Related Articles

Initial Impressions

Like many of Samsung's higher end LCDs, the silver bezel is sleek and elegant. With the recent fascination of silver and chrome in both luxury and professional items, Samsung really hits the mark with the color scheme. The 173MW is quite heavy for a LCD, much more so than the 172x. Most of the weight seems centered around the swiveling base. The tilt for the base is a bit on the stiff side much like the 172MP and the 172x that we looked at before and requires a bit of force to adjust the angle. Unfortunately there is only one hinge meaning that the height of the display cannot be adjusted. The 173MW can be mounted on a wall but if that is not an option and the monitor is too low, users may want to hold onto old telephone books to adjust the height.

The actual screen itself looked a bit on the small side and that is sort of expected- a 17" diagonal in a widescreen format is only about 75% of that of a regular screen with a 4:3 ratio. This is somewhat exaggerated by the relatively thick bezel and the built in speakers. I would guess that the area of the bezel / speakers on the front takes up approximately 1/4 to 1/3 of the area.

The last few Samsung LCDs we have taken a look at used an external power connector and the 173MW is the same in that regard. While some may argue that this solution is less elegant, our response is that if it breaks, it will be much easier and much cheaper to replace. It also allows the depth and profile of the LCD to be smaller than one with an integrated solution. One of my major peeves are huge power blocks that take up multiple plugs on the powerbar but fortunately with the 173MW, a regular cord goes from the converter to the actual plug.

The button layout is very similar to that of the 172MP utilizing the same button design as the 172MP. Instead of having the buttons centered though they are offset to the right. Another improvement over the 172MP is that the TV Tuner is integrated now instead of being a discrete unit. Our gripe about the lack of a DVI input has also been remedied on the 172MW. The buttons remain sensitive but this time it has a good tactile response instead of being touch sensitive like the 172MP.

The inversed input connectors are a bit strange to work with and attaching the connectors is a bit on the awkward side. The attachment method of the 172x was much better (the inputs were located at the base of the unit). This solution though is not as feasible with the 173MW as it has inputs for VGA, DVI, SVIDEO, RCAs, cable coaxial, stereo line-in and also component in. When I attempted to attach the DVI cable while the screen was in an upright position, it felt as if the cable had to be coerced into position. Another problem with this particular design is that it is hard to see the connectors and how they line up. Laying down the screen is not a good idea either as LCD screens damaged easily. All in all the connector placement was not the most pleasant thing to work with and it is a difficult engineering problem as there will always be a sacrifice between form and function. After the initial setup was complete, the cabling/interface issue became a moot point. Samsung also includes a plastic cover that hides the connectors to maintain a cleaner look at the back of the monitor.