What could be a more natural use for this set than to be able to use it as a computer monitor while having the nightly news running in a window? The remote shown in the original manual has a button for PIP, even though the manual stated PIP is not available. The remote actually provided does not have a PIP button. I've used my other remote (which does have a PIP button) to confirm, and the set just states "function not available". I feel this is a major design flaw for a set of this type.

Now for the good news:

I really like the crystalline (clear plastic) bezel design and the TOC which matches my 52" Samsung. Just as with the larger TV, the red TOC is actually so subtle that it appears black unless directly illuminated by bright sunlight, when it still appears more of a very dark reddish-brown. The 52" set has a design feature which allows subtle screen illuminations to be reflected off the outer edges of the bezel (dubbed as the "halo effect"). I like that feature and am a bit dissapointed this set has not yet exhibited this effect. (If it does, it must be even more subtle than on its bigger brother).

The on/off button on the bezel is not really a button at all. It's an invisible sensor that activates when you touch a certain spot - just as it does with the 52". Unlike its' larger brother the other contol functions for channel and volume are physical buttons hidden behind the right edge of the bezel. The power indicator light is very cool - instead of a small point of light, it is a faint red glow of a sizeable portion of the corner of the frame - perhaps a 2" crescent region.

I was greatly surprised (and pleased) to discover that after allowing the set to automatically locate and program cable channels that it found perhaps several hundred of them. It picked up lots of HDTV stations without the need for a set-top-box. The best surprise is that it shows standard definition (SD) broadcasts nearly as clearly as the HDTV broadcasts. I have to hit the "Info" key to verify the resolution of many channels because they all look so good. The SD display even surpasses the very good performance from its' 52" big brother! SD stations that are of nearly unwatchable quality on my other HDTVs look great on the T260HD, perhaps even better than they did on my old SD televisions (which I no longer have for comparisons).

Performance on HD material is quite good, but not quite as good as that of the larger Samsung.

SUMMARY:

I cannot recommend this unit for use as a computer monitor. If I ever discover a solution for its washed out appearance I'll edit that info into this review later.

The display performance as an HDTV is much better than it's performance as a computer monitor with deep blacks and saturated colors.

No PIP functionality greatly reduces this set's usefulness.

Review by Ron:

Incredible monitor. Picture is crystal clear and the monitor is sleek and stylish. I would recommend this monitor to a friend.

Review by blizard:

This is a great monitor. Looks sleek and picture quality is nice. Plenty fast for gaming. My only complaint is mine arrived with (3) stuck pixels (two green and one blue). I left it on for 24 hours and the blue one is now working. I am hoping in another day or so the green one near center starts working. The other one since it is lower I can live with. If it doesn't fix itself then I will see about returning, as I believe spending this much on a monitor it should be near flawless. Besides who wants to look at a green stuck pixel for many years. Stuck pixels seem like regular issue with these LCDs, as I had same issue with an ASUS and returned it.

Review by Tempuraki:

I have a 20-month-old boy who loves to break things, so I have to take all my gaming consoles out fo the living room and into the study, where my PC is. So I thought it would be nice to get a LCD monitor with component input for my old consoles, as well as HDMI for potential new consoles. After lots of research I picked the T220HD, because it also comes with digital tuner. I am very happy with the choice because it is exactly what I thought it would be. it's very versatile and display everything well, and I am especially impressed with the digital tuner which picks up all the network OTA HD broadcast using a cheap indoor HDTV antenna, when my PCI tuner card (Avermedia A180) could pick up 2 or 3 using the same antenna in the same position. It's not perfect, however.

What's to like:

- Component input allows connecting older devices without HDMI.

- 2 HDMI ports

- Input source button cycles through only ports that are plugged in.

- digital TV tuner is excellent.

- Build in speaker/headphone jack/audio out port. Speakers are not great, but having them means you don't need extra adaptors to capture the audio from HDMI/component devices.

- Remote control. OSD navigation is so much easier and more intuitive with it. And this is really useful when turning the unit on/off, making this a true LCD TV.

- Has 16:9 aspect ratio option so that pictures don't have to be stretched to full screen.

- Unit is very light, only 13 lb.

- Picture is bright and clear, no dead pixel for me.

- Screen is matte, not glossy.

What's really annoying to me:

- Unit is light because base is mostly plastic, not very rigid.

- touch sensitive power on/off button. Everything else is tactile and on the side of the monitor, except for power. turning the unit on/off using this button usually requires several presses. Might that be that big of an issue if the unit is not so light and stand so flimsy, I have to grab the whole bottom edge when I try to turn it on this way. Good thing there's the remote.

- My unit has quite a bit of backlight bleed at the center of top and bottom edge. Hard to see when using DVI input, but when viewing HDTV, with the black bars on top and bottom to get the correct 16:9 aspect ratio, the bleeding is obvious.

What are the missing features which I don't care much about:

- the stand is basic, no height adjustment, no portrait mode

- no PIP

- can't be mounted to the wall

- Cannot customize the individual RGB color tone when in DVI mode. Can only select between one of the 3 presets (warm, normal, cool).

Other nitpicks:

- monitor frame has piano finish (glossy), including the inner side which reflects what's on screen. Kind of annoying , and maybe makes backlight bleeding seem worse than it really is.

- most of the connection ports are on the back of the unit facing back. While this makes the ports easier to see than a lot of other models that has the ports on the bottom facing down, it also makes insertion of wires, especially the component video ones, harder becasue you are pushing/applying force perpendicular to the LCD panel. You don't want to put your other hand on the LCD screen, but if you don't, then you really can't get a good push.

Review by A. J. Kirkland:

There seems to be some confusion whether or not the T220HD can be wall mounted. Granted it does not have the VESA holes but SamsungParts has a wall mount adapter WMB1900T 19-22 VESA 100X100 bracket. Why Amazon doesn't show this item as an accessory for the T220/T220HD I don't know. As far as the T220HD goes it has all the bells and whistles you need the only thing i think is missing is a USB hub. This link should get you to the bracket. Wall Mount Bracket 19-22"

Review by John F. Wright:

I purchased the T240HD for usage as a computer monitor because of a long history with Samsung monitors being absolutely top notch. Unfortunately this product while being pitched as a monitor, makes a great TV but not a great monitor.

The resolution is very good (1920x1200) and it's very attractive and stylish.

There is no vertical height adjustment (typical for a TV but important to have in a monitor). Your desk / monitor stand had better be at just the right height. The edge is highly reflective and creates bad glare around the picture in a work environment. The adjustments are typical TV adjustments but not monitor adjustments (there is no horizontal or vertical position adjustment).

I've used Samsung monitors for many years and recommend them to my clients. When I finally purchased a HDTV I bought a 46" Samsung which is excellent. The T240HD makes a great HDTV but I regret purchasing it as a computer monitor.

Review by neemo:

Pros: First of all, this monitor arrived with no dead/stuck pixels. The performance is solid: no noticeable blurring during movies & games, good color accuracy, and reasonable viewing angles for a TN panel. When using HDMI, you can set the picture mode to 16:9, so HD signals retain their aspect ratio (aka black bars on top & bottom of screen). This feature is not available in the non-HD model, the T240. Also, the TV tuner works great. There seem to be rumors of this monitor having high input lag - even if that's true, it's not noticeable at all to me. Relatively low energy consumption is a big plus. Did I mention...the bezel looks awesome!

Cons: A bit pricey - you're paying extra for the HDTV tuner and the artwork (which IMO is worth it because it's rare to see such elegance in monitors). Slight backlight bleed on the edges (all LCDs will have this, unless they're LED backlit). Probably a pro, but this monitor's way too bright on default settings - had to turn it down to 30-40 for my eyes. The T240 has a USB hub, this one doesn't. Lacks height & rotate adjustments.

The bottom line: If you want a 24" high-performance TN panel monitor that also has a sleek design, go for this and pay the extra ~-100 for it; you'll also get an HDTV tuner. If all you care about is performance, look at other Samsungs; or an HP, Dell, Acer, or BenQ.

Review by Bart A. Roberts:

I just purchased this monitor--moving from an older IBM 21 inch CRT monitor and WOW what a difference! Just reclaimed what seemed like 4 square feet of desk space and not to mention the power bill also improved by probably a month! Honestly though--great picture out of the box. Maybe a bit too vivid if I was being picky but I believe most people will love the picture it produces without any adjustments. I decided to breakout my calibration disk that I used on my HDTV so I set the resolution to 1920 x 1080 and then tweaked the contrast, brightness, etc and once done it was fantastic! Blacks are very good for an LCD--but do not expect plasma levels. Very quick refresh rate--I was a bit worried that when I play games that I would see ghosting--Nope. None. When playing HD video on ITunes, it looked very good. I highly recommend the monitor to anyone. The price/value ratio is the best I could find.

Review by Ronald Reynolds:

I did lots of research and comparisons before selecting the ASUS VW246H. Was very worried about getting bad pixels. I chose Amazon who has the best policy. Boy was the choice great! This monitor has no bad pixels and was perfect straight out of the box. Can't say anything at all critical about it. Huge! Awesome color, clarity, contrast and detail. Can't go wrong with this monitor or with Amazon. Free shipping to sweeten the deal.

Review by Reviewer:

The monitor had a very nice picture for the month that it was functioning. When it went black suddenly, I was sent into the ASUS Customer Service abyss. All phone calls seemed to send me back to the website... which was useless. I finally managed to get an RMA and sent the monitor back at my cost. After 5 weeks with no email or calls as to the status of the monitor, I finally received my supposedly repaired monitor back. Blacks are red. The picture quality is terrible with ghosting and flickering everywhere. Clearly nobody even looked at the monitor after "repairing" it.

I will seek a refund and will never purchase ASUS products again.

Review by C. Radovich:

While I have used Asus MoBo's and video cards in the past, this is my first Asus monitor.

