Micron 2100EX/ Samsung Syncmaster 1100P 21" monitor: $380 (deal over)

[Gearbox]

I got in on the end of this deal and received mine on Thursday. I was expecting .26mm dot pitch but manual states .21mm(H)/.14(V) with max resolution of 1800x1440. Never though I could swing a monitor this big for Home use, so much Hart felt thanks to "dcdomain" for posting.

UPS tried very hard to destroy. Box looked ok and was still seaded with the factory tape but when I opened box the styrafoam had exploded. Both of the one-piece foam packing blocks were in several pieces with little atoms of styrafoam sticking to everything. My Hart stopped when I looked inside the box, but when I tried the monitor everything seems to work fine.

My only concern is hot smell after monitor warmed up. Did anyone else notice a faint oder the first couple of times they used their's?

It's very faint and seems to be getting better, so I was not sure if just because it is new (or possibly small piece of foam ended inside). Ordered mine over the phone from Nick and was also told 15 day return with 1 year Samsung warranty thru Micron. Also used Visa card which should extend a factory warranty for additional year.

Thanks for info

 

[visionmaster]

Yes I had same problem but it gets better. I have a question though
-- My colors seem to be a little wahed out. I have Matrox Millennium G200 AGP 8mb card. I used to get very vibrant colors with Mag Inovision DX700T monitor at 1024X768 resolution. I am using 1280x1024 resolution at 85 HZ. Can any body throw some light on this or point to some other group. Is it due to my video card
having less memory. I tried all the color settings namely -high color (16 bit), true color (24 bit) and true color (32bit).

Thanks.

 

[340mopar]

I use the KDS AV195T, ADI 6P, and a 3 year old 17" gateway
(still a nice one yet), and this Micron is the best.
Works great, no shipping damage thank God.
Using with a CLAP card. 1280x1024 at 85, Great DEAL.
Have to take digital cam pics at 1600x1200 now
Geo.

 

[colinm]

AAAAHHH!!!! I want this monitor!!! This ws posted quite a while back. I just now saw it. On the website, the price is stated at like ~$700. Is this the current price or am I missing something? Do I have to call to get that price?

Thanks,
Colin

 

[slackinormackin]

mr bigglesworth, i have the 955df 19" and am not incredibly satisified with it. Its a good monitor for the price but if i had the money id get a trintron tube.

no comment on the 21" but i would never go back to a curved screen. i have a 27" wega tv too. flats the way to go

 

[Skooch]

Wik, don't ask me how exactly how I did it, but I did a fresh install of Win2k a couple of days ago and could not get anything but a plug and play monitor....until today when I was messing around with Detonator drivers. I updated the 6.50 driver to 7.52, I was having problems with 7.52 in EQ, so I uninstalled the driver using the "uninstall" button in display properties, rebooted, and used "specifiy location" to revert back to the 6.50 driver. I was in complete shock when my monitor appeared as a Micron 2100EX in display properties!?! I did not install any additional *.inf monitor files, and I dug around and could not find any Micron drivers, so obviously the Micron 2100EX *inf file is hidden in Win2k somewhere.

EDIT I believe what is happening, is that there is an *.inf file that the 2100EX is compatible with besides the Samsung 1100pp, whatever it is allows me to obtain 85hz in most resolutions, including 1600X1200, which is a high enough refresh rate for my purposes. Just wish I knew which *.inf file it's using.

 

[Wik]

Well it seems that I can now go higher also. When I first installed the monitor it would always revert back to 60hz after setting the Res to 1280 x 1024. I could bump it up to 85 but I would just go back to 60. Now it seems to work fine. It still shows as a default monitor though

 

[tryanasaurus]

Got my monitor monday and I am very pleased with it. Thanks for the post. Nvidia and Win2k have a problem with refresh rates. There is a fix for it. I'll see if I can dig it up.

 

[Skooch]

Here's how to force an Win2kSP1 to use the Samsung 1100p+ monitor *.inf for this monitor:
1) Go to device manager and select whatever monitor is listed there
2) Select the driver tab, and select the update driver button
3) Click next, and select "Display a list of known drivers for this device so I can choose a
specific driver"
4) Browse to whichever directory you downloaded the Samsung 1100p+ *.inf file to, and click
next till the driver is installed.

