Still Pretty, But Something's Missing...
Written: Oct 08 '03 (Updated Oct 08 '03)
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Pros: Good price, excellent picture.
Cons: No height adjustment, no DVI.
The Bottom Line: This is an excellent baseline flat panel LCD, with very little in the way of frills or frippery.
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| caradoc's Full Review: Samsung SyncMasterâ„¢ 172 N 17 inch LCD Monitor |
My Samsung 171S required replacement recently due to some misfortune, and since I'd been happy with Samsung I wanted to get another one. It certainly wasn't the monitor's fault or Samsung's that I needed to replace it!
Unfortunately, I couldn't find another 171S for sale, and I had to go with the "upgrade" to it, the Samsung Syncmaster 172N.
With a very similar set of features, the 172N is an adequate replacement for the 171S. The menu system for configuring the monitor is about the same, but there are some very striking differences between the two models.
Where the 171S had a fair-sized silver bezel around the edge of the screen (which would have looked rather nice next to my Power Macintosh Dual G5), the 172N has a "barely-there" half-inch black bezel. It's a very clean-looking design, and puts the tiny control buttons along the bottom edge of the screen.
Like the 171S, the 172N integrates the "power brick" into the monitor itself. There's no large block sitting on the outlet, or halfway down the cord - the power cord itself is a standard three-pin computer-style power cable.
Also like the 171S, the 172N has the four holes in the back to attach a VESA-standard monitor arm or wall-mount bracket. For various reasons, I'm considering a through-desk monitor arm, which would let me adjust the monitor's height, among other things.
Therein lies the biggest difference (I think) between the 171S and the 172N - the 171S had a height adjustment built into the included base, while the 172N does not. The base is simply a piece of molded plastic with a "lazy susan" turntable on the bottom of it, and a bracket at the top that lets you adjust the angle. No adjustments for height at all!
Other than that, both the 171S and 172N do 1280x1024 at 75Hz, both support millions of colors, both have three-year warranties on their backlights, both use an HD-15 VGA connector (not a DVI!) and both autoconfigure themselves from a menu selection. It seems like they're the same monitor in slightly different plastics.
Oh - I almost forgot - the 172N is going for a little over half of what I paid new for the 171S... so it's a good deal despite the lack of height adjustment.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 400
Operating System: Windows and Macintosh
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Epinions.com ID:
caradoc
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Member: John Groseclose
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Reviews written: 182
Trusted by: 133 members
About Me:
System admin, technology addict, knife thrower, and dog "caregiver."
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