I replaced two 17" Samsung LCD's with this one 24". It is truly beautfiul. The color clarity and sharpness of the image are excellent. The HDMI port allows me to hook up a cable box to watch TV. The DVI port is connected to my PC.

I am very impressed with this ASUS VH242H monitor.

Review by J. Lam:

[...]

One of my criteria is to have built-in speakers. I don't have external speakers nor do I like more tangled wires. The speakers sound better than my old Viewsonic VA1912wb I replaced. That is a welcoming fact. Initially, there was a lot of waviness on screen. The troubleshooting guide suggested video connection as the issue. Turns out that it was my old VGA cable (I didn't want to craw behind the computer initially...). Once I hooked up with the new cable provided, it started working perfectly. I'm running Windows XP Media Center. After I turned off and on my computer, it recognized the new monitor and reset the resolution and refresh rate profile. It now runs at 1920 x 1080 at 60Hz. No driver is needed. I was afraid that I would need to update my video driver since I have a 4 yr+ old computer but I don't. With HDMI, DVI, and SPDIF Audio Output, it will be more than capable to handle my future computer (definitely not with Vista, though).

Of course, not everything is perfect with this monitor. The buttons and OSD menu are not great. But they are within my expectation based on other reviews I mentioned before. In addition, once you move away from the center view by, say, more than 45 degrees, the picture quality starts degrading rapidly. It means that if you want to show someone standing behind you the pictures on your screen, he/she would need to bend down, sit down, or step back in order to appreciate what you are trying to show. These are just minor flaws that I'm willing to live with for what I'm willing to pay. Overall, I'm a very happy customer.

August 11, 2009 Update:

Shortly after I wrote the initial impression above, I began to experience some flickering with the screen. This is my description to ASUS Customer Service:

"While in use, occasionally monitor would flicker. Anywhere from showing multi-color vertical bands (partial or full screen) to black or white screen. Sometimes it's vertical and horizontal lines covering the full screen (forming dense grid pattern). This is a brand new monitor (in use for 1 week). I'm using VGA cable. I've unplugged and plugged the cable and made sure connection is good. I've updated my video card driver to the latest version but did not solve the problem. Saw this posted in forum but no solution replied. If not resolved, may need to return the monitor."

ASUS replied in about 2 days making several recommendations. I followed the advice the best I could. See my subsequent reply of findings:

"Firstly, would you please tell us when and after what action this problem occurred?

1. When the computer first boot up. Doesn't matter whether the monitor is on first or on after boot up. The screen flickers with vertical multi-color bands on the right or sometimes the whole screen. At times there are both vertical and horiztonal bands that form white fabric like pattern. Duration could last for 2 sec to good 5 seconds.

2. When in use during any computer session. Very sporadic. Sometimes happens while surfing the net. Not always repeatable. In one particular session, every time I went to dpreview.com, it flickered. But it didn't happen again since.

Secondly, please press Splendid key on LCD about 3 seconds to load the default settings.

Did it and no change.

Please replace another graphic card.

Not possible but I have another laptop to test with. This laptop is much newer... 1 yr old. When switch to ASUS as external monitor, the same flickering happened, for long or short duration. But other than that, I did not experience other instances.

Thirdly, please check if there is any updated BIOS or driver for your other PC components.

Updated BIOS.

Now the only times that it flickers are when the computer first boots up or when it goes in and out of screen saver or when the monitor is first turned on. I've not observed other in-session interruptions as before.

Otherwise please change this LCD to another PC to test."

Today, ASUS told me that this may be defective. I've proceeded to replace my unit via Amazon. Will update again in the future. Up to this point, ASUS customer service has been prompt.

August 15, 2009:

Requested Amazon for a replacement on Aug 11. Received a new unit 2 days later. Plugged it in. Not a single problem was observed. All flickering has been gone since. I have to commend the excellent customer services from both ASUS and Amazon. Couldn't be happier.

Review by EDW:

PROS:

- Every video connector you could possibly want

- 23"

- Very bright

- Audio is adequate for a monitor

- Dedicated input select button

- No obvious dead pixels (knock wood)

- Cables included: DSUB, DVI, male/male audio, AC power

CONS:

- Limited vertical viewing angle!

- Cumbersome menu / buttons

- Highly polished bezel & base scratch easily

- Volume control buried in the menus

- No LED backlighting (though not advertised as such)

OTHER:

This is a lot of monitor for the money! Blows everything in its price range away. If you need a general purpose monitor NOW and can get it cheap (rebate, free shipping, no tax) I recommend it. Though if you can wait, please do as LED backlighting is coming which will give you a potentially more efficient, reliable, inexpensive, lighter, and thinner monitor with significantly better color. I scratched the base before I could even turn it on for the first time, not a big fan of the highly polished plastic motif. Volume is adequate if you turn it way up (85% or more). Biggest con is the vertical viewing angle - no matter how I tilt it I can't get rid of the "dark sky" effect. It's almost as if there is no backlighting at the top, only at the bottom. This is common with most modern LCD monitors though. Base is not particularly flimsy, no vertical adjustment, tilt range is fine. I'm also not a huge fan of the current widescreen craze, and think a square monitor would be ideal. Have seen 1920 x 1200 in stores and prefer that 16:10 aspect ratio to this 16:9, but those are still rather expensive. Note: this is a plug-n-play monitor and doesn't require a driver in XP! Also, the box it comes in should easily survive fairly rough shipping as it is sturdy with plenty of foam inside. Amazon double-boxed mine which made me feel even better about it's journey home.

Review by flylower:

Like it a lot. I bought one to go with my Asus VW246H 24" 16:9 and liked it so much I snagged a second VW266h 25.5". The but comes in for several reasons. Both VW266h displays suffered from a bluish tint. Different batches manufactured several months apart. Issue has been reported by others in several forums. Calibration is the cure. A hueypro calibrator took care of it just fine. The huey pro is not as automatic as one thinks, even after setting the monitor back to defaults it took several attempts to get "close enough" matching for dual VW266H displays. The blue tinge was quite noticeable when the VW266H was next to my VW246H. More than likely you will need a calibrator to make the VW266H look as great as it can. You might not notice if you are running just a single monitor and are not very computer savvy.

The second issue is that it is 1920x1200 and 25.5" diagonally. This means the dot pitch is a bit on the large size and some smaller text loses its image quality. In Windows 7 I found upping the text size to a custom setting of 115% pretty much took care of the issue. Every now and then the text is a bit screwy on a few web pages. Any higher than 115% and text on those same web pages are really messed up.

Color shift is a bit more than 24" monitors. Color shift is a problem on all TN displays, IMHO anything larger than a 25.5" would not doubt greatly benefit from higher resolution, say 2048 x 1152 or 2560 x 1600. Hard to find IPS/VA LCD panels give you greater viewing angles and better color but for most TN LCD panels work out just fine. I Have not found a decent IPS/VA panel larger than 22" and that is too small for my old eyes. Don't let anyone kid you, if you want a monitor that you can mount on an optional arm or mount so you can rotate it 180 degrees for text you really should be looking at IPS or *VA displays, TN displays simply are not good as vertical text viewers.

The back cover pops off for those who want access to the VESA mount.

Loving the real estate and size of these 25.5" displays. The size makes up for the shortcomings. If I had it to do over I would probably buy the X-Rite i1 Display 2 instead of the hueypro. IMHO the hueypro just seems cheap and the X-Rite i1 Display 2 gets better user reviews than the spyder3 or the X-Rite i1 Display 2. The hueypro is quite a bit less expensive and did do its job after several tries. I would buy the VW266H displays again and I would not be without a calibrator even if it is just a hueypro no matter what monitors I bought. The VH266H offers a lot of bang for the buck.

Monitors seem to be the hardest thing to choose in comparison to other computer parts. TN versus IPS/VA panels. Google is your friend. 1920x1200 (16:10) versus 1929x1080 (16:9). I found that TN panels are just fine for most as are either 16:9 or 16:10.

Review by J. Raymond:

I have owned this monitor for six months now and it has been one of my best purchases in years. I wanted a some what large monitor to use on my glass computer desk which consist of my PC, Xbox 360, PS3, and an original Xbox. First, this awesome thing is full 1080P (1920X1080P) via HDMI, DVI, VGA and even component! it's also widescreen 16X10 and not 16X9, confused? it looks a bit taller and larger than other monitors of the same screen size (25.5).

All 16X9 material like PS3 and Xbox 360 games are upcoverted to 16X10 meaning your gaming world will look just a bit more skinny and taller, this makes the games look awesome though, I have switch to 16X9 mode a couple of times (you get slight 1 inch thick black bars on the top and bottom) but original 16X9 looks weird to me now, characters look fat etc similiar to when a full screen picture is stretch to fill a widescreen display. You will love gaming on 16X10 trust me it looks wonders without any loss of picture quality. I have my PC on VGA, my 360 on HDMI, my PS3 on DVI (via hdmi to dvi) and my original xbox on component running in 480p (note that this component input is capable of full 1080p though) I noticed that 480p on this monitor looks so much better than my old Sony 32 inch HDTV, games like halo 2 and ghost recon look like 720p games! I recommend to not use the build in speakers though (who does?) buy yourself some nice PC speakers and just use the audio out jack from the monitor and your set.

The 2ms response time is brilliant on first person shooters with no ghosting at all(ghosting is what makes the screen blurry when turning or slowly moving in games). The bluish tint was there with factory settings so take a few minutes to adjust the brightness and saturation, or use these:

SPLENDID : Scenery. BRIGHTNESS 100. CONTRAST 100. SHARPNESS 100. SATURATION 73, ASCR: OFF (VERY IMPORTANT) COLOR TEMP: Cool, SKIN TONE: Reddish. ASPECT CONTROL: FULL (BUT USE 4:3 FOR NON WIDESCREEN GAMES) and for xbox 360 go to your display settings and choose "1080p" from HDTV SETTINGS, choose "standard" from REFERENCE LEVELS, and choose "YCbCr709" from HDMI COLOR SPACE, for PS3 is all automatic so don't worry about it. There it is! enjoy!

