Samsung215tw

[WaTaGuMp]

Ok thought I would chime in with a small review of this new LCD to hit the market. First let me say this is my 2nd LCD but within only a months time. I took back my 204b which I felt for the money could of been slightly better. It had a very poor viewing angle and well even though it was minor it annoyed me.

So today after having 2 days left on my 30 day to keep or take back I decided for the 20 bucks more it was well worth the money. I decided why not ,21" widescreen with the same res as a 20" and better contrast ratio and better viewing angles. I made the RIGHT move, this monitor is far better then the 204 is about every way. The vieiwing angle doesnt suffer the same move up and down a bit and the images changes like the 204b did.

The 8ms response time is grt for gaming and like the 204b the colors are nice, text is clear and overall image quality is pretty good. Now to the few bad things NO cable management on this model but it does offer height , and swivel adjustments as does the 204b. The backlight bleeding on this model is there as it was on the 204b BUT this one has it in all 4 corners yet is it FAR less bright then the 204b was. My 204b had it alond the entire length of the top and bottom of the screen and it was alot more noticeable then this one even though this has it in the corners. You kinda notice an X pattern like some people have seen with other brands.

In the end like I stated above I feel this is a MUCH better monitor then the 204b. Those of you who want a good WS monitor and yet stay in the 550 price range then this is one to take a look at. Both WoW and Unreal 2 are games I did some minor testing with and both perform very nicely. I feel if your gonna go in the 20 or 21" WS market over the bigger ones, there is no reason to not try this monitor. You get to run the same res as the 20" BUT you get more real estate for your dollar over 20" models.

if anyone needs more info please feel free to ask, also if anyone else got one of these already chime in lets see if we are on the same page for this monitor.

 

[n7]

Pics?

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Originally posted by: n7
Pics?

WoW


Here is one from IF in Wow I will take some more later, still messing with it and gettingnuse to the wider screen.


Added a couple more. last was resized a bit for hosting size limit.


WoW2



WoW3

 

[darkswordsman17]

I think he meant pics of the monitor, not screen captures from games (as that won't show us anything about how good the monitor is, just what those games look at that resolution).

Nice little review.

Hmm, sounds like a decent monitor that might be worth looking at. I might check it out if I don't like the Gateway.

 

[xtknight]

Do you think that the 215TW's response time is inferior to the 204B? In dark colors/midtones?

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Originally posted by: darkswordsman17
I think he meant pics of the monitor, not screen captures from games (as that won't show us anything about how good the monitor is, just what those games look at that resolution).

Nice little review.

Hmm, sounds like a decent monitor that might be worth looking at. I might check it out if I don't like the Gateway.

You may be correct, I dont have a digital camera to take pics and since its so new there arent a whole lot of imgaes floating around.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Originally posted by: xtknight
Do you think that the 215TW's response time is inferior to the 204B? In dark colors/midtones?

I still have some testing to do in the area, but as of now I feel the 5ms for the 204b might be inflated. Both seem to be fine on their respective response times.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: WaTaGuMp
I still have some testing to do in the area, but as of now I feel the 5ms for the 204b might be inflated. Both seem to be fine on their respective response times.

Yeah, the 204B definitely has inflated specs from the reviews I've read. My guess is that the 204B would be faster in dark/midtone pixel transitions but inferior in bright color transitions. Does what you see agree with that? Let me know when you get around to it...

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Here is an image of it in silver, they only had black in stock where I got mine from. :frown: Mine is black and its pretty basic looking for WS's with a big speaker across the bottom.



215tw

 

[nydennis]

I like this monitor. I've been looking at it for a few days. I never owned an LCD before so dunno which direction to go in. 8ms response time is nice but I wonder why the new 245 has a lower response time of 6ms. I'd think Samsung would have lowered the response time to at least 6ms. The 214 has 8ms so I figured a 215 would have less.

Samsung has a 19inch coming out that is 2ms.

I may end up buying the 215 in the next few days. I'm just so confused as whats best to do. I guess I can keep waiting and waiting until it is 0MS but then something new will be out lol.

