Samsung SyncMaster XL2370 Review: LED Shocker

Liquid Crystal Displays have long struggled to find a comfortable home on our desks. Even though prices have dropped considerably in the past few years, many people are still shy to opt for an LCD as their primary monitor for a number of reasons. True that CRTs really do have a number of advantages over digital displays, the old analog systems have become far more cumbersome for today’s desktop use.

Samsung’s latest toy attempts to address all the concerns raised by traditional displays. The SyncMaster XL2370 is an LED backlit Full HD LCD monitor sporting a 16:9 resolution, and an aesthetic design. Jump on in for a full taste of what this little baby has to offer, but make sure you brace yourself first – you’ll soon see why.

Specifications

Physical Attributes
Dimensions (width x height x depth):	22.5″ x 14.4″ x 1.9″ (Without Stand) 22.5″ x 16.7″ x 7.5″ (With Stand)
Weight	7.9 lbs
Power Requirements
Consumption	28W (Typical)
Stand By	<1.3W
Display
Screen Size	23”
Brightness	250 cd/m²
Contrast Ratio	5,000,000:1 (Dynamic) / 1,000:1 (Static)
Resolution	1920 x 1080 (Full HD)
Response Time	2ms (Gray-to-Gray)
Viewing Angle	170º/160º (H/V)
Color Depth	24-bit, 16.7 Million Colors
Signal Input
Video Signal	Analog RGB, DVI, HDMI
Sync. Signal	Separate H/V, Composite, SOG
Connectors (Input)	DVI, HDMI
Connectors (Output)	Optical Out, Audio Out

Design

Lets make one thing clear here: The XL2370 has elegance written all over it. The Whole body of the monitor has continuous contours which give it nice but subtle curves. It has a pure gloss black finishing with a transparent outer trim, which Samsung calls the Touch of Color.

The stand is mostly transparent with a dark blue ascent which adds a sense of depth into an otherwise slim display.

And just how slim? On its thickest part, the XL2370 is just over an inch thick. The tapered top even goes under 0.75” in depth. This is the thinnest LED monitor I’ve seen.

The front of the monitor is kept pretty clean which also adds to its elegant looks. There’s the Samsung logo in the bottom center of the bezel, while the top left and right corners have the SyncMaster and the Energy Star logos respectively.

The OSD panel is positioned at the bottom right of the monitor. Samsung has opted for a touch sensitive panel instead of physical buttons. The backlight behind the buttons is initially dimmed off until you touch the surface area, which then lights it up. While this helps in creating a dramatic effect, the touch sensitive buttons can never have the satisfying ease of physical buttons, and so you would find yourself struggling while operating the OSD at times.

The OSD itself is built very nicely, with a good selection of options laid out in a two level menu. There are five buttons for Menu, Up, Down, Display Source and Auto Adjustment. The Down button also doubles as a shortcut key for the MagicBright feature which adjusts the properties of the display according to different presets. These include Test, Internet, Game, Sport, Movie, Dynamic Contrast and Custom. During our testing, we discovered that the Movie preset fits just fine for just about any usage. The shortcut key is also customizable and can be changed for quick access to other features as well.

The back side of the monitor houses the connectivity options. The back facing connectors are easy to reach so swapping different cables wouldn’t be a problem. The actual range of connectivity options are rather limited here. You have one DVI connector and one for HDMI. Since the XL2370 doesn’t come with any built in speakers, the audio from the HDMI signal is outputted through a digital and an optical out port. I would have been happier if there were a DisplayPort here as well.

While the monitor is very slim, the bezel definitely isn’t the slimmest I’ve seen. In fact it is thicker than you would expect from a monitor of this size. So you shouldn’t be thinking about getting these monitors for an Eyefinity configuration – it won’t work.

Image Performance

Now we move on to the integral part of our review, the monitor’s actual performance. The XL2370 is a relatively low priced display. For this reason, it is based on the TN Panel technology, which means that it would also carry the same curse which comes bundled with these types of panels.

Even though Samsung boasts a 5,000,000:1 Dynamic Contrast ratio, the static numbers are pretty much what you would find in any other good quality monitors these days. Still, the XL2370 surprised us by producing satisfyingly rich blacks and immensely bright whites. The credit goes to the LED backlight here, which is able to vary the intensity of every pixel at a far greater scale compared to CCFL.