Review by zeb:

Pros:

1) 16:9 true widescreen display perfect for dvd and blu-ray movies as well as having 2 windows open

2) 1600x900 is 900p near 1080p which is full hd and the difference in pq is negligible

3) good looking monitor

4) sturdy stand and screen tilts up and down

5) *asus 3 years manufacturer's warranty a big plus*

6) no dead pixels

7) very good color saturation

cool options like theater mode and scenery mode enhances pq

9) hdcp compatible monitor for viewing hd content like blu-ray movies

10) low refresh rate of 5ms makes it great for pc games

11) includes vga cable, dvi cable, audio cable, software, and instructions

12) great value

Cons:

can't cook my meals

Neutral:

1) built-in speakers are unremarkable but at least it has one

2) would've been great if resolution was 1920x1080 full hd

3) would've been nice to have hdmi input and usb input like dell monitors

one of the best monitors under 0. i avoided refurbished due to only 90 days warranty and not much cheaper. length of warranty is very important. samsung, lg, acer, asus, aoc, hanns-g, and nec all have 3 years warranty. viewsonic, hp, and sceptre only have 1 year warranty. the hp 2009m is actually a better looking monitor however i opted to get this due to asus reputation and 3 yrs warranty. can't go wrong with this monitor!

playing blu-ray movies requires a sata blu-ray drive, good video card with 512mb memory, good cpu of at least 2.0ghz dual core and above, and a good video software like powerdvd 8 deluxe and above. also windvd 9 blu-ray edition works well.

Review by G. Orwig:

We moved a few months ago, and it made no sense to haul two 75 lb tube-type monitors to the new home. Those went to a local charity, and once we arrived at our new house we purchased two of these 19 inch Asus LCD monitors through Amazon. I was a little bit concerned about what the image quality would be since our computers don't have display adapters with DVI output. However, even using the standard VGA port, the image quality is far above what we had with the old tube-type monitors. Also, it was great to de-clutter the desktop even more by getting rid of the old speakers and using the ones that are built into these LCD monitors. You get plenty of sound to play back audio and video clips, but if you are into wall-shaking loud bass for video games or pop music, you will want more than what these little built-in speakers can provide.

Review by C. Sims:

I needed a small monitor for my Mac mini that had a nice picture. I would say this one had a nice image for the price but it was good for even more money than Amazon wanted. This is a really good screen. Very bright and crisp image.

Review by Carol Lugg:

We purchased this for our son, who does online homeschooling. The computer the school gives is incredibly slow, and the monitor is about the size of a postage stamp. My husband is somewhat of a computer geek, and so he upgraded one of our computers for him, so he could work more quickly and efficiently, but he was still stuck with that blasted tiny monitor. My husband and I decided to purchase him a new monitor. We looked at review after review, not only on Amazon.com, but all over the Internet. I have found that when it comes to electronics, there is such a wide variety of what people like and dislike, it can be VERY hard to know if you can trust reviews on any given product.

This particular monitor is a good name brand, and just the size we were looking for, and in the budget we were looking to spend. You can't beat that!

We have only been using it now for a couple of weeks, but so far, we are very happy with our purchase, and our son is thrilled to have such a large monitor! For about the first week, after he turned his computer on, and saw the large monitor screen, he commented on its size, and would thank us again! The color on this monitor is excellent. We were also pleased to see it actually came with an HD cable! Exc. product at just the right price!

Review by MiddleAgedGamer:

Excellent value in a no nonsense budget high performance gaming monitor. Picture is sharp and clear with no noticeable ghosting or smearing when playing fast action games. Colors seem accurate for what I need, though for serious photo work I cannot say it's that accurate. It does have a little backlight bleeding around the edges that usually is not noticeable. The base is decently solid and the monitor doesn't wobble at all unless it's bumped. The built in speaks are best left unused, though they may emit a buzz that can be eliminated by setting their volume to zero. My only complaint is that mine came with one black dead pixel near the upper right corner; I let it be since I usually don't notice it. The Asus warranty considers a monitor defective if it has 5 black deads or 3 bright deads. If mine was in the center I'd definitely have looked into returning it to Amazon. Usually I'd buy a monitor from a local store, but no store in my area stocks this particular Asus model which has everything I was looking for (though I don't think I'll ever buy another online). Overall I'm 95% happy with it and hopefully it'll last as long the 19" standard width samsung LCD it replaced.

Review by Rob Gordon:

Update Dec, 2009: Nothing's died. The screen is still in working order on all inputs. Aside from the occasional bit of dust I have to clean off, it is still virtually indistinguishable from when it was new.

Other thoughts: If you're a gamer, print up a list of 16:10 resolutions or remember them in case you need to downsize detail from 1920x1200 to something less intensive for an older video card like the 9600GT. Ratio values are sometimes listed in game options, but are more often left out.

===

This LCD screen deserves a better summary than what Amazon has to offer. Pull up a list of stats for the model number on Google, and you'll see. The highlight of this screen (other than being fairly priced for its size) is that it actually has component input. I'm running a Wii and PS2 off of a component switch, my laptop from HDMI and my desktop from DVI. Laptop and console audio emits from the its 1/8 jack into studio monitors which are nominally superior to this screen's built-in speakers.

The picture is bright, and I'm speaking from (good) experience with 20" Trinitron CRT's and it shipped with zero dead pixels.

It looks better than anything I've seen for its size range at mom & pop computer stores, retail chains of all sizes and LAN party rooms.

If I had to nitpick, I'd say that ASUS doesn't have the best reputation for customer support and the five-button (not counting the power) interface is clumsy to navigate. The wrong press of button can send you to a completely different part of the menu or shut it down entirely! A screen like this would've been complete with a remote control and a less-squeaky stand.

As to the webcam, I haven't bothered with it yet, so I can't say.

Review by Ron Rockwell:

A little over a month ago, I received this Asus VK266H monitor from Amazon with some apprehension. Having used only CRT monitors in the past, I was concerned that an LCD monitor might not measure up to the crisp clarity of my current 21" CRT. Secondly, due to some reviews, I was concerned about the possibility of dead or stuck pixels. My final concern was light bleeding or color shifts from the bottom or top of the LCD screen. ALL of these fears were allayed with the arrival of the VK266H. Firstly, going from a 21" CRT to a 26" LCD monitor (25.5" viewable) was truly a positive shock. I'm also glad I was convinced to acquire the VK266H's 1920 X 1200 viewing aspect ratio rather than a 1080 monitor. I was also pleased the monitor sported a DVI connection port (VGA is also included) as the DVI connection is far sharper than VGA (all cables and adapters for both connection ports are included: Way-To-Go Asus!). After making my DVI connection and turning on my computer I was absolutely floored by the quality of the display. This is a beautiful display. Listen, I do a lot of work in Photoshop and my photos have never looked better than on this display. Calibration was an absolute snap using the calibration tools already provided by Apple in Leopard 10.5.x System Preferences>Displays>Color>Calibrate. I have a dual-boot system (Leopard-Vista) so no problem running the included Web Cam which has software only for Windows. Who would have thought one could purchase this kind of quality for under 0.00? The closest competitor for this size display costs literally hundreds of dollars more. If you're in the market for a large-screen LCD monitor you owe it to YOURSELF to at least check out Asus! As you may have surmised by now, I've got nothing but love for the Asus VK266H! ASUS VK266H 26-Inch Full HD 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor with 2.0MP CAM (Black)

Review by R. Jones:

I too purchased this at a club store for a discounted price (9 with a coupon) and it is truly a beauty. I use it at work for documents mostly. Do not be put off by the earlier review's comment about text--it is perfectly fine and the text is actually sharp and easy to read. Took five minutes to set up, and I'm back to work right away. Excellent product, and ViewSonic's reliability is well known.

Review by Munir F. Bhatti:

This was the best monitor I ever bought. The picture is crisp, colors vivid, etc. The only minor gripes are:

a) The blue power LED on the front is too bright. I had to cover it with something for viewing the screen in a dim room.

b) The 1920x1080 resolution is fine for movies but is vertically challenged for normal computer use. For example, my 1600x1200 20" LCD monitor can fit more text on the screen (and is vertically taller despite the lower diagonal measurement) and is thus better suited for business work such as reading annual reports, etc.

This was all very minor. The monitor quality is just excellent. I, like the others here, bought this at a warehouse retailer at an extremely attractive price. They sold like hot cakes! When I went to return mine, there were none left for sale.

Why did I return it? XP Professional could produce this resolution fine. However, Ubuntu 8.04 and Ubuntu 8.10 both had troubles. I ended up having to drive it at a lower resolution in Ubuntu, which resulted in annoyingly fuzzy text. Later, I discovered that Ubuntu 8.10 is quite happy with 1920x1200 but cannot seem to do 1920x1080--at least with my hardware. Fedora 10 also only worked properly with 1920x1200 and had to drive the monitor at a lower-than-native resolution. Since I need to use Linux (Fedora or Ubuntu) for scientific work, the monitor had to go back. It was emotionally difficult to return it: so much screen real estate; so much quality! Viewsonic has produced an excellent monitor.

If you're using Windows, it'll work just dandy. But for business use (reading vertically oriented documents) consider a 1920x1200 also before selecting.

Review by M. Gomez:

I recently got this monitor to replace my bedroom pc's 3 year old 17" samsung lcd. When i got it, i first thought, "oh dear lord this thing is huge!" which it is, but its very lite, and solid construction.

Pros:

1) BRIGHT! and i mean eye burning bright, i had to tone it down just to save my eyes

2) outstanding color. the color depth, and the overall image quality is incredible

3) no "bleed". i ran several image tests, and i found virtually no bleeding. something of a rarity in screens of this size.

