New 19" screen needed - Samsung or NEC?

kater · Post by **kater** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 1:31 am

Hi!

Please help a guy in need of a new screen. The old CRT is, well, getting old, not to mention its buzzing is driving me up the wall.

I'd like to select a 19" flat panel, preferably standard (not wide). It'll be used for office purposes (text editing), surfing and gaming. I may watch a film or two, and I'll watch some TV as well, but this is not a priority. I'd like it to be fast and provide good colors. Price - let's keep it under $400 / E300. One more condition (a must!) - the color. It's got to be white, white-silver or silver-white. It'll have to match my white-silver P150 etc. Black is not an option. No, I'm not a lady, but I'm pretty confident I want my rig not only to be strong and ultraquiet, but I also want it to look good. Just for the hell of it

Brand selection in Poland is pretty good, but I'd like to stick to these 2: Samsung & NEC.

Samsung SyncMaster 932B

Samsung SyncMaster 970P

Samsung SyncMaster 971P - also in white

Samsung SyncMaster 960BF

NEC MultiSync 90GX2

NEC MultiSync 195VXM+

NEC MultiSync 1970NXP

Tzupy · Post by **Tzupy** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 3:01 am

IMHO the NEC90GX2, if you don't have bright lights behind you (glossy coating): http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductRe ... 6824002122
The Samsung 971P is great for office and photoshopping, but sucks for games (ghosting): http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductRe ... 6824001086
Anyway, you'll have to find out if it buzzes or not. A new and expensive 26" NEC is a known buzzer.
And you'll have to check it for dead / stuck pixels before buying it. In my country the dead pixels policy is not customer friendly (4-5 needed for exchange).

Maelwys · Post by **Maelwys** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 6:20 am

I've been installing and recommending Samsung flat panels for a while now and have never had a complaint on them. I currently own a Samsung 204BW and it works great for gaming (no ghosting) and general use. Color reproduction is somewhat lacking for accurate Photoshopping, but it's good enough for basic web image editing and the like.

Of course, all the Samsung monitors that I've used have been black, and I'm not sure what the specs are on white/silver models. The 940BF looks pretty promising though, and should be a solid display.

grazzhoppa · Post by **grazzhoppa** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 8:16 am

Check out this guide. It explains practically all you'd want to know about LCDs when looking to buy one, and it rates quite a few monitors too.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview ... id=1745344

I would've recommended the Samsung 971P, but the new-egg.com reviews are discouraging
But remember, about 60% of people who buy "gaming" computer hardware are teenagers who can be more discerning and picky with things normal people are fine with. (

)

J. Sparrow · Post by **J. Sparrow** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 12:55 pm

I have the 970, it's a good panel but the arm is weak.

On the largest national forum (of my country) there's a thread running where users report their experience; most of them (all?) had problems after 3-4 months of use.

Indeed mine developed the same problem. AFAIK Samsung will replace those monitors but you'll probably receive a refurbished unit which could be in worse condition than yours. This is what kept me from returning it.

OTOH I've not checked that thread recently so I might not be aware of recent developments.

kater · Post by **kater** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 12:10 am

How about the 971P and its arm, capt'n? And how about ghosting - if you play games, is it visible? Is the 971P just a newer, improved version and one may hope for a better stability and that the panel will not go, hehe, flat

Yeah - stability - I've seen the screen in a shop, and it looked to me like it was not really that perfectly horizontal - courtesy of the off-center arm?

I just read that 960BF is crap becasue of its overdrive problems. Anyone care to elaborate on this?

Love the design of Samsungs. Leaning towards them more and more. Keep posting guys

I won't let you go that soon

@ grazzhoppa - great linky - thanks!

J. Sparrow · Post by **J. Sparrow** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 7:38 am

Last time I visited the thread the 971 was not released yet, and people were already complaining that the 970 was not to be fixed because of the new model

I will take a look whether there is any news, anyway.

I prefer the P-MVA panel of the 970 over TN panels which is used in gaming monitors (like the 960 IIRC). It features pretty wide viewing angles and general good color fidelity.

I'm only an occasional gamer, but I don't find it sluggish; of course if you put it side by side with a CRT (I have a venerable NEC M700 on my desk), the difference is evident even to an untrained eye, but this was true for every LCD panel that was available last year (I bought mine almost one year ago).

A 'quirk' which is common to all of Samsung's monitor lineup, is the software-based screen adjustments. It means you must have a working installation of Windows to change anything; I'm aware there's a free tool that supports Samsungs under Linux, but I do not have a clue about its quality.

The windows tool is quite effective, but a little too big and slow. Not the kind of app I like to have running in background all the time.

In general, a site that I've found useful for choosing a monitor is the French http://www.behardware.com/ - I found their reviews to be quite in-depth and informative.

croddie · Post by **croddie** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:24 am

Are there any LCDs that come with external PSUs these days? I think it's an advantage since if it makes a little noise it's further away from the user.

