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Samsung SyncMaster 2494

Started by scuzzy, December 17, 2009, 12:26 hrs

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scuzzy

A few months ago I purchased an LG Flatron W2361V 23" widescreen monitor for my main system to replace an old, dying Samsung. I recall paying about $240 for the LG and it has been an excellent monitor; despite its irritating power button that resembles an electronic red cyst.

A couple days ago I learned of a sale at Best Buy for a new-model 24" Samsung widescreen monitor. The monitor is currently on sale for $200. I had been wanting to add a widescreen monitor to my laptop and I took advantage of the sale. However, the 24" monitor was too tight of a fit for the laptop's setup. So I placed the Samsung with my main system and used the 23" LG with my laptop. The LG was an excellent fit, and I hooked it up to my laptop with an HDMI cable. I quickly tested the setup by downloading and enjoying a Netflix movie in my bedroom, and I was very pleased with the results.

As for the Samsung, it is a beautiful widescreen monitor. It has touch controls on the bottom right corner that work well, but they are difficult to see in a dark room as they are not lit up (a bonus as far as I'm concerned). It does have a bright blue power light, which was easily fixed by attaching a gold star over it (the kind you'd find in a grade school classroom). I used a hole puncher to make the star into a small circle and it now just blends in with the monitor. There is a nice looking chrome strip along the bottom of the monitor, but otherwise it has a simple design that is a pleasure to behold; nothing irritatingly fancy. The panel is framed by gloss black plastic.

The monitor has the standard analog and digital connections, but lacks an HDMI connector. I connected mine using the included DVI cable. Its native resolution is 1920 x 1080, and by default is set to 100% brightness. I quickly toned the brightness down to a tolerable 30%. Using the touch control panel, I can easily navigate between 7 presets. The easily installed stand is a large, round, plastic base and allows only for tilting the monitor. There are no height adjustments, but that's not an issue with my setup. Like most inexpensive monitors, the viewing angle is best when sitting directly in front of the monitor. Viewing from the sides deteriorates as the angles increase, but is tolerable under normal use. Slight deviations from left to right are imperceptible.

The monitor stands at just under 16-3/4" and is 22-1/2" wide. The base has a 9" diameter. The monitor uses a standard power cord, with no power brick needed. Both a DVI cable and an analog cable are included.

If you are in the market for a sweet widescreen monitor, and you have $200 to spare, then get over to Best Buy before this thing goes back to its regular $270 price tag.
Antec Performance TX640B Case | WinXP Pro SP3 & Win7 64-bit | Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R | Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale LGA 775 3.16GHz Dual-Core | 8GB (4x2GB) PC6400 G-Skill RAM | eVGA 7600GT 256MB PCI-E | 74GB WD Raptor SATA 16MB Cache | 74GB WD Raptor SATA 8MB Cache | 320GB Seagate Barracuda SATA 16MB Cache | External 640GB WD Caviar SATA 32MB Cache | Sony DRU-V200S DVD/RW | PC Power & Cooling Silencer 500W | Samsung SyncMaster 2494 (24") LCD Monitor | LG Flatron W2361V (23") LCD Monitor