4) the swivel is pinky pushing ease. also the height adjustment is versatile.

cons:

1) speakers are weak. but which onboard monitor speakers arent?

2) no headphone jack. who makes a screen with speakers and no headphone jack? i mean seriously, lets think about that. i dont need an ipod docking station on my monitor, but no in/out jack? or usb? killin me.

3) one stuck pixel. i had discovered one stuck green pixel right out of the box. i was very upset, but ran jscreenfix for about 40 minutes and it went away! beats a dead pixel or insane bleeding.

i would give it a full 5 stars if it werent for the missing jacks. i forgive the stuck pixel, cause that kind of thing just happens. i dont care who makes ur monitor, it just happens to them all (yes even sony). overall a great bargain, i would give it 4.8 stars if that were an option

Review by Geoff Kone:

I bought this monitor to serve as a screen for a MythTV home theater PC. 22" is a decent size to replace a bedroom TV.

This model is fairly susceptible to light leaks, which are apparent with an all black screen, but not noticeable otherwise.

Color is good, and pictures are sharp, especially with the DVI input.

I watched some HD clips on my MacBook Pro with this monitor and the quality is good. If you have a computer with DVI output, you probably won't notice any jagged pixel edges at desktop distance. When using VGA on the MythTV which is running Fedora Core 5 some small text can be a bit fuzzy.

SD video over the VGA input with the MythTV PC appears to be a little washed, but that could be the way the video is being recorded. DVD video appears to be richer. I haven't tried HD video with the VGA input yet.

This monitor has built in speakers. I don't use them. I tried them the other day just to see how they do and they are pretty bad. Just about any set of decent desktop speakers will out-perform them. Also, volume controls are only available when entering the on-screen menu.

I haven't used the monitor for gaming, but video playback is very smooth. There has been no LCD lag in the weeks to month that I have been using the monitor.

Overall, the monitor does what I bought it to do and so I am happy with it. The unit was priced well compared to other monitors of this size. Anyone just looking for some more desktop space, or a widescreen display that isn't a TV should be happy with it.

Review by Alan Mcdaniel:

Excellent picture at a great price. The screen brightness is awesome. I love the flexibility of the stand height, swivel and tilt adjustments. The only downfall is the integrated speakers. I ended up turning them off since they were barely audible. The computer's mono speaker was 15 times louder. For stereo quality sound, I definitely would plan on using external speaker system. ViewSonic should not even bother putting speakers in the unit.

Review by P1967:

Got this View Sonic as a Father's Day gift. The wide screen offers an entirely new experience.

However, beware that according to the manufacturer, the optimal screen resolution is 1440x900. My pc is about 8 years old and I can't achieve that high a resolution (without, I'm told, investing in a new graphics card).

The resolution I currently have the monitor set at is okay, but the text appears furry or fuzzy. Since mostly what I do is read/write, this is bothersome.

Review by Who:

Bought this monitor after doing a lot of research on which monitor to get. My first choice was a Samsung 226BW but after reading about quality control issues with the lcd panel on those I decided to go with the Viewsonic since it had the best color reproduction and fast response time.

This monitor is great as long as you keep the dynamic contrast feature off and configure your video card's gamma setting properly(my 8800GT had to be set to 10% gamma). The problem is that dynamic contrast will turn itself back on whenever the monitor goes to standby mode, turned off or changes resolution. The menu will show that it is off but it is actually on since turning it on and off in the menu will then make it actually off. It's very easy to see when its on by looking at skin tones....they look horrible with dynamic contrast turned on.

I bought the 19 inch version to this monitor at the same time and that one does not have this problem. I was going to send the 22 inch back but I'm out of the US and it would cost too much to send back. I've learned to live with the problem and every time I sit at the computer I make sure to turn the dynamic contrast on and back off.

Settings that give me the best picture quality are:

Monitor brigthness = 15

Monitor Contrast = 65

Monitor Dynamic Contrast = Off

Monitor Color Adjust = 6500K

Video Card(Nvidia 8800GT) Gamma = 0% to 10%

Video Card(Nvidia 8800GT) Brightness and Contrast = 50%

Review by Michael D. Jordan:

The monitor setup was straightforward-one note though, I was replacing an old 19" ViewSonic so I was already familiar with their menu system. No stuck pixels, I don't notice any light or dark bands.

Colors are good, text is crisp and clear. Resolution is excellent, it's going to be fun trying to fill up all the extra real estate, there's room for all but my biggest spreadsheets.

On games: the big screen and high resolution and fast response time has left my kids envious, and the neighbor kids, and most anyone else who's seen it.

Review by DVyas:

I ordered this TV on Thanksgiving night 2008 from OfficeMax. I had it sent to my dorm in Berkeley. This TV totally does its job. It acts as a great second monitor and as a great TV. The local HD channels look great on this thing (when I have my antenna properly adjusted). I also use it to play my Wii games. Using component cables, this TV excellently converts the 480p video output from my Wii to match the 1080p resolution of the screen, the video does not feel laggy or grainy. Also it remembers whether you prefer 4:3 or 16:9 for you SD TV viewing, so you don't have to keep resetting your preference each time you start it up like on lower-quality TVs

(side note: I don't know how anyone can stand to watch SDTV stretched to 16:9 when it is meant to be 4:3, it makes everyone look short and fat)

The only con I can see with this TV is that it lacks composite and S-Video inputs. The DVI, VGA, and 2 HDMI inputs are great, but that lack of a second component input or any composite inputs makes it difficult to use multiple non-HD devices on it.

I strongly recommend this TV.

Review by E. Loehr:

If you are going to use this as a monitor with a computer using an HDMI output, go to "Menu" "Input" then drop down to "Edit Name" and select that. Then choose "HDMI1" and scroll down and select "PC." This will correct the display for the PC text. Once I figured this out, I was very happy with my purchase. Beautiful picture!

Review by SkyPapa:

Received this last week and so far couldn't be happier.

I'm using this as a HDTV only hooked up by HDMI to my cable box.

Great hi def picture and pretty good sound.

SD pictures are not as good but plenty watchable.

I have it sitting on my desk next to my Dell 2407 (1920 by 1200) computer monitor and from about 3 feet, the TOC is the perfect size and the HD picture looks great.

As someone reviewing the 22 in. TOC said, it is a 16:10 screen so you get about .6 in. of black screen on the top and bottom when viewing a 16:9 hdmi input, but it doesn't bother me.

Someone also said that not filling the screen will cause burn-in.

I have hundreds of hours playing games on my 24 in. 1080p LCD with an un-filled screen and have not had a problem, so I'm not worried.

Some shows on my cable fill the screen so it's not as if that part of the screen is always black.

Oh yeah, 3 year warranty for monitors instead of 1 yr for TVs

As usual, fast, free shipping (super saver- 7 days for me) and good service from Amazon.

Review by Rodger A. Schlink:

I have this Momitor/HDTV wired to my OTA. All the local digital signals come in great. If I had one complaint, the Monitor does not come with mounting holes on the back to use a under cabinet or wall mount.

Review by Ken Stanfield:

PROS: Kinda surprised that I'm the first person to write a review for this great 19" HDTV from Samsung. I guess 19" (actually, 18.5") monitors are not all that popular as they're generally too small for anything but a smallish space. In my case, I use it in my office adjacent to a pair of Samsung 2233 21.5" monitors that my wife and I use.

The 933HD+ is a great little HDTV/Monitor that's just perfect for the space I have. The colors are vibrant (I'm using an HDMI connection from my Comcast cable box) and the refresh rate is fine for football games and other high-motion broadcasts. The speakers are another matter (see below) but I bought this monitor for its picture, not for its sound. I've also used the analog D-SUB connector to hook this up to my computer as a second monitor (with a digital DVI connection going to the Samsung 2233SW). Works great for Netflix streams! The screw-in monitor stand was trivially easy to attach. Overall, a great small HDTV at a great price.

CONS: The biggest issue with this monitor is the underwhelming speakers. There just isn't much low end from the stock, tinny speakers. I knew this in advance and my solution is to just use a an extra set of Boston Acoustics computer speakers (along with a sub-woffer) using the headphone out 3.5mm jack on the back of the TV. Now it sounds great! The remote works, but it is hardly an icon of sleek design. Another gripe has to do with the Ultra-Mega shiney black finish. The finish is so polished that it reflects everything. Right now, I can see the reflection from all the Christmas lights in my house, and frankly I find this somewhat annoying. A matte-black finish would have been MUCH, MUCH better. Also, this things shows off fingerprints and dust like there's no tomorrow.Also noticed that depending on the viewing angle, the color vibrance and brightness can vary pretty significantly. This is the case with all LCD monitors, not just this one. But no big deal-breakers here.

OVERALL: For the price, I don't think there's a better value out there. The cons I noted have *nothing* to do with the performance of the monitor, either. Rather, they are cosmetic issues that are totally ignorable. I wish there were some after-market height-adjustable stands that attached to the base on these monitors. I find them to be just a little too low to the table for my tastes. Maybe Samsung will offer something like this as as accessory down the road (assuming they standardize on this screw-on based for all monitors/HDTV's in this class). The buttons on the side of the monitor are hard to use, but thankfully you don't need to interact with them very much -- set 'em once, then forget about 'em.

Review by L. Mccants:

i am more than pleased with this piece of gear, but my impression may be influenced by the fact that its my first hdtv and its football season.

i use practically all the connections in the back and it makes it a very flexible device. i wont prattle on but just suffice to say that PIP (picture in picture) would really improve the functionality.

with computer and multiple television inputs the device could simultaneous serve multiple functions but for whatever reason the PIP feature was not included. it couldn't be cost as PIP is more a software function (i could be wrong), so all i can think is they skimped on memory/cpu.

there is a usb port and documentation alludes to a firmware update capability, but i'm dreaming now.

anyway the only other thing i can say is amazon didn't charge me tax or the recycling fee (that saved me [...]).

