A great product with a checkered past. (Samsung Syncmaster 226BW)

Member Name: karimrezaie

Product:	Samsung Syncmaster 226BW
Date:	21/05/09 (24 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Dual Input, good build quality, reliable.

Disadvantages: Historic problems with consistency of product, different LCD manufacture.

This was a must-buy monitor for individuals looking for a high quality, well thought of display without having to pay through the nose. Unfortunately during the first years of production, some LCD manufacture was outsourced to AOC and CMO while some was kept in-house at Samsung. This meant that during those times there were some okay screens and some amazing screens all sold under the same model number and brand.

It is now very difficult to tell which monitors carry which screens (it used to be as simple as looking at the model number of the reverse of the screen) but all of them are of good quality, with S-type (Samsung LCD) being of superior quality.

The actual monitor itself has a very good build quality, attractive design and numerous useful functions such as dual input. I use this feature to connect my PC via DVI and my Xbox using VGA which allows me to bounce between the two displays with one press of the source button on the monitor itself.

As a little annoyance, there's a rather bright blue LED behind the power button, which flashes on and off once all input to the monitor has been cut. It makes it difficult to ignore if you turn off input and try to sleep in the same room as it. Then again, it forces you to take it off standby mode and thus save the planet.

Summary: A very good monitor with a few skeletons and plenty of value for money.

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Installation:
Picture quality: