Samsung Syncmaster 930BF 19 Inch Lcd Monitor Black

I was very hesitant about upgrading my 17" CRT monitor to a TFT type, my main discouragement being that many of the TFT's I had seen in various shops always seemed to suffer from a blurring effect and often gave a slightly soft image. I was also very aware of the fact that the TFT on my portable computer had a very narrow angle of view, which was most annoying.

My 17" CRT completely dominated my work space, but gave me an excellent image which I was also very reluctant to give up, however, as time pasted I noticed the good reports that were being given to the Samsung 930BF TFT screen. More time passed, yet I still kept resisting the upgrade process to new technology, as I was still not that convinced I would not just be throwing my money away. More and more reports kept giving the Samsung 930BF TFT excellent reports, and these reports were from people who had actually purchased the monitor, not just from articles in magazines, so I eventually decided to go TFT.

I purchased my monitor from an Internet company. Within minutes of receiving it I had fitted the screw on base, loaded the screen driver, connected the analogue connection cable and plugged in the mains lead. On switching on the monitor it stated to flash a little box on the screen indicating that it was looking to see whether the analogue or digital lead was connected. The monitor has a dual connection facility and is supplied with both connection leads as standard. With the computer powered up it soon found its connection and the normal computer boot-up screen was presented.

Having a graphics card that was capable of running in a dual monitor configuration, I reconnected the TFT to its digital output and my old monitor to the analogue output, such that I could view both monitors simultaneously. I then proceeded to load up several programs that I used on a regular basis, word processor, image manipulation program, etc, to test the screen and observe any differences. I was originally drawn to using my old monitor because that was what I was used too, and initially the TFT was very bright, however, within minutes of turning the brightness down on the TFT I found the experience of using this screen was far superior to that of my old CRT.

Quite frankly, I was so impressed with the new screen after only seeing a couple of images on it and a single word processing document that within ten minutes I had switched my old CRT monitor off. The 4ms scan rate of the TFT, many monitors being 8 or 12ms, had certainly cured any ghosting problems, there were no blank pixels, which had been another one of the reasons I had been so reluctant in upgrading, and the colours and contrast were excellent. In my mind I could not have wanted for a better picture, actually I could not even imagine one.

Over the next few days I became more and more excited with the quality of this monitor, using it in its native 1280 x 1024 mode I found the 19" screen, which was 3" bigger than my old monitor, could display many Windows in a size that made it very easy to go from one to another, without the need of enlarging or reducing them. I thought the images on my old monitor, which was a leading brand, looked sharp, but on this new monitor I was starting to see my pictures in a new light. I saw fine detail where I had previously only seen a different shade of colour, and straight lines where once I had only seen curved lines. Even when viewing moving images I noticed a marked improvement between other TFT's I had seen, yet I had always been blissfully satisfied with my old monitor.

My only negative comment would be in connection with the software disc supplied. From auto-boot it always seemed to be trying to contact the Internet, without success, actually opening up three tab pages in Mozilla Firefox. After closing these pages I was able to search the disc to find the associated software packages, however, I would have expected to have just selected from a menu in this day and age. The software supplied allows one full and easy control of the monitors settings, it also has a selection of buttons which are almost hidden from sight, these allowing one to select pre-set screen settings, for example; to make it easier to use word processing documents, images, spreadsheets, etc.

There has been no compromise on the design aspect of this monitor, its power and space saving design are only further complemented by its actual looks, and it is a pleasure to perceive. The heavy and firmly fitting base also means it stays where you put it, and it is very unlikely to fall over. To save even more space the stand can be removed and the monitor can be fixed directly to a wall, however, this does require the purchase of a special wall bracket.

The fears I had about angle of view, ghosting, colour, sharpness, contrast, dead pixels etc, are all now a distant memory of the past. I am 100% satisfied with this product, which is unusual for me because I normally find something I am not totally happy with, even its buttons have a positive action.

Apart from the increase in size and quality of my new monitor I now also have some desk space from which I can work, and to boot, I also find the whole process of working with my computer a much more pleasurable experience.