Review by Andrew Pleasants:

I bought this TV as a do-it-all device. I wanted to get a FP LCD monitor for my computer, and I was looking into panels that had multiple inputs. I wanted to be able to use it to play games and watch DVDs as well be able to use it for my computer. I figured while I was at it I might as well equip myself with something that can handle HD signals and I can watch tv on as well. The following is my take on its performance in said areas:

PC:

As a computer monitor it works very well. I am EXTREMELY picky about this type of thing and I wouldn't say it was good if it wasn't. I use it primarily as a PC monitor and I would rate it's pc performance a 4 out of 5. To get the best picture you need a decent video card and a decent VGA cable(read: WUXGA or UXGA and some cases SXGA because of the high resolution of the panel). DVI->HDMI does not display well, you can use it in a pinch, but it will not look right, the tv was not designed to use this as a pc input. VGA works just fine, but you have to be sure you enable your resolution to match the native resolution of the monitor (the same is true with ANY LCD FP if you want the best picture quality). The native resolution of the panel is 1366x768... you can enable 1360x768 and it will chop 3 pixels (you dont lose any visual data, it just doesn't use these pixels) off of each side. Look for a program called "powerstrip" if you can't get your desktop to accept that resolution by default. If you choose not to use a widescreen desktop, then set the monitor picture size to 4:3 instead of Wide and use a desktop resolution of 1024x768 (the height of 768 ensures that you are still using native pixels). If you have trouble getting games to run at 1360x768 this is also a good option (set the game res to 1024x768 and change the picture size on the monitor).

The picture quality is crisp and clear. There can be some very minor "ghosting" effects around certain colors/texts which can be aggrevated by a poor quality VGA cable. For the most part you will not notice this unless you sit extremely close to the panel or you display odd color combinations (i.e. fine bright blue text on a black background blurrs a little bit). As I said, I am extremely picky about this type of thing and if it was bothersome enough to return the monitor, I would. As with most LCDs it favors red a little bit and sometimes there can be a bit of boldness/bleeding on strong red in tight spaces (like a bright red bolded font).

As far as pc games go it performs beautifully. Games are crisp, vibrant and clear. Best of all there is no response time "ghosting". This is something I was very concerned about because I play a lot of CS, BF2, etc. This monitor responds just as quickly as my CRT. I noticed absolutely no ghosting.

Note: Most games today have command line options to set their resolution to special/custom sizes. The widescreen res you are looking for is 1360x768. Some games (like CS1.6) do not specifically support 1360x768 but do have wide aspect resolutions that still work well, but there is slight interpolation using non-native resolutions that will cause things to look a little different (still very very playable). And if all else fails you can always use 1024x768 and set the monitor to 4:3.

Games:

When not using it as a pc monitor I use it mostly to play PS2 and Xbox. I purchased component cables for both (which I would highly recommend) so I will comment on that.

Both systems are very crisp and very clear. There is NO ghosting whatsoever and I read that others had problems with delay in response and lag between input and action on-screen. I have noticed no such thing. Again, I am extremely discerning about this type of thing and if that were the case, I would have returned it. Perhaps they had faulty panels or were using odd input sources. As far as component goes, they play VERY well. Again I would rate this 4 out of 5 because I have noticed a strange problem with PS2 displays. In certain PS2 games when there is very fine detail or there is some type of filter/mask/blur effect in the game, the panel seems to display it incorrectly. Its really hard to give an example, but its like if there is a blur effect on a shiny object, instead of the blur being uniform and fading, it has something of a checkerboard pattern. It is akin to trying to reproduce 32-bit color in 24 or 16-bit mode on a computer... it takes the two closest colors and checkerboards them together so that it seems like its one solid color. I have only noticed this in a handful of games, and even in those games it is usually restricted to whatever the softening/blurring effect is on. If you want a good example, pop in Final Fantasy Tactics for PS1. The game seems to have a full screen blur on it, I suppose to soften the sprites and make it more fluid. However, when using component cables (I have tried 2 different cables) the screen just seems to have a checkerboarded pattern instead of a fluid/smooth fading/softening to it. A minor gripe (except for in FFT since it takes up the whole screen) but a gripe none the less. I dont know if its the panel itself, the way the PS2 outputs to component, or perhaps just my panel. But I can say that I dont notice it on Xbox or on the pc. The only other game on my desk that I can think of that displays the problem is Mega Man X8 (which looks sweet in progressive mode, just hold down X and triangle as the game boots). Around some parts of the characters (easily seen on Zero's sigma blade) there is a shine/blur effect and it does the same thing.

TV:

I dont have HDTV or digital cable for that matter, so the standard signal is decent at best. Very watchable, but it performs like all LCDs do when using a non-digital/HD signal. No gripes.

DVD:

Crisp, clear and vibrant. I don't have component cables for my dvd player so I havent watched any in progressive scan yet, but via PC and PS2 (SCPH30001, no progressive) it looks fantastic (I think I actually prefer the PS2). I can only imagine it with a pro-scan set top.

Bottom line:

As long as your panel is in working condition and you have the right equipment for it, it makes a dynamite PC and videogame monitor. Thats the whole reason I bought it so I can assure you that I am very critical about those features. I don't know why other reviews are stating it doesn't perform in those areas when it does. Don't be shy of this model if you want to use it for a PC, games, dvd or a TV. It shines in all categories, its not extremely expensive and its about the perfect size as an all-in one without being too big a monitor or too small a TV. I recommend it.

Review by L. Holub:

I'm not sure how I lucked out with deal but I'm not going to complain. I went to Circuit City to look for a 20+ inch LCD TV and compared 10-15, really leaning towars the Sony or Samsung models. When I was about to leave the salesperson asked if I had seen the LNR238W yet. They hadn't received any in the store yet but it was on their website as a 'Coming Soon' item for ,099. I went home and looked online for the model and was able to find it on Amazon for 0.00 with shipping. I bought it that same day and am glad I did. The best part of this TV by far is the picture quality. It's gives a nice crisp picture on any channel and handles fast motion with ease. The only issue I have is that it doesn't provide wall mounts that will work with this model, so for now I have it on it's base. All in all, it was a great deal and I'm surprised that Amazon is now asking ,000 for the same model two weeks later.

Review by Deron Baker:

I purchased the Samsung 32 inch widescreen LDC HDTV monitor from Circuit City last year and have been using it daily. Overall I am very satisfied with the purchase. I use it to watch Television and DVDs, and play Xbox on. Here's the quick version of who I think this TV is good for: this HDTV is a good choice for someone who wants to watch regular and High definition televisions, DVDs, and/or play Xbox. It is best watched from about 3 - 7 feet away from the screen. Good for when one or two people want to watch. Its built-in speakers are rather weak, so you really need to supplement it with a sound system. This is a good choice for viewers concerned more with crisper/sharper images than with overall size of the picture. I live in an apartment, so this was great for me. Also, I previously owned a larger HDTV and found that I prefer playing games on this 32 inch HDTV. Larger televisions can stretch the game?s image out and actually make it look worse. This 32 inch is really good for someone who plays games by themselves.

This system is not ideal for anyone who wants to sit farther than 7 feet away. It is not the best choice for a main family TV because you have to sit closer and the viewing angle is not as good as a larger TV or a plasma TV. (My parents have a Plasma and the viewing angle on their TV is better than my LCD.) You really need to be in front or at a slight angle to view it. Looking at a 45 degree angle or more will cause some eye strain and doesn't look right. It is not a good choice if you want to do a lot of split-screen multiplayer gaming because the split images would be too small.

May I offer a small piece of advice? Picture quality is only as good as the source you plug into your TV. I cannot stress this enough. HDTV's have a certain native resolution (a fixed resolution), this Samsung HDTV having 760 vertical lines approximately. If the source coming into you HDTV is at a lower resolution than the HDTV, the HDTV will up-convert the picture to the HDTV?s native resolution. Thus, regular television shows that are broadcast at lower resolutions (like 400-something vertical lines), will be shown on your TV with at 760 vertical lines (the native resolution of the TV). This may make the image better or worse (because the HDTV can magnify the picture's imperfections). So, what is my advice? If you?re gonna get an HDTV, make sure you also get a High Definition cable box. And get a DVD player that can display images at higher resolutions (often times called progressive scan DVD players) like 720p or 1080i. If you cannot afford these input devices, then you are wasting you money buying an HDTV in the first place.

I spent hours researching, and focused on the lineup of the 32 inch HDTV monitors. I narrowed my choices to four: the Panasonic, the Sony, the Sharp Aquos, and the Samsung. All had positive reviews and had pros and cons to each. At the store, I could not notice a significant difference in picture quality between these 4, and all offer the same native resolution. So, I chose Samsung because I had owned Samsungs previously. The other TV?s seem like fine choices as well. And I know someone who owns the 32? Sharp and he feels the same way. So it seems to me that picture quality is not really the deciding factor here between different brands of 32 inch LDC HDTV?s. In my opinion, your deciding factor should be based more on inputs and function.

For Inputs: all HDTV?s offer a good amount of the old inputs (like Composite inputs, and S-video), so look to the number of high definition (component, DVI-D, or HDMI) inputs to help you decide. HDMI is a pure digital input and seems to be the wave of the future for high definition devices. So, IMO, having an HDTV with HDMI is important. (I think the Sharp HDTV may have two HDMI inputs, but the Samsung has only one.) And having two (or preferably more) component video inputs is very important. Many devices you will plug into your HDTV will use the component plugs, and you don?t want to be stuck with only one component input to your TV. This Samsung HDTV offers 3 inputs for High definition: two component inputs, and one HDMI. I wish it had more, but it seems to be enough for most people. For me, I plug the cable box and Xbox in with component and my DVD player in with HDMI. Plan ahead what devices you want to plug in and what connections you will use.

For features: this Samsung HDTV has good features overall. It makes the TV very user friendly. It allows you to fine-tune all aspects of the picture. This can be tricky. But, it also has several preset modes to pick a good all-around picture for you. The TV also has a brightness sensor and can adjust the picture?s brightness for you dynamically, to match the amount of light in your room. It also has a dynamic contrast setting where the TV will automatically pick what it thinks is the best contrast. You can also save your picture settings to a ?Custom? mode, which can be recalled at any time. The TV will remember the last picture ratio that you have it set on (widescreen 16:9, normal 4:3, panorama, or zoomed) for each input and will automatically display that ratio when you turn the TV back on or cycle back to that input. Very handy since I view my Xbox in 4:3 mode but my television in 16:9 mode. Also, when tapping the ?Source? button on your remote, the TV will only cycle though the inputs that have plugs in them (except the ?Air? input from the coaxle cable jack will always be in the cycle). Please note that the TV?s picture-in-picture feature allows you to watch video from two different SOURCES, not two different television stations. To get picture-in-picture with two different stations, your cable box will need to support that feature.

The overall picture (when using a high definition source) on this Samsung is very crisp and detailed. It takes a while to play around with the picture settings to get what you like. Although I can adjust the brightness, contrast, and color qualities to make the picture look relatively ?bright?, I cannot achieve the overall ?vibrance? or ?brilliance? that my parent?s plasma TV can give. There?s tradeoff here. LCDs can display a higher resolution (more horizontal lines) than plasma, but Plasmas gives a slightly more ?brilliant? picture.

Normal TV looks either equal to or slightly better than viewing it on a regular definition television. It will take a bit of getting used to, if you haven?t watched regular television on an LDC. Only the high definition channels and your DVD player will provide dramatically improved images.

The Sound features are just as nice as the picture ones. You can select from different preset sound presentations or use the equalizer to fine tune. The nice feature of this Samsung is that the speakers are along the bottom of the TV and thus don?t add width to the television itself. But this is all a mood point because the internal speakers are rather weak and the sound quality is only mediocre. Internal speakers on all 32 inch HDTVs are gonna be weak. Only the larger HDTVs will have quality internal speakers. You?re really gonna need a sound system to supplement your 32 inch HDTV. And yes, there is an option to turn off the internal speakers if you have a sound system. There is also a sterio output to plug your TV?s sound into a receiver.

Review by Michael Sandman:

The Samsung LN-R238W HDTV has a good feature set, with a wide range of inputs and outputs for connection to home theater, and it doubles as a computer monitor if you connect a standard VGA cable. But there are a few misssing pieces. HDTV uses a 16:9 forwat, and standard TV uses 4:3. When you change from a channel broadcasting in HDTV to standard TV, the TV doesn't change sense the format automatically, so you have to make the change in screen format manually, using the remote control. To do that, you have to go through a couple of levels of the on-screen menu, instead of being able to simply press a button on the remote to toggle through the format choices. That's not good design. But... the quality of HDTV broadcasts is outstanding -- Wow! Quality from standard digital cables varies from good to only so-so, probably because some digital channels are really just analog output converted to digital. That will be less of an issue in the future as more broadcasters go to HD. The manual is well-written with good illustrations and setup is easy. Because the speakers are at the bottom, the set is relatively narrow for a 32" model, so it fits into a tighter space than competing models like Sharp and Sony. (Panasonic has a 32" model that's like the Samsung in this regard.) Despite the missing button on the remote, this set is a good value and the HD picture is every bit as spectacular as it's advertised to be.

Review by J. Trejo-Lara:

I wouldn't call myself very tech savvy, but you don't have to be to know that you purchased a good lcd monitor. I really can't compare it to other hd monitors since this is the only one I own. I previously owned a 17 inch lcd, which I used for typical computer tasks and gaming. I'll give my pros and cons on the HP 2159m:

Pros: -Full HD, HDMI and DVI

-1920x1080 resolution, very high for a display under 0.

-Wide viewing angle is great for movies.

-Integrated speakers

-Great for gaming, I used my Xbox 360 on it. You get up 1080p.

-VGA is actually very good. I tried my PC(1920x1080 60Hz) and

it impressed me.

Cons: -Speakers don't have such great sound.

-The glossy screen is a bit reflective, but not a big problem.

Once you own this monitor, you will find many things you like about it and some things you don't. But what can I say? I didn't buy the monitor for the intergrated speakers, I use my own speakers. The glossy screen is a bit reflective in dark backgrounds, I hardly notice it at times. They're just minor things. If your thinking of upgrading, do it. It's worth the 0+ you'll pay.

Review by Val:

This HP monitor is high quality, with an amazing picture as well as a sleek look and HDMI as well as DVI inputs.

I was looking everywhere for a glossy monitor and was unable to locate one because for some reason, people still mostly prefer a matte display. Glossy is 100 times better. The picture is brighter and sharper and just plain looks better. Think about it. Before LCD's, every single CRT monitor out there was a glossy screen! I don't know what the big deal is. The reflections that I do get are almost unnoticable and unless your monitor is sitting directly in front of a window, it really is a non-issue.

The widescreen is awesome for movie watching and game playing and the blacks are nice and black and the colors appear true and sharp. There is not one single negative about this monitor.

The only minor gripe I have is that whenever you turn it on, a status box appears on the screen for about 5 seconds. It is a slight annoyance as I have absolutely no use to know my status every time I turn it on. I have, as of yet found no way to remove it. If anyone knows the solution, please let me know.

Also, I have not tested the speakers, but I imagine them to be just mediocre, considering that most integrated monitor speakers are very alike.

All in all, I'm extrememly pleased with my purchase and with this size and glossiness value, you can't beat the price.

Review by C. P. Vasquez:

This monitor has a great picture and works flawlessly with my MacBook. The 16:9 aspect is perfect for watching DVDs and hulu.com. The design is slick and modern, and the glossy screen is vibrant. For under 0.00 how can you go wrong?

The built in speakers are a little quiet, but better than my notebook's built in speakers.

When connecting with a Mac, I recommend turning the monitor's auto sleep function off, as it would sleep before I could get my Mac to output video.

Review by tech boo:

i had a 21" CRT for 10 yrs. it was fine, just starting to flicker, but was old tech and weighed 50lbs. i looked for a year for a reasonable flat panel (hoping for a 22" under 0). never did find one with speakers that i liked. then volla! here comes an hp and not just under 0, but less and with speakers. looks great! nice design and nice picture. hp designs, to me, are the pc version of mac. found this at my local ODepot for the same as amazon, without the wait of course.

it truly is a plug and play. it came with a cd and i was about to stick it in, when i looked up and everything was working just fine. what a relief! i have xp. the directions say native resolution is 1600x900, but everything was too small. i wanted icons and text sized like my old CRT. so after finally figuring out exactly what 'native resolution' is i tried setting it at the same ratio, but less than the recommended (1280x720). that worked just fine, icons and text are larger; i really don't know what 1600x900 does besides make things smaller. nothing is distorted, so i'm happy.

i like the 16:9 ratio, double windows is a plus that i wasn't looking for, but programs like photoshop do allow for more room without the menus getting in the way of the work screen. may have to reconfigure your tool bars on some programs since u will lose height while gaining width.

the speakers are fine with me, just what i was looking for. wasnt planning on watching a movie anyways. just wanted to get rid of the external speakers i had to use. the screen is glossy, so the glare can be an issue if your lights reflect at the wrong angles.

after using it for a month now, i really dont need a larger screen. i might go up to the 21.5 version if i did. it is so much clearer than the CRT that i guess that makes up for the reduced height, because i see everything fine.

a great deal! buy it before hp figures that out and raises the price to 0. which is probably where it could be since the price jumps between the 21.5 and the 23 is only , but between the 20" and 21.5".

better than anticipated.

Review by R. Arrigo:

My 24" Acer LCD died a few weeks ago, so I went to Fry's Electronics to browse the selection. It's been a few years since I researched LCD's, and I'm happy to report that the technology has come a long way! The HP 2709m exemplifies this beautifully. After owning and using this monitor daily for the last two weeks, I've decided to write a review for it. Here are my thoughts on the monitor:

* 27" - huge!

* Great contrast

* Great colors

* Reflective-coating (not sure what the technical name is) - turns the monitor into a bit of a mirror, but also sharpens the colors tremendously versus matte-finish LCD's so to me it's worth a bit of on-screen reflection

* Reasonable response time. Aside from working and web-surfing, I also play FPS games (e.g. Crysis) and watch movies on this monitor; I've been satisfied with the pixel response time. Ghosting is non-existent, though LCD monitors can't hold a candle to traditional CRT monitors when comparing image stability on fast-moving objects. For instance, when a camera pans the background in a movie, or when you spin your character around in a video game, just like all LCD's, there is some blurring (not ghosting, there is a difference).

* Built-in Speakers - I haven't used them, but they are there if I ever need them.

* No annoying LED's - you can turn off the power LED on the front of the monitor so that there is no annoying LED blasting you in the eyes like many LCD monitors seem to have. This is especially nice when watching a movie in a dark room - the only thing lit up on the monitor is the screen itself.

* Ambient Light Sensor - automatically adjusts the brightness of the monitor to the brightness of the ambient lighting in your room. For instance, if you are using the monitor in a dark room, the brightness is automatically decreased so that your eyes don't fry (likewise, in a bright room, the monitor brightens the back-light). This feature can be disabled; I have it turned off because I prefer a fairly dark monitor relative to what the monitor's designers must prefer, especially when reading onscreen text. The only thing I would change would be to add a user-selectable base-level for the ambient light sensor so that it can properly adjust to the environment using the viewer's personal preference as the base level.

* The stand is solid and has a small footprint.

* The look and finish is understated, glossy and bares few labels. Very nice.

Overall, I am impressed and give this monitor a full five stars.

