Roundup: 22-Inch LCD Monitors : Samsung SyncMaster 2253BW
10. Samsung SyncMaster 2253BW
Response Times
Until recently, 2 ms monitors were lauded by gamers for their excellent response times, and this particular model is currently the best of the bunch. Unfortunately, its time at the top might not last beyond Christmas.
The arrival of monitors with 120 Hz refresh rates is imminent, and they are going to change the way we look at display hardware.
Nevertheless, without any real test results as yet, the promised improvements remain a long way off.
With their SyncMaster 2253bw, Samsung is leaving behind the curvy lines of their earlier models for a very squared off look, albeit one in the same glossy black plastic that we know and love.
As elsewhere in their range, a careful design is paired with fairly minimal functionality.
Apart from on their T series of monitors that offer an HDMI port, the rest of Samsungs lineup only offers VGA and DVI options for connectivity, as well as a stand that allows for tilting the screen back slightly.
The only difference here is that the 2253bwis on a larger stand, allowing for a little more movement, but it's nothing like the flexibility offered by the Hyundai W220D, for example.
Another similarity to earlier Samsung models that we noticed very quickly was a dominance of blue in the 2253bw's color handling under the default settings.
Switching the monitor to its 'Warm' setting using the menu improves things, and would merit an extra star in our ratings if it worked straight out of the box.
While the 2253BW has its issues with color out of the box, the monitor absolutely blows all of our previous records for response time out of the water.
Its output lag, or the delay it shows compared to a monitor with a cathode ray tube, is normally just a single frame, virtually eliminating the frustrating phenomena of LCD panels whose images trail behind gameplay.| Samsung SyncMaster 2253BW | |
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This screen actually looks like a monitor, and not the entry-level TV that so many manufacturers seem keen to ape these days. Technically speaking, its strongest feature has to be it's record-breaking response time.
- SyncMaster 2253BW...
first
wait...wheres the conclusion
I am a HUGE fan of LG's flatron monitors. They're generally very competitively priced for the quality you get.
One word of advice though, Dont buy a monitor online unless it has a zero-dead pixel guaranty as well as free return shipping. With the extremely high pixel counts of today's LCDs, the odds of getting a dead pixel are actually quite high, so the ability to take it back to the store and exchange it without any fees is a real benefit.
Need to see data, not just "record-breaking response times." A few of the monitors have some numbers but others have nothing more than a description.
I second the blue dominance on the 2253BW as well. It's a shocker unless you reduce the blue to almost nothing.
I have the Samsung 2253BW. They are right about the color and view angles. Took me a full day tinkering just to get the colors and positioning the way I wanted... big PITA. Once all setup its pretty nice. Best use as a gaming screen, built in hand drip makes moving around easy too.
I found the 2253BW has bad buttons and bad button positions. My "menu" button doesn't really work and since you can't see any of the buttons it can be hard to find them sometimes.
Thanks for the review. It helped me select which LCD Monitor worked best for me.
Maybe I'm the only Toms reader not up on my display type acronyms, but TN could have been briefly defined prior to using it on every page of this writeup. For those also not in the loop it's Twisted Nematic.
Aren't Dell LCDs just rebadged?
I dislike the trend to adding cheap speakers in all monitors above like 22" makes me feel like i'm paying for something i'll never use.
which one the model that has true 24 bits color?
I've got the samsung 2233rz 120hz refresh. GREAT GAMING MONITOR. Plus the 3d with Nvidia is awesome. Some good games are Mass Effect, Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead. Mass effect is the most visually pleasing of them all, but Left 4 dead is the most fun to use it with.
Also, it's about time that TOMS finally did a piece that GAMERS might be interested in. By the way, your new GPU charts stink, I don't want subcatagories of high end and low end, just the GPU's for the last 3 years. If you want, color code the charts to price brackets or better yet, Generations of models.
You guys have lost touch with what gamers want. Plus your website was extremely laggy on the few articles I found interesting in the last month.
Hi Toms
How about a roundup in the 24 inch class.Many of us feel a 24 is the way to go?Please Consider.Thank-You for this articles non the less.
Xsamitt
I'm satisfied with the Samsung T240. I was using a CRT 19 before and this is quite an upgrade. Not the best monitor out there, but I got it for a heck of a deal!
When I built my first computer (the one I have now) I went with the LG W2252TQ. My niece has been using an LG monitor for a long time and she highly recommended I try one, so I thought I would take the hint. I picked this monitor up from my local Best Buy where the kind computer tech hooked it up to a PC for me so I could see what Windows looked like on it. I was sold immediately. This has turned out to be the best monitor I have ever owned.
Very glad to see a LCD review. I'm dreading the day my current tube dies, as most LCDs still can't match them(decent tubes that is). Unless you get in to the 1000 dollar range. Just wish the resolution was better. 1680 x 1050 is losing some space to the traditional 1600x1200. Though 1920 x 1080 is a bit better.
Hopefully more reviews and more consumer research will prompt companies to start making good quality LCDs and cheaper prices. Dell is kind of annoying, they used to sell some of their dispalys with PVA, and then changed them to TN, without changing the model #/Name. Grr.
Oops, in regards to my last post. The Dell monitors weren't changed from PVA to TN, they were changed from S-IPS to TN.
I'm just not on my game anymore. My two previous posts are wrong. Dell didn't switch from S-IPS to TN. They switched from S-IPS to PVA. Not so horrible. I got to work today and sat down at my computer, which is a 4 head box with 4 Dell 2007FP displays. 2 are S-IPS, and 2 are PVA. I can now see a bit of a difference, but its not so bad. S-IPS still looks a little nicer. But I never noticed until I started digging into it and figure out they were different techs.
Too bad, I've just started using ViewSonic VX2262wm a few days ago...
As the review said, even for the untrained eyes, the colors are noticeable bad and unable to get it right through OSD, which is disappointing.
Viewing angle is bad. So bad that if you look at it at the distance closer that 30 cm, you're starting to see dark shadows on the top and the bottom of the screen. You should have keep it at 50 cm distance to see uniform color.
The responsiveness are OK, but just don't compare it to CRT.
The internal speakers are jokes. Maximum volume is relatively small compared to standard active speaker. If you turn up a little bit bass, the sound is cracking. At 100% volume setting, you can hear a little annoying static high frequency hiss/noise, even if you don't plug in the audio cable. To set it to almost unnoticeable, I can only set the volume level at around 60%. Included are the EAX virtual sound card that using up computer resources, so that there is silent moment every half a second.
In short, don't buy it because of the speaker. ViewSonic should have put the money to improve the quality of the monitor instead of installing a pair of cheap speakers.
To the credit of ViewSonic, the first unit that I ordered contained one dead subpixel. They replaced a new one for me.
I've managed to improve the above-mentioned monitor's display accuracy by using the webpages...
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/