Glad you like it. The backlighting is it noticable all the time or just dark scenes?

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Originally posted by: nydennis
I like this monitor. I've been looking at it for a few days. I never owned an LCD before so dunno which direction to go in. 8ms response time is nice but I wonder why the new 245 has a lower response time of 6ms. I'd think Samsung would have lowered the response time to at least 6ms. The 214 has 8ms so I figured a 215 would have less.

Samsung has a 19inch coming out that is 2ms.

I may end up buying the 215 in the next few days. I'm just so confused as whats best to do. I guess I can keep waiting and waiting until it is 0MS but then something new will be out lol.

Glad you like it. The backlighting is it noticable all the time or just dark scenes?

The backlight bleeding is minimal with some tweaking only really see it when my screensaver is going. I think for the price this is a solid monitor comes with all cables, software and built in speaker, for those rare people that use it. Best buy carries it for people that wanna see it in person.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Originally posted by: xtknight

Originally posted by: WaTaGuMp
I still have some testing to do in the area, but as of now I feel the 5ms for the 204b might be inflated. Both seem to be fine on their respective response times.

Yeah, the 204B definitely has inflated specs from the reviews I've read. My guess is that the 204B would be faster in dark/midtone pixel transitions but inferior in bright color transitions. Does what you see agree with that? Let me know when you get around to it...

It does seem as if the 215 is much better in all aspects IMHO. You have alot more knowledge of LCD's then I do being this is still new technology to me. Right now the difference between these 2 seems like night and day to my newbish LCDism, but I wanted to help people in case they are looking in the 21" WS direction. More on the backlight issues I feel that gaming it is so minimal and in the locations it does appear that you dont even notice it gaming. The only thing that might make what I say innacurate is the fact that WoW doesnt have alot of darks areas to get the full info on compared to Doom3 which I removed already and have no test bed there.

 

[evenmore1]

:thumbsup:

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Bah found a dead pixel but since its on white backgrounds its hardly noticeable.

 

[nydennis]

Thats why I'm buying it at bestbuy. If I get a dead pixel. I'm taking it back and just saying I don't like it or whatever to get another one. I know some are acceptable but I am paying my hard earned money and I expect it to be perfect. Maybe I'm asking for too much but still.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Originally posted by: nydennis
Thats why I'm buying it at bestbuy. If I get a dead pixel. I'm taking it back and just saying I don't like it or whatever to get another one. I know some are acceptable but I am paying my hard earned money and I expect it to be perfect. Maybe I'm asking for too much but still.

No I agree with you, the 204b I took the 1st one back cause of uneven borders along the edges, the 2nd one was better but still didnt feel it was good for the price you pay. Thats just another thing I didnt like about the 204 it felt cheap even tho it wasnt cheap. This one walks all over thr 204 and leaves huge dents on its forehead.

 

[nydennis]

Went to buy it but stupid bestbuy doesn't have it in stock at any of the locations near me. It looks nice on display

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Originally posted by: nydennis
Went to buy it but stupid bestbuy doesn't have it in stock at any of the locations near me. It looks nice on display

Frys carries it if you have them near you.

 

[Ctrackstar126]

Yea I've been using this monitor for about a week and I have to say that I enjoy my desk a whole lot more. Games are very nice on it. Unfortunatly I think I am going to dump it for the dell 20 inch or 24. I want to get a new graphics card so I can run obvlivion better. Needless to say though I will be ordering the dell and when I get this return it so maybe just maybe Ill have some shots of them together.
I also dont see any problems with LCDs i've played ont he 19ws proview from Wal-mart and didnt see any problems. So for me to drop down to the dell isnt going to hurt me much but someone who complains about the usual LCD problems(backlight, response, etc) will definetly benifit from this monitor.

Oblivion is going to end up costing me a lot

 

[nydennis]

I was waiting for the new 2407 to hit the streets. I don't know if it's a 6-bit or 8-bit though. I thought that one article mentioned dell dropping from 8 to 6 but that was not the US market and they were wondering if Dell was going to release an 8 bit one here instead.