Review by Roger:

The 2709m is a huge display ... but know what's it best suited for before you buy it. With a 1920x1080 resolution on a 27" screen, you need to be sitting back pretty far from this (ie: more than a typical desk offers in terms of real estate). So, if you are looking for a display to connect to a PC that you're using mainly for multimedia or gaming and can sit more than a couple of feet back, this is not a bad choice. If you intend to use this as your everyday monitor in the traditional sense (ie: sitting it on a desk a foot or two away from you, connected to a PC for editing word processing documents or emails), then this is not your monitor unless you have vision problems and really need that big of an image that close. If you want a traditional monitor, select a smaller version of the same monitor. 1920x1080 is fine up to about 24" sitting right in front of you. Beyond the 24" size, you really need to step up the resolution. Note that 30" monitors dish up 2560x1600 resolution which makes the 30" screen acceptable at close range. Think of it this way ... if you want a monitor that you'll use like a television, this is fine. If you want a traditional monitor, the resolution is too limited for a screen this enormous ... either make the leap to the 30" price range or save yourself some money and buy the 24" version of this.

Review by Master Bayne:

I had been doing tons and tons of research about various monitors over the course of about a month or so. Recently I stopped by frys electronics and they had a sale on this monitor so I looked it up but there werent many reviews about it, however there were great reviews about last year's model. So I took the plunge I bought it yesterday and I love it. I have it hooked up to my macbook pro 13 inch, and am using 1080p resolution, it looks fantastic. The speakers suck of course but nobody buys a monitor just for the speakers.

Positive

-looks great

-colors are fantastic

-low response time

-HDMI port

negative

- only one hdmi port

- bad speakers

- no usb hub

However, This a FANTASTIC monitor, it is much more than I expected, the picture quality is amazing.

I would highly recommend this HP 2509m monitor

Review by TC Rei:

Pros:

- Big, nice 25" screen

- 1080p

- Sharp, crisp, clear picture

- DVI and HDMI inputs

- Hidden speakers, which are great for what they are, especially to HDMI sources like PS3/360 when you don't have the convenience of external speakers. These are laptop quality speakers, but the good kind of laptop quality speakers.

- Swivel function is very useful, allowing for free rotation

- Screen has a somewhat glossy finish, which is surprisingly anti-glare

- sRGB function is great for most people who don't like to calibrate. In a dim room like mine, setting it to warm with a brightness of 29 and a contrest of 64 yielded exceptional results.

- I tested my PS3 to this, connected via HDMI in both 1080p and 720p and it works flawlessly

- Video dynamic function works very well for fast moving games

- Input lag is good enough for me to do my combos in Blazblue

- Very little, if none, backlight bleed/flashlighting

- Price

Cons:

- HP logo is a smidgen off center

- Stickers that were on the frame of the monitor left small amounts of residue when peeled off, but were easy to remove

- No height adjustment

- Almost wish I got the 27" version!

As an audio engineer/music composer, I needed a new monitor to replace my current one. I've been in the market for some larger screen real estate, and something to connect my game consoles to when I travel, and have been looking for one suitable for my needs for at least half a year now. 0 and below was my limit, and I had been looking around at the newer models out there (LG, Samsung TOC, Asus, Acer, Viewsonic). Almost picked up the LG one on aesthetics alone, but a trip to the store to look at the color and I found that I didn't like what I saw, even after adjusting it to my liking. On the other hand, I thought the HP monitors looked pretty good, but were rather high in price (0-0) and lacked a DVI/HDMI duo. I almost decided to wait for the Samsung XL2370 when this monitor popped out of nowhere. Under 0? 25 inches? Dual HDMI/DVI? I bought it right away on impulse, and with confidence I can say that it far exceeded my expectations. Love the picture on this, and I'm glad I decided to get this instead of waiting for the smaller XL2370. After having a 25" monitor sitting in front of you, you really don't want to get any smaller than this!

Review by ThePorge:

For the money I think it is quite the deal. If the screen is totally black there is a little light leak at the top and bottom, but it's not noticeable once any type of picture is being displayed. It also does a fair job displaying at other resolutions when you switch from the native 1920x1080. The sound comes from only one speaker, but it is adequate for most of the stuff you do on a computer (dinks, donks, buzzes and simple dialog). If you want to listen to music I would recommend going with external speakers. The only other rub is although you can tilt the screen it doesn't go up and down, but hey...It only cost me 9 for a 1920X1080 monitor. Keep in mind that it also has HDMI and came with the feaking HDMI cable....NICE! Why these cables cost in Wal-mart for the cheep ones is beyond me?????? All in all a definite 2 thumbs up!

Review by Melissa Lynn Kelly:

I was looking for a very specific monitor for my husband. It had to have more or equal to 19K dynamic contrast ratio, over 20 in. display, more or equal to 1K static contrast ratio, 1080 resolution, vga, dvi, hdmi ports. There were no dead pixels and it came exactly when I wanted thanks to tigerdirect. It looks great with hi def media, but our expectations are not as high as someone who critiques these for a living. Very satisfied.

Review by Glenn Morgan:

I wanted to buy a new monitor for myself and give my dad my old 21" Gateway LCD. I shopped around and looked high and low for something with a nice dot pitch , fast responce time , bigger than my old 21" and at a fair price. I was not pleased with the old reviews of the last 24" Gateway so I stayed away from it. I saw a local store near me had this one in stock so I decided to take a look. Lucky for me and them that they had it on display. I looked at it ( 20" model ) and was very impressed by how crisp and clear the picture was. I noticed the text was tight and clean, very easy to read ( 0.265 Pixel Pitch )

Review by S. Rampersad:

I bought this monitor 1 week ago, in fact someone bought it for me because since I live in the Caribbean I needed a way to ship it here cheaper than my regular skybox.

After having it one week I must say this is a thing of beauty, I bought it because it was the cheapest Glossy Anti Reflective LCD display in 1080P available for desktops.

Actually I was about to buy the HP but after seeing this was 40,000:1 contrast ratio compared to the HP's 1000:1 I decided on this.

Either way I would still be happy because I could not find another GLOSSY Anti reflective desktop monitor on earth. Took me 2 weeks of researching to find it, I find it sad that most people think matte is better when this is not true. Glossy is sharper by a million miles, it don't give the horrible haze and eye fatigue of matte display. You can use this in a room with sun light and its sharp and bright as day!!! This is the beauty of Glossy, I was going blind with Anti Glare Matte displays and when I saw a Gateway gloss laptop I fell in love with glossy displays.

The built in speakers in this is more or less useless but I don't care since I use a Logitech Z5500 for sound. But hey its still better than nothing and its quite convenient to have built in speakers. Contrast is superb!!!! 40,000:1 baby!

Also has the option of dynamic contrast and when you enable it, its like magic everything is so amazing and beautiful on this monitor.

I can even do photoshop work on this baby. Color reproduction could however be better but for the price you absolutely cannot complain.

Its also 16:9 widescreen ratio so this means its true real wide screen unlike most pc monitors thats 16:10.

It has DVI, VGA and HDMI ports so what else can you ask for. Its 23" so its vastly bigger than my previous 19" envision monitor.

Games and Movies on this are beautiful beyond words. It does require color calibration with a 3rd party calibration software if you are a professional into graphic editing.

Either way you should not use LCD for pro graphic work but its no big deal. Once you don't work for hollywood then its fine for graphic work really.

Response time is 5ms so its perfect for me, I wished it was larger but for 0 you can't go wrong with a 23" like this.

I would like to say thanks to Gateway for being one of 3 only companies on earth who actually make Glossy desktop displays. I have no issues with glossy I prefer to deal with reflections than need to wear glasses because of horrible eye damage by outdated matte display technology. I wish people would read up on eye fatigue caused by matte before they bash gloss.

Review by Gayan Randeny:

This is my secondary monitor for my laptop and works great. I was looking for something that is around 19" and gives better resolution than 1400 X 1050 on my laptop.

My main use of the unit is for VMs and text though I use it sometimes for graphics.

Gives 1680X 1050 max resolution at 60HZ refresh and well worth the money that you spend on it. It is not the glossy / ultra bright vivid color screen type, though you can use it at high brightness using the pre-sets or custom calibration.

Review by mateo52:

I wish I could rate this monitor higher because for my purposes it's a five all the way however for someone looking to purchase it as the primary resource the deficiencies in ergonomics compared to other units in the same size range do not justify a higher rating. Then again, there is the price...if the astute shopper is paying attention, this one can be found for less than a Franklin note, and at that price it looks even better.

I use it in a dual view configuration with an upscale Samsung Syncmaster of the same size so the differences in features are clearly evident. Only the tilt angle is adjustable on the Acer so if one has a workspace set-up where nuanced adjustments can be avoided it's just fine. Even with user defined customization of brightness and sharpness it is not going to match many other pricier models. In native mode, colors are noticeably less bright, although ironically, the color reproduction in graphics modes seems reflect greater accuracy than my premium model so for photo editing I actually use the Acer instead. It also has a text mode for contrasts to assist in reducing eyestrain. If you're looking for 1080P and HDMI, then you need to get a reality check at this price level.

It will accommodate either DVI or VGA inputs (cables included which was a nice surprise) with 1680 X 1050 or 1600 X 900 (analog) max resolution at 60Hz. Although one might have some reservations regarding construction and performance, it feels sturdy, durable, is well packaged and I didn't have any dead pixels.

Just about the only complaint I have is the manipulation of the control buttons on the monitor frame takes a little while to get used to as they seem harder to press than one customarily experiences.

Review by D. Arbini:

I'm using this monitor with a 5 or 6 yr old Dell computer, and it's working very well. It has allowed me to squeeze another year out of the computer while they get the bugs out of Windows 7. (I always wait for SP2) LOL..... Good for the price, easy to hook up, came with the cable, I'm good.....wish it had speakers built in like my old Sharp monitor, but I'll just pick up some adjuncts later.

