It's flat!...Eric! (Samsung Syncmaster 570B)

Member Name: Alfo

Product:	Samsung Syncmaster 570B
Date:	03/02/01 (1398 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Looks great, Rotating screen, Small footprint

Disadvantages: Cost, Takes a while to get it just right...

Welcome to the world of tomorrow...

...well almost. TFT screens always look really futuristic, and I guess compared to the
standard CRT monitors they are, but they are fast becoming a more affordable option,
gone are the days of the cheapest TFT's costing around £800, now you can pick one up for under £500.
About the same price as a high quality 19" or 21" standard monitor!

So I've decided to buy one, forced into the fact that my 19" monitor was really just TOO big now, it was cool to have a big monitor, but space is now at a premium. This coupled with the fact that I got the Samsung at a steal, was just something I had to do.

I paid £450 for the Samsung 570B TFT, it was brand new, and was reduced from £799, virtually half price!

So what's it like...

I love it! Being used to a 19 incher I was wondering if this was just going to be a bit too
small (the Samsung by the way is only a 15", more on that in a minute!), however after plugging it in and using it for 10 minutes, all my worries evaporated. It actually doesn't seem that small, and to be honest a 15" TFT display is like having a 17" CRT monitor.

Setting it up was relatively easy, plug in power and monitor cable and you're away. I didn't even have to load the driver discs for it to work, but I recommend you do, the software contains lots of extra little things that help you get the most from your display. For example a special colour matching program called "colourific", lets you know if what you're seeing on screen is actually the correct colour and it helps match up colours when you're printing too, so what you see on screen is what you get on the page. It also comes with something called Winportrait, which I'll go into in a moment.

The Samsung itself is finished in silver with a black base and buttons, and really does look good. The buttons on the front con
trol power, and the usual on-screen menu options. In fact it took me a while to get the colour match right on screen, it always just looked too bright, then I noticed the "auto", button, I pushed it and all was well the picture changed to a really sharp, perfect colour, brightness and contrast image. A very handy button, just wish I had read the instructions first!

Now the Samsung has one feature which is really neat, the display itself rotates, so if you are writing a letter or editing a picture, you can simply turn the screen 90 degrees and have a "portrait" display, rather than a "landscape" one. This is what the Winportrait software does, just a click of the mouse and the display changes to match the orientation of the screen. I know other TFT's do it but not at this price - a superb feature.

I've been using it about a week now, and I have to say I'm not missing my 19" monitor. I do a lot of letter writing, text is very clear and sharp. I also do a lot of image editing and the colours and sharpness are easily comparable to my CRT monitor. I don't play games on my PC, (that's what God invented Playstations for..), but I have to say it's the only things TFT's aren't much good at, fast moving images,
lose a little bit of clarity and become blurry.

A tip for anyone thinking of buying a TFT, if the store you buy from sells an extended warranty BUY IT! TFT displays are NOT repairable, if it goes that's it, and it only takes a minute amount of damage (i.e. - a pin prick) to render a screen useless. I paid £50 for a 3year warranty that includes accidental damage; if they can't repair it they have to get me a new one!

The world may not be flat, but the future definitely is.....

Summary: