Samsung Syncmaster 226BW - Review

[vX.DreDge]

Review: SAMSUNG SYNCMASTER 226BW
By:Shahid "vX.Dredge" Aziz

INTRODUCTION:
Times in the computer industry are changing and are changing fast, not only the cpu components are changing at rapid pace but the components attached are evolving, thus revolutionizing the way most of us interact with computer.
At a certain point in time a 17” display would be considered an over kill, but now people are not even bothered to take them as scrap. They were replaced by bigger and heavier monitors, which in turn were further put to shame by LCD’s.
It was not long before this technology further evolved and today we are witnessing the flooding of computer industry with high definition, high contrast feature rich display panels whose impression is nothing but jaw dropping.
In order to get the customer’s attraction companies from virtually all corners of the globe are jumping in the band wagon just to show off their technological advantage over the other. But there are certain companies that put them at a distance, by making certain innovations in this particular field, and SAMSUNG is one of them.

Before I get into details please allow me to tell you that I am coming from a regular flat 19” screen and this is totally out of the world experience for me, I could straight away made up my mind that this is going to be my next big thing.

SPECIFICATIONS:

when it comes to resolutions everyone has his preference, some people prefer smaller screens with higher resolutions or vice versa, but one this is for sure, no matter what we think of resolutions, companies like Samsung are trying their level best to make the lager dot pitch the default options, and it wouldn’t be long when we would see regular monitors in museums.

Well moving to the subject that we have the syncmaster 226BW, it not only looks really cool but the feature it packs are enough for high definition geeks as well as high definition gamers to attract to.

Samsung 226BW with all its glory

SIMPLICITY YET BEAUTIFUL:

Love at first sight, implies true about this beautiful high definition display. the design and finish of the monitor is so appealing that it will most certainly catch you attention if you looking for a real treat.

Only half an inch of shiny black body covers the entire screen from top to the left and to the right , except at the bottom where the finishing touch is really cool looking silver lining that holds the power button and the entire menu system, thus making a recipe for a really attractive looking display.

PACKAGING:

the box that contains the syncmaster 226BW is plain brown box that comes with virtually any monitor or flat panel for that matter.

On the front side of the box you would see the picture of the box printed with the words imagine infinity on top and “wide TFT-LCD monitor” written at bottom.
Key information about the monitor can be seen rite underneath the imagine infinity slogan.
Except for the bottom, every side of the box has something that shows it’s a TFT-LCD monitor and its from Samsung.

ACCESSORIES:

-Power cable
-Analog D-sub cable
-Digital DVI cable
-Getting Starter guide
-Assembly instructions
-CD
-Detailed instruction manual

The base and the cables are placed at their respective place on top of the thermo pole sheet.
The LCD monitor itself is places nicely under it and is well protected from any possible shock or fall, but try not to let it fall if the monitor is inside the box.

ASSEMBLING AND FUNCTIONALITY:

Tt first I was a little scared to attach the base to the screen due to past experiences, where once attached they would hardly detach themselves, whereas in this particular case I was really surprised to see how easy it was for me to attach the base to the screen itself, it only took me a minute or so to attach it.

Top of the base

The base has a screw rite at the middle to lock or to unlock it from the display; it was really easy to attach it, once you look at the illustrations provided with the base.

well illustrated procedure and very easy

attaching the power and the display cables were as easy as attaching the base to the screen. Entire power connectors and other connecting cables are covered with plastic that helps a lot in making the screen look really tidy from the behind, have look

The plastic that covers the cables is not hard enough for you to fight with it; you have got to be a bit careful not to destroy the hinges with which it attaches itself to the screen.

Once hooked to the base the screen can easily be rotated 360 degrees, which is really nice to the fact that you don’t really have to pick the screen up and move it about.

Samsung 226BW cannot be lifted up from the base but it can be tilted to a certain extent, if you feel like it.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Although SAMSUNG 226BW has a viewing angle of 160degrees horizontal and 160 degrees vertical, but I would recommend to place Samsung 226BW a little higher than your keyboard, so that the screen comes right in front of your eyes and you don’t have to tilt it to see better.

Like any other display, the SAMSUNG 226BW comes with both D-sub analog and DVI-D digital connectors, but i am sure most of you would be interested in going to DVI-D digital way and not the D-subway.

THE SYSTEM:
OSD that comes with the syncmaster is comprehensive enough for you to try and explore it out to adjust the screen to you satisfaction. Apart from the usual brightness, contrast and sharpness, there are a number of other features that are quite interesting when it comes to screen adjustment and color correction.

for example the magic color option under Color is really nice when it comes to adjusting screen colors and light. With four options OFF, DEMO, FULL and intelligent, it is really handy and it really boosts the color when you turn it on or turn it to intelligent. The demo option turns half of the screen to magic color and the other half to normal so you can have a better idea how this is going to be, really neat!.

here is a snapshot of OSD.

TESTING:

Testing a display can be a tricky thing, because the use for which someone buys a particular display unit varies, but nevertheless i would try to sum up everything that i noticed while using syncmaster 226BW.

starting with normal internet browsing and office work, the experience was really nice except for the fact that if you have turned magic color On, the screen becomes too very bright for the normal internet and office work, due to which there is a chance that your eyes may feel strained out, while sitting for more that hour or so, again its my own opinion about it and its not what others may feel about it.

Gaming, great, just great. it was perhaps the best experience of playing true high quality gaming on PC, i simply couldn't have asked for more.

I played some of my best personal favorite games, which included "MEDAL OF HONOR -AIRBORNE", "UT 3","gears of War","Grid" and many others, but i would like to share two games, first off ASSASSIN'S CREED.

the image quality was really impressive and breath taking, although i have played the game a couple of times but playing it on syncmaster 266BW was a different experience altogether. i could easily see every detail that i was unable to with regular monitors and especially the shades, they were simply awesome. The screen adjusted magnificently to any setting that i out it through.

majestic visuals for you to drool onto

Simply beautiful

The second game was "MEDAL OF HONOR-AIRBORNE", i had more or less the same extent of experience and joy while playing this game, though not at the cutting edge of visuals, still it is very beautiful WWII game

watching high definition movies was a treat as well, i was really impressed by the level of quality in the image that the syncmaster presented with, it was really a treat watching some high quality movies on it. Some of the movies that i chose were LORD OD THE RINGS, MARTIX REVOLUTION and BATMAN BEGINS, and the experience was simply out of this world, a high definition Wide screen display does make a difference, particularly in case of Movies.

IMPORTANT:
The image quality may vary due the level of compression and the codecs used, and there fore if any if you is unable to find justifiable difference in between watching movie on a regular 19" monitor and on this particular widescreen, please look for a better compression option, or rather do not compress it in the first place.

CONCLUSION:
Here it is, rite in front if you, if i were you and i was looking for a really nice upgrade to my RIG, then i would look no further than the SAMSUNG SYNCMASTER 226BW. it certainly belongs to the upper league of 22" displays and i think it will be there for quite some time.
The native resolution is large enough to do any sort of graphical work like photoshop, flash etc, you would be left with plenty of space, i tell you.

I can easily recommend it to any body regardless of what his requirements are. he/she will be more than satisfied, i am sure and its a money worth spent.

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