The silver eyes saver
Written: Mar 01 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Pretty, sharp / crisp screen, Auto adjust button, PC & Mac compatible
Cons: Heavy, Could use more brightness, low refresh rates, difficult to turn side ways
The Bottom Line: Eye problems? No problem! The 150s will save your eye site when you need to work in the office. You'll even get some compliments how it matches to your glasses.
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| janika's Full Review: Samsung 150sTFT 15 inch LCD Monitor |
Hello
This review is concentrating on the Samsung 150s, 15-inch (Active Matrix) flat panel, TFT monitor with 0.29 mm dp. I have been using this monitor for over a year, here in the office. It was purchased for $399- Cdn back in 2003, but now you can find similar flat panel displays for much less. Actually for this price now days you can even get a 17-inch flat panel. Two years of use and still not a single dead pixel! The manufacturer’s warranty is 3 years. The monitor is compatible with all MS Windows operating systems running on an IBM compatible PC. It is also compatible with Apple computers. This monitor is silver in color and the stand is black. It has two cables that must be plugged into it. One is your VGA cable, which connects to your computer, and the other one is the power cable. I highly recommend you plug the power cable into a surge protector and not into the wall directly, nor into the computer. Some older computers have a power outlet for the monitor. Please do not use it for this one.
In the manufacturer’s box you will find the Samsung 150s monitor, power cable, VGA cable and a user’s manual which also includes a the driver CD disk. The package is well protected by holding the inside components tightly with Styrofoam inserts. The box also has a handle, which you can use to carry the box around in your hand. Despite the small size (15-inch) this is a heavy monitor. Weights over 11-Lb.
First impressions
I put the monitor together with ease and the setup was very easy also. I personally never installed the included software, but I highly recommend you do it. Especially when you do graphic editing, in which case you should have the monitor properly calibrated. When you are looking for device drivers on the Internet, please be careful. There is another monitor with the same model number (150s) manufactured by Philips. Make sure you search the Samsung one. It's best if you go directly to samsung.com and download the latest device drivers from there. Once the monitor is on your desk it actually looks bigger than 15-inch. This might be due to the silver frame. On the top right corner there is a small sticker indicating this is an Ecology & Energy compliant device, (TCO 99) At the bottom front of the monitor are 6 buttons you can push. There is a round power switch button at the middle. This is to be used for turning the device on & off. There is no reason why you should ever turn it off, since your computer will turn it off for you at shutdown. Exception when you leave for days, weeks or even longer period. On the left side you see three push buttons. Auto, Exit and Menu switches. At the right side there are two wider push buttons. These are for adjusting brightness and other menu options, once you are in the menu. You can bring up the menu by pressing “Menu” on the left side. Pressing “Exit” will close the menu or any other related bars you may have on the screen. The menu will only work when the monitor is turned on. The “Auto” push button is used for quick adjustments when you want your screen to be displayed in full, with no gaps on the sides. This is very handy and can save you some time you would normally spend on adjusting the screen size. When you press “Auto” there is a yellow bar starts going across in a box and counting numbers until 100. When the bar is at the end, the box will disappear and the screen is adjusted for you promptly.
We have this monitor setup with a custom built PC, running MS Windows Professional. Looking at this screen all day will not place a strain on your eyes. Radiation out of this screen is very little if none existent. At home I have to use my glasses to view my much larger 19-inch CRT monitor. With this one I don’t even need that, because I can see it clearly. The brightness of this monitor however not the best, I find. I have the brightness adjusted all the way to the max, 100% and sometimes it looks like it can use some more. The monitor is not facing a window and never exposed to direct sunlight. This is important when dealing with LCD / TFT displays! You can adjust the viewing panel’s position by turning it vertically. However you cannot adjust the panel side ways. If you want to turn the monitor, you have to turn it with the base. As I’ve mentioned this before, this is not a light device and turning it on a desk is not an easy task. Especially because the rubbery bottom sticks to the table.
The screen resolution is set to 1024x768 pixels, 32-bit color and 75-Hz refresh rate. This is all it can handle. Don’t even try adjusting your refresh rates higher because it won’t work. For this reason I do not recommend this monitor for gaming or for any sort of fast moving graphics or programs. This monitor is strictly for office use. Text, numbers, Internet and maybe some pictures. You will not require a strong video card to display a nice, bright & crisp screen. We have it plugged into a cloned Nvidia MX-440 AGP card. I personally haven’t tried playing a DVD movie on it, but I believe it would play it fine.
Conclusion
I highly recommend this monitor for office use, Internet and people working with databases a lot. The screen displays bright, crisp and colorful lines and pictures. The monitor is very reliable and durable as well. It could use a bit more brightness and maybe a way to turn it side ways if necessary. I do marketing and sales and when I have to show my customers something on the screen, they have to come beside me because turning this monitor is a hassle. The screen is a real 15-inch, corner to corner. Unlike some, or most CRT monitors. Thank you for the visit and ratings.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 310
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
janika
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Location: North America
Reviews written: 33
Trusted by: 7 members
About Me:
A hardware Gürü who likes computers, cars, travel & digital photography.
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