Either way I have to wait what appears 1-2 weeks to get the Samsung. I'm hoping hte dell is out so I can compare.

There is also a 931BF that I saw a picture of. I guess it was at the CES 2006 or whatever and it had a 2ms. If that was out I'd probably break down and get that although I really wanted a 21 or 24 wide.

Dunno its really all a matter of whats in stock first.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Originally posted by: Ctrackstar126
Yea I've been using this monitor for about a week and I have to say that I enjoy my desk a whole lot more. Games are very nice on it. Unfortunatly I think I am going to dump it for the dell 20 inch or 24. I want to get a new graphics card so I can run obvlivion better. Needless to say though I will be ordering the dell and when I get this return it so maybe just maybe Ill have some shots of them together.
I also dont see any problems with LCDs i've played ont he 19ws proview from Wal-mart and didnt see any problems. So for me to drop down to the dell isnt going to hurt me much but someone who complains about the usual LCD problems(backlight, response, etc) will definetly benifit from this monitor.

Oblivion is going to end up costing me a lot

Do you not like the 215tw? I am kinda confused why you would take it back and get the Dell, I can see doing it if your going for the 24" but to get rid of a 21" for a 20" I dont understand. Let me know if there are some things you dont like about it and ill look for the same things if I can, and we can help our fellow ATOT members out in choosing.

 

[Ctrackstar126]

I love the monitor and will probally like it more then the dell the thing is I can get the dell for 200 cheaper. I dont see the problems people have with LCD's so for me to have a higher end monitor isnt really going to do much more for me.
I had the 21 compared to a 19 and it was noticeably different but i dont think jumping down to a 20 inch is going to effect me too much in reality. Like i said its about price point eventually I will get the 24 but because of the demands of oblivion I figure that 200 dollars would best suit upgrading my GPU and processor.

If anyone has a different view of the jump from a 21 to a 20 let me know it isnt a huge deal that I downgrade.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Originally posted by: Ctrackstar126
I love the monitor and will probally like it more then the dell the thing is I can get the dell for 200 cheaper. I dont see the problems people have with LCD's so for me to have a higher end monitor isnt really going to do much more for me.
I had the 21 compared to a 19 and it was noticeably different but i dont think jumping down to a 20 inch is going to effect me too much in reality. Like i said its about price point eventually I will get the 24 but because of the demands of oblivion I figure that 200 dollars would best suit upgrading my GPU and processor.

If anyone has a different view of the jump from a 21 to a 20 let me know it isnt a huge deal that I downgrade.

I see, the reason I got a 21" over a 20 is I came from a 21" CRT recently and wanted to keep the same screen viewing size and the 21" was only like 1/4 inch smaller height wise where as the 20's I believe are a few inches, someone correct me if im wrong on the 20".

 

[Ctrackstar126]

Originally posted by: WaTaGuMp


If anyone has a different view of the jump from a 21 to a 20 let me know it isnt a huge deal that I downgrade.

I see, the reason I got a 21" over a 20 is I came from a 21" CRT recently and wanted to keep the same screen viewing size and the 21" was only like 1/4 inch smaller height wise where as the 20's I believe are a few inches, someone correct me if im wrong on the 20".[/quote]


so what your saying is that hegith wise theres a big difference. Like I said if someone can talk me out of it please do but only if there is a significant difference

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Originally posted by: Ctrackstar126

Originally posted by: WaTaGuMp


If anyone has a different view of the jump from a 21 to a 20 let me know it isnt a huge deal that I downgrade.

I see, the reason I got a 21" over a 20 is I came from a 21" CRT recently and wanted to keep the same screen viewing size and the 21" was only like 1/4 inch smaller height wise where as the 20's I believe are a few inches, someone correct me if im wrong on the 20".

so what your saying is that hegith wise theres a big difference. Like I said if someone can talk me out of it please do but only if there is a significant difference [/quote]


Only you can decide if its significant, I would suggest looking at a 20" side by side to a 21" and see if it makes a difference for you. its the reason I got a 20" non WS in the 1st place cause the 20" Ws felt like i was giving up screen size since it was smaller height wise.