Samsung 152T TFT LCD Review - PAGE 1

LCD screens are becoming more and more common in recent times especially in the corporate workspace. Some find LCD?s save space, some like how they look and others just like the thin screen. But is there any real performance increase over conventional CRT monitors for the casual user to spend extra money for a LCD one? I would answer yes. LCD?s are completely different beasts compared to CRT?s. But the LCD vs. CRT debate will have to continue elsewhere. My job here is to determine the quality of the Samsung Syncmaster 152T.

Specifications

Box Contents

Samsung Syncmaster 152T LCD Monitor

Drivers CD

User Manual

DVI-D to DVI-D cable

VGA to VGA cable

Wall mounting plate

Features and Impressions

First of all, I think this monitor looks good compared to some of the other LCD monitors out on the market. I for one would not spend loads of money on an ugly looking monitor. When I first unpackaged the screen, I noticed how compact & portable the display was. The base folded neatly into the back of the actual screen, acting like a handle for hand carrying. The screen itself seemed fairly thin. The 152T has just recently (last few days) been introduced to the public, and Samsung claims that this LCD Panel is the thinnest in the world with a depth of 20.6mm. Other than the display being pretty stylish, I noticed that the frame around the actual LCD is pretty thin. I've seen a few other LCDs, and i've only seen one LCD panel which has a thinner frame, the 191T from Samsung. Besides this, notebooks are the only ones which have frames of a few milimeters.

On the back face of the display, you'll find dual inputs, one for analog (VGA connector) and one for digital (DVI-D connector). I definitely enjoyed the benefits of the DVI connector as it did improve the quality of the visual output.

On the front side, you'll see the layout of 6 buttons. The Auto configuration button, found on all most LCDs helps you adjust your monitor?s brightness and image position. This is a handy feature that saves you time setting up the monitor. I found the buttons in general to be lower in quality to the higher models in Samsung's line. I have been spoilt by the electrostatic ones found on the massive 240T.

The VESA wall mount is a nice feature to have, especially if you don?t want a monitor taking up space on your desk. There is a mounting bracket included so all you need to do is mount it on your wall.

The monitor is Kensington Lock compliant so if you purchase a lock, the monitor is protected from theft. Most likely a good feature for store owners who may carry this product or display items/advertise on LCDs. I like the fact that Samsung's engineers took this into consideration while designing the product. It's an investment to buy an LCD, and one would want to protect their investments.

Installation and Testing

Test Rig

Intel Pentium 4 1.7Ghz (478pin)
Abit TH7-II RAID
AVC Sunflower CPU fan
2x256M Samsung RDRAM
Abit Siluro GeForce4 Ti4600
Soundblaster Audigy Platinum
80Gb Maxtor (Win 2000 Pro)
HP CD Writer

Installation was extremely easy. I simply hooked up the cable from the monitor to the system's video input, plugged it in and boot everything up just like any ordinary monitor on the market. When your operating system boots up, pop in the CD that comes with the monitor and install the drivers. That?s it.

For testing, I used Displaymate. This is a program that subjects the monitor to display the most difficult patterns any monitor must endure. All of the tests ran and almost all of them were great. There were a couple of pixels out of place in the resolution spiral test. As for display quality, probably the most important aspect of any monitor, this monitor does its job quite well. I noticed immediately an improvement over the CRT monitors. Brightness, contrast and clarity were all significantly improved. It was also nice not to have to adjust for those annoying curves that plague the sides of CRT monitors. When LCD?s first came out, one limitation was its viewing angle. You had to be almost looking at it straight on to see anything. I was particularly pleased with this monitors acceptable viewing angle. With a 150