In terms of backlight bleeding, the XL2370 wasn’t a surprise. I could see some bleeding at the the top and bottom edges of the monitors if you look at it from above or below the normal viewing position. But for those sitting up straight facing the display – the way LCD monitors are intended to be used anyways – you shouldn’t have any problems at all.

Samsung isn’t bluffing when it says that the Dynamic Contrast ratio for the SyncMaster XL2370 is 5,000,000:1. I’ve never ever seen a TN Panel display with such satisfying contrast and gradient banding performance. In terms of black level representation, the XL2370 is as good as any PVA or IPS panel. It was able to accurately reproduce distinguishable black levels all the way from 0 to 255.

It would appear as if Samsung had managed to eliminate all the problems that plague the TN panel technology. Sadly, this isn’t the case here as the XL2370 is hampered by viewing angle issues. Even though Samsung report that the horizontal and vertical view angels are 170º and 160º degrees respectively, the color variation starts as soon as you move about 45º to either sides horizontally or about 30º vertically. This is one of the main reasons that the XL2370 can’t be used in a multi monitor / Eyefinity configuration.

Gaming Performance

For motion pictures, animation and gaming, the TN technology definitely is a better option when high frame rates are desired without any sort of ghosting effects. The XL2370 really shines here thanks to having a very minimal input lag (which you won’t even notice unless its side by side with a CRT). The 2ms gray-to-gray response time should get you plenty of frags in any modern FPS without any sort of ghosting.

The games i tried on this monitor ranged everything from latest shooters like Modern Warfare 2 to ages old classics like Counter-Strike 1.6. The full list includes:

• Far Cry 2
• Crysis
• Batman: Arkham Asylum
• Half-Life: Episode 2
• Counter Strike 1.6 (MP)
• Counter Strike: Source (MP)
• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Prototype
• Age of Empires III: Asian Dynasties
• The Sims 3
• FIFA 10
• Need for Speed: Shift
• Modern Warfare 2 (MP)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (MP)
• Left 4 Dead (MP)
• Halo 2

And just for the fun of it, I even tried classics from my childhood including Doom and Elite: Frontier. The XL2370 had no problems in any of these titles, making it a very attractive option for gamers.

Video Performance

When it comes to movies, TN panels usually end up on the viewing side. The reason is pretty simple – they aren’t meant to be viewed from wide angles so if you want to watch a movie, you’d have to be sitting directly in front of the monitor for optimal performance.

I tried a whole mix of movies from VGA resolution camera phone videos to flash videos on YouTube as well as DVD and Blu-Ray movies. The list includes Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen and The Hangover at 1080p and Paranormal Activity on DVD. The Cybertronian droids looked awesome thanks to a good color reproduction of the monitor. I was specially surprised by how it fared on Paranormal Activity (a very dark movie) even though it was only DVD quality.

Conclusion

I already advised you to brace yourself for the conclusion. But before we get to that, lets take a quick glance of what we have with the Samsung SyncMaster XL2370. It is a 23” Full HD 1080p monitor with an LED backlight and a gorgeous design. While it doesn’t have  a whole range of input options, it does perform exceptionally well with what it has. Lack of ergonometric features might be a bit disappointing but most people don’t really move their monitors around very much.

In terms of performance, the XL2370 has clearly pushed the limits of the TN panel technology beyond what was possible to achieve a color gamut and contrast comparable to more expensive technologies like IPS and PVA. Its lightning fast response times translate to virtually zero lag and ghosting making it ideal for gaming use, while it is pretty good at office work too – unless you are a professional photographer. Multi-monitor setups might not be that satisfying because of the TN panel’s view angle problems and that relatively thick bezel, but I’d rather have ONLY the XL2370 on my desk thanks to its elegant looks.

Oh and did I mention its strikingly gorgeous?

Pros

• Elegant looks
• Ultra-Slim design
• Low power consumption
• Native Full HD 1080p resolution
• Lightning fast response time
• Great image quality and color gamut

Cons

• Simple Titl Stand
• No DisplayPort
• A Not-so-slim Bezel
• Touch Sensitive panel can be cumbersome to use

Final Verdict

For all the reasons stated above and factoring in a competitive market price, I decided to give Samsung SyncMaster XL2370 my (and also WCCFTech’s) first Editor Choice Award for Best Monitor of recent times – yes it IS that good.

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