This *.inf allows me to obtain the same higher refresh rate options in Win2k that I had in Win98. See Raycer's post above to download the same *.inf file package that I used that's listed under the Win98 column I used for installation.

 

[st63z]

OK, this is what I know, someone correct me if wrong. When using the D-Sub connection yo don't need an .INF profile file as the monitor will interactively communicate with the PC about its capabilities. In this case, Windows will be using the standard "Plug and Play Monitor" driver, BUT the name of the monitor listed under Device Manager will actually be the name communicated by the monitor itself (in this case, the monitor is programmed with the name "Micron 2100Ex&quot. But if you try to update the monitor driver in Windows, you will see that it is in fact using the "Plug and Play Monitor" driver.

But I don't think the "Default Monitor" driver is the correct one (this is what Windows loads by default it it doesn't detect a Plug and Play monitor that can tell the system of its capabilities, and if you don't tell Windows to use a specific .INF profile). For example, this is what you'd get if you use the BNC connection (and like I said, if you don't load a specific .INF).

But one thing I'm not sure about is whether this Micron 2100Ex is an EXACT OEM of the Samsung 1100P+ model. For example, when using the Samsung 1100P+ .INF (since I'm using BNC), it also loads the ICC color management profile for that monitor (sm1100pp.icm). Is this identical to the actual color characteristics profile of the Micron 2100Ex also?

Another thing I'm curious about is whether the BNC connection offers any real quality benefits these days. I'd thought that it did offer an improvement back in the old days when monitor connector and cabling technology wasn't as good as today (shielding, crosstalk, attenuation, etc) so for the higher resolutions this would indeed improve quality, but that today this is a moot issue (at least for just 1600x1200)...? The reason I'm using the BNC with my desktop PC is so I can still use the D-Sub to easily connect the monitor to a laptop (or another computer).

 

[dcdomain]

Finally posting again in this thread,

st63z this micron is not the same monitor as the 1100p+. It is identical (as far as I know) to the regular non-plus 1100p version.

 

[nongnoan]

Overall, this monitor is good. But it really annoys me when I set high refresh rate. i.e, 1024x768 @ 85 Hz. Every times, I use text editor (like word), or excel. It makes very high pitch noise. I think it came from behind monitor panel. I don't know if it usual. Does anyone notice this too? Seem like the higher refresh rate, the louder it sounds. I use TNT2 M 64 card.

 

[st63z]

Nong, I think maybe there's something wrong with either your monitor or the signal configuration your video card's sending out. And why are you running it at only 1024x768 anyway? Unless you're talking about when playing 3D games I usually like my desktop at 1600x1200, but set to Large Fonts setting (125% normal size)...

DC, people were speculating before that the Micron 2100Ex is a custom OEM with capabilities somewhere between the Samsung 1100P and 1100P+. This from the specs given on the Micron sales page. But from reading the actual bundled manual, it seems to me it's actually a lot more similar to the 1100P+ if not exactly the same. But then again I'm comparing the Samsung specs from memory -- can anyone confirm if there's ANYTHING that's different from the 1100P+? IIRC, dot clock/video bandwidth's the same, max res/refresh's the same...

 

[moonkat]

Final comments on similarity/comparability of Micron 2100ex and Samsung 1100p+:

These two monitors are near identical with regard to apparent specs; max res & refresh - 1800 x 1440 @ 75hz, and size - 21". I am sure you can delve into the specs to find inequalities, but for practical purposes they are comparable.

Interesting emperical info I have discovered is that my Micron 2100ex will operate with the software from my Samsung monitor. I purchased a 950p recently and the retail Samsung came with software drivers for many of their monitors including the 1100p and 1100pp. I installed the 1100pp driver with no difficulty. Also, Samsung has "Colorific" software which adds features to the display settings. Very nice.

Read about the software here:
http://www.colorific.com/

 

[Wik]

I can't seem to find Win2K drivers for the Samsung monitors. Can someone send me some if you find them or show me where to get them. I finally was able to get mine to run at 85hz but still would like to try the samsung drivers.