Review by D. Berkley:

I'm pleased with this purchase. The 17" display at the traditional 4:3 (roughly) aspect ratio provides plenty of "real estate" for viewing Internet content, for graphics work and page layout, and for working in several application windows at the same time. The screen resolution (1280x1024) is fine, making for clean and crisp images. The refresher rate is also satisfactory, as there is no apparent flicker and video appears smooth.

The menu and settings for brightness, contrast, etc. are simple and intuitive. I haven't had to make any custom settings and I'm happy with the presets.

It's a good monitor at a very competitive price!

Review by Vlad G:

As many today's "cheap and fast" LCD monitors this one is a 6 bit screen. This said it can only produce 262,144 exact colors - and do this very fast.

Other 16,515,072 colors are produced using very sophisticated Hi-FRC time-based dithering algorithm, that actually flicks monitor dot slightly at very high frequency.

Most people do not notice HFRC dithering and it does not create any inconvenience for computer related activities or for watching movies or for playing games. Nevertheless Hi-FRC systems visibly change colors shade depending on screen tilt.

So if you are buying this screen for editing images (and I mean at least PhotoShop or Gimp here) or any other application that requires correct color representation you should consider more expensive 8 bit screen.

With exception of this detail the monitor is real value for money.

It should be mentioned that HDMI input and built-in speakers open couple of interesting capabilities for this product.

For example, using (included!) HDMI cable you can easily use it as a monitor for X-Box, PS-3 (but not for Wii) or DVD player with HDMI output. Or you can connect it to your cable provider hi-def box therefore instantly converting monitor to small HDTV. The only problem is quality of integrated speakers - see below.

Well, I am still using it as a computer monitor, connected by (included!) DVI cable and pretty happy with the image quality. The screen is sharp, bright and I do not have a single dead pixel (but your mileage may vary, of course). Oh, and they include the VGA cable too, just in case.

Other pleasant details are touch controls instead of buttons and a special control for fast switching between Text, Game, Cinema and User monitor profiles.

Acer also includes program utility for some fair color correction, though as I say - if you need a better one, you may need an 8 bit LCD.

There are some drawbacks, of course.

First, the screen cannot be adjusted vertically (but you can adjust tilt).

Second, as I have mentioned, this tilt changes colors slightly. If you look from below, colors seems darker.

Third, integrated speakers are not suitable for stadium concerts... well, to be frank, with 1.5 watt power they barely acceptable as desktop speakers. It's probably a good thing one cannot connect Wii to this monitor, because it will be really hard to hear anything from the safe distance required for Wii controller.

Despite all drawback this is well deserved 5 star product. One cannot expect to buy luxury car for the price of low end sedan. In its category, for this price and as of today this monitor is a brilliant product.

Review by William Smith:

This monitor is so good. As you may know, there is a zombie apocalypse going on and four brave warriors are struggling to take out these cursed undead. I was using my old 19" 4:3 LCD with 20,000:1 contrast ratio to view my remote avatar as he battled out the good fight.

But upon getting this new monitor it is like Paul on the road to Damascus - clearly I was blind before.

Now I can see the intricate details that are required to adequately fight off the hordes of the undead. Little bits of graffiti from survivors are now crisp and clear, easily read by flashlight.

And thanks to a KVM switch I can go back and forth between fighting zombies and earning the $money needed to keep up the up-link between my office and the remote-zombie-killing avatar.

Thanks Acer - I know you want me to save the world and now I'm doing it in style at a price I can afford.

I can't help but notice that in the zombie filled city, it's viewsonic monitors being trashed by the dead, while I watch in style with 40,000:1 contrast with my Acer.

No dead pixels, easy to setup, works with KVM, rocks harder, is shiny, has HDMI + VGA inputs, and is big and black and powerful like some ancient warrior rising from the Kingdom of Ghana to fight an anachronistic T-Rex plaguing the local villagers!

Review by ThePorge:

For the money I think it is quite the deal. If the screen is totally black there is a little light leak at the top and bottom, but it's not noticeable once any type of picture is being displayed. It also does a fair job displaying at other resolutions when you switch from the native 1920x1080. The sound comes from only one speaker, but it is adequate for most of the stuff you do on a computer (dinks, donks, buzzes and simple dialog). If you want to listen to music I would recommend going with external speakers. The only other rub is although you can tilt the screen it doesn't go up and down, but hey...It only cost me 9 for a 1920X1080 monitor. Keep in mind that it also has HDMI and came with the feaking HDMI cable....NICE! Why these cables cost in Wal-mart for the cheep ones is beyond me?????? All in all a definite 2 thumbs up!

Review by Melissa Lynn Kelly:

I was looking for a very specific monitor for my husband. It had to have more or equal to 19K dynamic contrast ratio, over 20 in. display, more or equal to 1K static contrast ratio, 1080 resolution, vga, dvi, hdmi ports. There were no dead pixels and it came exactly when I wanted thanks to tigerdirect. It looks great with hi def media, but our expectations are not as high as someone who critiques these for a living. Very satisfied.

Review by Grant Brummett:

I rated this monitor 5 stars because of the bang for the buck.

Pros:

Sharp

Great price

Very bright

Great refresh rate

Cons:

Does seem a little small if you have been on a 24inch iMac but what doesn't?

Review:

I bought this monitor for our backup computer which is an old Gateway PC running Ubuntu (free computer operating system based on Debian GNU/Linux). The old CRT monitor was over 10 years old and was fading into history not to mention it was huge, hot and took a lot of energy.

This computer is mainly used to check e-mails, surf the web etc. and I use it to check how photos I re size on the big iMac look on a smaller screen. So I thought this little 17" should be just the ticket.

Setup:

I unpacked it plugged it in and bang it was up and running!! No need to do anything all the settings were perfect right out of the box.

Conclusion:

If you are looking for an easy to setup 17" LCD monitor and want bang for the buck this is it!!!

I highly recommend.

10-27-2008 Update:

This little monitor continues to impress me. It seems almost as sharp and bright as my 24inch iMac which has always been my bench mark for the perfect monitor. But it's a heck of a lot cheaper. How do they make the price this low and the quality this good?

Review by Gir:

Pros: excellent picture, fast refresh, compact size, very little heat generation, wide viewing angles, looks nice.

Cons: have run it near constantly for a month playing games and surfing with no problems yet so it may have none

Review by Rick Van Hazel:

My 21" Nokia CRT finally gave out last week and I ordered up two of these Acer AL1912 LCD's to run off of my dual head video card. I checked around for a straight replacement for my old 21" but found the price on an equal monitor had actually gone up. I noticed the Acer LCD on sale for just over 3 bills and figured two would make a great replacement and give me a little more desktop real estate to work with.

After setup, I measured the new 19" LCD and the old 21" screens to compare and found the actual viewable size was only 3/4" smaller! Though max resolution is 1280 x 1024 on the LCD, I only notice a small difference, the addition of the 2nd flat panel though yeilded a great deal of welcome new space. The new LCD has a very nice bright and vivid display and after installing the driver, I was able to update the refresh frequency to 75hz and play my favorite first person shooter (counterstrike source).

Games are always the toughest test for any computer system so a component that can game well, will definately do great on any desktop application like photo editing, or web browsing. I noticed while browsing a couple sites, the white background of pages was so bright it was actually too much so I cranked the brightness down to 50%. The display stand and case have a nice black design that is compact compared to its equal CRT counterpart and compliment my black computer case and keyboard. The shelf on my desk that the CRT monitor used to sit on had a sag of about 1" that leveled back out after its removal and replacement of the new LCD. The more compact LCD also takes up much less space on my desk so I have room for more junk food and empty coke cans... what a great bonus

Review by M. Inman:

I thought this monitor would be too good to be true for the price. It is fast, clear and I have not touched a control since getting it out of the box. It has been a joy to play video games on. Its footprint is tiny and I really enjoy the increased desk space. The screen geometry seems perfect. I am using 1280 by 1024 resolution and have no problem seeing anything and I have "over 40" eye sight. I had to clean it and just used a dry cotton towel and it removed the dust in one pass. It then looked perfect again. It looks like it was made for my Dell CPU.

Review by KIM-tizzle:

I bought this monitor because it was so cheap. I guess you get what you pay for. I thought it was a little blurry at the store and gave it the benefit of the doubt that it would be ok. It had to be better than my hand me down CRT. It is but it is still blurry. I would recommend not cheaping out and paying a little more for a better monitor. Ill probably be taking this back to the store.

Review by Marc Levy:

I bought this screen for my recording studio.The only problem is the video card you need at least 64MB otherwise you might have problems with the monitor but otherwise so far the screen is good and I m thinking buying a second one.

Review by David J. Silver:

A 22" widescreen LCD monitor in the 0 - 0 range. Unbelieveable - you might skeptically think. Think again - this one is a great product at a great price. Mine was perfect right out of the box - no dead pixels, fast as lightning (5ms), took me more time to unpack the box then to set up the monitor. Takes almost no desk space at all - and comes with a 3 year warranty! This is most definitely one of the best deals I've found on anything anywhere. With a native resolution of 1680 x 1050, the picture, via a DVI connection is crystal clear and just plain beautiful!

Review by M. Pierce:

I've been using a 12 inch laptop for school and it was fine for taking notes. When it came time to doing more intensive work, sitting behind the screen for 8-12 hours with documents overlapping was killing my eyes and driving me crazy. So I went out and picked up this monitor. It's like night and day. I can have two VERY large windows side by side for sifting through and combining information. Plus, I still have the laptop's screen as real estate.

There is a little bit of light leakage on the edges of the screen, but it's only slightly noticeable with a completely black background. My other gripe is that it cannot rotate, but when I have some time I'll see if there isn't an after-market solution I can utilize.

Altogether I'm very happy with the purchae.

-Viewing angle is good.

-Colors are bright.

-The option to set the focus is nice.

-The automatic adjustment works like a charm.

-22" of space is very useful.

-The price is right.

-No dead pixels that I can see.