One of the LCDs I have has an external PSU which makes a noise but is not audible at the computer, while another has an internal power supply and buzzes audibly depending on what's on the screen. It's not loud but it's louder than anything else. Some people talk about inverters causing noise but the power supply is a potential culprit that can be eliminated.

But I don't think current LCDs have external power supplies do they?

kittle · Post by **kittle** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 2:48 pm

I got a Samsung 970 last year when my 22" crt died.

Overall its been a great monitor. I eventually got a 2nd one to go beside it, and wound up adding some little cardboard standoffs underneath the monitors to make things level, so the problems with its overly flexible arm hasnt affected me.

The adjustment software took a bit of getting used to mainly because I was running xp64, and they didnt have drivers out at that time (they do now).

I play games often enough that any ghosting would have been noticed, but after running a pair of them for almost a year I have no issues.
I also watch DVDs on my pc on a regular basis, and have no problems with that either.

Another thing to look at is the support services offered. I was going to buy a ViewSonic until i read over a trail of woes from people trying to get stuff fixed. I compared that to experiences with samsung monitors and saw things were resolved much easier. when I got my monitor and their adjustment software didnt work.. I was able to call in on a sunday afternoon and talk to someone with a clue. That went a long ways.
I found these reviews on NewEgg.com for those who want to go look.

J. Sparrow · Post by **J. Sparrow** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 4:05 pm

Update: I took a quick visit to the aforementioned forum. No news, people keep having troubles, they phone samsung, then get a replacement monitor, and that's all. However, the trhread has more than 210 pages (!!!) so any useful bit of information must be digged up with infinite patience.

Regarding the 971, there are some reviews stating the new arm mechanism is more sturdy than the 970's. I found little real user feedback, though, this might mean there's no problem with the 971 or that few people tried to buy it after hearing about 970's woes.

It's a shame that Samsung can't really put serious springs in the 970, as it was quite an expensive piece of gear when it came out.

Speaking of kludges, I have mine sitting on the center speaker of my 5.1 setup

Update of an Update: many users have reporterd that Samsung offers the choice of fixing the arm or replacing the whole monitor. To avoid receiving a refurbished product (which might have burnt pixels) you just have to ask to service your existing monitor. This takes some days for the monitor has to travel to a service point, be repaired, and eventually be shipped back to you. I might be calling to have mine repaired, too... I think I can still bear using my M700 for some days

SinnerP · Post by **SinnerP** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 5:06 pm

Hi,

I'd go with Samsung.

I got NECs and Samsungs at work. Lots of them. Overall, Samsungs last longer. At work I got "stuck" with a NEC 18"; not a bad puppy.

But when I went to get a LDC for home, I got a Samsung. I use it for web browsing, coding and gaming. The Samsung is very fast, so games work great.

Salut,
Sinner

kater · Post by **kater** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 10:08 pm

SPCR once again turns out a truly great & helpful forum! Thanks guys for all your input so far

I'm now leaning towards the 971P more & more - I was first a little afraid of the ghosting, but your info on PVA real performance in this regard makes me feel better.

The only thing I'm a little concerned is the off-center arm. I once saw the unit in a local store and I just can't shake the feeling the screen was leaning to its left. A wee tiny bit... Gonna check it today after work.

See what I mean? Great, splendig desing, a beauty - but makes me wonder if it can hold still. OTOH, Samsung must have checked for this issue, as it's so apparently dangerous.

EDIT

Just found this review - LINK - not your most professional in terms of image examination and response time measurement, but it addresses issues like stability of the arm - my greatest concern so far. And it seems the arm has been much improved compared to 970P.

It also seems the screen has an external power supply - goody.

J. Sparrow · Post by **J. Sparrow** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 5:32 am

Leaning..? The screen it's a pivot, it can be rotated.

Regarding the strength of the spring, the monitor has 3 years warranty, so I'll make it fix and if it breaks again, I will still have time to have it fixed once more

And anyway, I've found what seems to be a good home-made solution in case one can't/don't want to send the monitor away.

kater · Post by **kater** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 5:38 am

"leaning" - I mean locate the bottom left corner of the screen as you sit facing it. Now pull it down with your fingers. Because the whole assembly is off-center I'm (a wee bit) afraid it may just be not perfectly parallel in relation to the surface of the desk. But I guess I'm just obsessing... Typical for SPCR forum users, be it quietness, energy usage or whatever

And I'm not sure if the pivot will let you adjust the screen by milimeters. Bah, whatever, I'll probably won't notice anyway.
My mind is now pretty much set on this beauty, even tho it's reponse time might be a little better.

J. Sparrow · Post by **J. Sparrow** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 5:53 am

kater wrote:"leaning" - I mean locate the bottom left corner of the screen as you sit facing it. Now pull it down with your fingers.

The whole screen would rotate a little because of the pivot. You have to pull it down by putting your fingers on both the lower corners if you want it to stay parallel to the desk.

Even if the desk was not parallel to the ground, you could have a horizontal screen because of the pivoting panel