Samsung SyncMaster 206BW 20-inch LCD Monitor Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Overall I found this to be a very good monitor at a fantastic price.I am a picky buyer, and am contemplating buying another one!I use it for business, movies, and occasional photo editing.That said, I found the buying process to be horribly confusing and spent days trying to figure out exactly what the differences are between any two LCDs.Here are some thoughts to aid your search:

1) the 206BW is Samsung's most recent 20" wide screen monitor.the 205BW and 204BW are its predecessors, are inferior, and are still sold in stores. the 206BW appears to be a big improvement over the 205BW.2206bw is the corresponding 22" monitor.
2) the 20" monitor appears to be the sweet spot of the line.the 19" has lower pixel count, the 22" has the same pixel count as 20".The .258 pixel pitch of this monitor is also among the best I have seen for a consumer grade monitor.the 19" and 22" both have worse pixel pitch
3) this monitor gives a very large work space.I can comfortably have two documents, spreadsheets, etc. side by side.At 1600+ / 1000+ it has 10-15% more pixels, and a ton more space than my laptop.I was initially considering a non-wide-screen monitor.I am pleased that I chose this instead.
4) movies look fantastic.dark scenes particularly look better than they did on both my old CRT display and on my laptop LCD
5) monitors appear to have similar specs across manufacturers for their generation.this monitor appears to have been just released (3/1/2007), and has industry leading specs- 2ms response rate, 3000:1 dynamic contrasts, etc.Samsung's competitors (Viewsonic, etc) did not have comparable products when I bought.If you are tempted to by a product with lesser specs that may be marketed as "better," find out if this is actually the case, or if it is just an old design.LCD lines seem to turn over every 6-12 months.
6) stay away from monitors with speakers.reviews consistently pan them as gimicky and non-functional, and they add size and cost
7) one drawback is that the monitor stand is not adjustable.If you care, buy a good stand.there are standard interconnects on the back.it should work with this or any future monitor you buy.for my money, I would rather have a product with better performance than a more functional stand.

I have no comments on life as I have had the product for under a week.

happy shopping!

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Product Description:
The Samsung 206BW 20-Inch Digital/Analog Widescreen LCD Monitor offers razor-sharp, widescreen image clarity and a host of innovative features. The image quality of the 20-inch widescreen offers wide viewing angles with bright colors for a very favorable viewing experience. With a wider viewing angle (160-degree vertical and horizontal viewing angle) Samsung makes sure you can see objects on your screen even when you're leaning over to grab a snack.
With 16.7 million colors bombarding your rods and cones, you'll be impressed with the clearer, brighter imagery that this wide spectrum monitor has to offer. Another impressive feature of the 206BW is the pixel pitch, or the distance between pixels. This specification is usually measured in millimeters, and the smaller the pitch the sharper the image. Samsung offers a remarkable 0.258-millimeter pixel pitch for outstanding image clarity. The most talked about spec associated with LCD monitors is the measure of the difference of brightness levels between the brightest white and the darkest dark--the contrast ratio. With a contrast ration of 3000:1, this monitor assures crisp, easy-to-view images. Lastly, Samsung has designed this monitor with MagicColor to improve hue and saturation of colors. This function also adjusts mid-level colors to shades that the human eye accepts as natural. By enhancing the contrast ratio with MagicColor, fresh images with exceptional clarity spring to life, even on a darker screen.
Connectivity is also important when choosing a monitor. The 206BW features an advanced dual interface that is capable of handling both analog video signals for present use, and digital video signals for the future. Whatever the signal sources are, this monitor will process those signals to give you an optimal viewing experience. In addition, this monitor features a standard D-Sub 15-pin connection and a fast DVI-D connection for your high-resolution demands.
Other features include compatibility with all major operating systems (including Microsoft Vista's Premium standards) and an ultra-fast 2ms response time that virtually eliminates the "blur" that is present in 25, 16, and 12ms monitors (this is especially good news for gamers). Plus, with Samsung you have Magic Technologies, such asMagicBright3 and MagicTune, right at your fingertips. MagicBright3 is a new feature that provides the best viewing environment depending on the contents of the image you are watching, and MagicTune is Samsung's OSD (On-Screen Display) solution that provides a simple, convenient adjustment to the best image quality. The 206BW is designed to meet VESA standards to accommodate any display type. This monitor is both wall and arm mountable, so it fits almost any environment on your desk or the wall.

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