Originally posted by: spaceman101
Hello,
I am considering a purchase of a 24" LCD monitor and have been looking at both Samsung and Dell models. What are the best options in both brands? I had considered a 30" bit the resolution on those combined with price make those just a little too much right now. So for now.....24" LCD. Which model should I look at?
thanks in advance.
When I replaced my 2 old CRTs I happened to get a 24" Samsung SyncMaster 2493HM & 24" Dell 2408WFP, which most people seem to think is the best out there.
The Dell was $350 because it was refurbished. I got the Samsung new for $400 because there was no Refurb A Dell available.
Much to my surprise I am liking the Samsung much more than the Dell. The biggest reasons have not to do with the screen itself but with the stand, so if you are planning to use it for landscape mode only this may not apply to you.
The stand on the Dell is
terrible. The triangular shape of the base consumes a lot more desk space than the Samsung, in fact, it isn't really saving much desk space over my old 19" CRT which was capable of far higher resolution. The maximum height you can bring the monitor to with the Dell stand is lower than I would like, about 4-5" lower than I am using the Samsung at. Because of the limited height from the Dell stand, in order to rotate the screen between portrait and landscape modes, you must first tilt it backwards, otherwise it will hit against both the legs of the stand and your desk. Also, the height of the Dell doesn't lock in place very well, it likes to fall under it's own weight, so you kind of need something under it holding it up.
The biggest problem I have with the Samsung is the controls. Instead of real buttons it has a perfectly smooth touch sensitive area in the bottom right corner of the frame for adjusting brightness, contrast, white balance, switching inputs, and even the power "button" works this way, with no tactile feedback whatsoever. The labeling of the "buttons" in this area is small and difficult to read especially with the light from the monitor making the frame appear darker in contrast. Even if you shine a flashlight on it so you can at least see it, it is not easy to use. Fortunately, the driver CD comes with an application for adjusting the monitor settings through the HDMI or DVI signal.
Now that I'm done with my big pet peeves about the 2 monitors, on to a consolidated list of pros/cons about the 2 monitors:
Dell 2408WFP pros:
[*]4 port USB hub & memory card reader
[*]Much larger brightness/contrast range (although I have both monitors set to very low brightness; the levels the LCDs go up to are crazy for indoors IMO, especially the Dell, which I think would be quite usable outdoors with the sun reflecting off of it).
[*]Better controls -
real buttons
[*]Larger range of brightness/contrast settings
[*]Much larger variety of inputs
[*]Decent analog VGA support. I have both monitors hooked to both of my computers, the older PC has 1 DVI out & 1 VGA out. If I hook the VGA out to the Samsung there is a lot of noise in the picture.
Samsung 2493HM pros:
[*]
Much better stand that has a pin to lock it in place, can be set high enough to easily rotate the screen, and takes less than half as much desk space. Even comes with software to auto-detect the rotation (although this only works in 16 bit color and who uses that?)
[*]Uses less than half the power of the Dell on default settings, as measured by my APC UPS. In fact, if I crank up the brightness on the Dell, it uses more power than either of my old CRTs. After darkening both monitors, the power usage is closer, about 15W more used by the Dell.
[*]Allows HDCP on the DVI input, not just on the HDMI input. The DVI connectors stay much more securely than HDMI connectors, especially since both monitors have the cables coming in from the bottom in landscape mode -- the HDMI cable on the Dell slips enough I have to push it in again every 2 weeks or so from gravity.
[*]Speakers and audio in/out jacks. I have external speakers and headphones connected, its more convenient to get to the audio jack on the monitor than on the back of the computer.