Excellent monitor with a couple of quirks
Pros:
LARGE viewing area, very crisp image.
Cons:
Viewing angles. Pixel pitch a bit small.
The Bottom Line:
If you can live with the two issues I noted (I can easily deal with them), then it is an awesome unit.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
I own a 930B, the Samsung 19 inch monitor and it has a awesome picture. So when it came time to buy a replacement for another 19 inch CRT, I decided to take the plunge and buy an even larger Samsung model.
Overall this monitor is crisp and clean, and the picture is vibrant. I had no dead pixels on my first purchase. The controls are easier to access than on the 930. On the 204B, they are right in front and labeled white text on black. I'm not sure if the monitor comes in other colors, if so, I don't know how the buttons look on those units.
The native resolution of the 204B is 1600x1200. I have not used it in any other resolution, so I cannot comment on how it might perform. As with most LCDs, you probably don't want to run them in the non native resolution anyways, it's always been my experience the image looks extremely poor.
This monitor also came with the DVI cable, something many DVI capable monitors do not come with. That was nice.
Monitor has an 8 ms refresh rate, so it works well with games. I've played BF2 and Call of Duty and I have not noticed any blurring or artifacts.
You'll also need a pretty beefy video card to run this guy. Many weaker cards might not be able to get up to 1200x1600, so you'll want to check your video card before you buy the monitor and make sure it can handle the load.
However, two negative points on this unit.
1) The large viewing area is nice, but the dot/pixel pitch (0.255 mm) is small. This means, even though the image is very clear, it is a bit smaller that what you might be accustomed to. I occasionally need to squint to read some websites. I honestly use the magnification feature on my mouse often to make up for this.
2) Viewing angles are a bit picky. Viewing any LCD monitor from any angle other than dead on, and you'll notice the image gets washed out or dim, but with this unit, it is a little worse than I'm used to. Specs on the unit say the viewing angle (both horizontal and vertical) is 160 degrees, which is the same figure for the 930B, my other samsung unit. However, with the 204B, this angle is more noticable.
