Monitor Reviews

too big or not too big, that is the question:

I really have not much to say, other than its a very nice monitor. You have 2 on/off switches.

One in the back on the rightside..if your facing the front of the screen..thats the master switch...or you can just "hybernate" ur monitor by pressing the button on the front right of the screen.

THe screen does get quite warm...so..if I'm listening to music..and not needing the screen..I press the front button.

I only use the back switch for safety..unplugging...thunderstorms...whatever.

THe slide back to hide the cords is a nice feature too.

This stand looks good, but it does not work for me. The minimum height added is 5.5 inches, which is too high for my monitor. I only need about 2-3 inches in height to get my monitor at a more ergonomic level. I went with the much cheaper Fellows standard monitor stand, which is adjustable and has a maximum height of around 4.5 inches.

My 17 inch Mac Powerbook does not fit underneath this Targus stand. My laptop is around 15.5 inches wide, which is approximately one inch too wide for this stand.

If the height is appropriate for you and you have a 15 inch laptop, then this would be a good monitor stand.

I bought this laptop stand when I found out that my laptop could drive dual screens so I could have different items on the two screens and drag stuff between them. So now I have the center of the screens at the same height, side-by-side. It is really nice to have twice the screen real-estate.

I figured that mostly I would put background stuff on the laptop screen (like email) and use my big hi-resolution screen for what I was activly working on. But, now that the laptop screen is up at eye level, I tend to use it just as often as the big monitor! It turns out that my dislike of the laptop screen had more to do with having to look down at it, even though I was not aware of that until I got it raised.

I use my notebook computer the way most people use a desktop computer - constantly and in one location. I already deal with neck and back isues, and the additional strain and pain I was experiencing, especially in my neck, led me to try this product. It is perfect and does exactly what it says it does: it raises my notebook to eye level, and the middle shelf is a great little storage area for pens, etc. The bottom shelf holds my keyboard, although, since it is a deeper curved keyboard, the fit is not as good as it could be; however, it still does the job adequately. This a great value!

I've had a few digital cameras and was getting a camera for my daughter.
I picked up the PDC 5080 for the price ($119) which I thought was affordable enough for my budget, but not so cheap as to be in the poor-quality range.
I was sadly mistaken.
I'm not a professional photographer, just a regular end-user taking pictures for personal use and am not a finicky consumer.
I'll give a product a chance and not nit-pick about minor things.
But when it comes to a camera, the color and quality of the pictures are kind of what it's all about.
On the "pro" side of the camera, it is very easy to use, takes lots of pictures and video without draining the 2 AA batteries too fast, the video capture had good sound quality and (like most cameras these days) you can just drag and drop the files to your computer and don't need any special software.
However...
The delay when taking a picture was so incredibly long - 4-5 seconds, at minimum. I haven't ever used a digital camera that took so long to save a file. 4-5 seconds may not sound like a long time, but when you're taking pictures it seems like forever. Especially if you need to take several pictures quickly.
But, the biggest issue with the PDC 5080 was the picture quality. It was just awful - blurry and horrible color. I did find that if I didn't use the zoom or didn't shoot up close I could get some pics that were not blurry. But I felt that being able to shoot up close and being able to zoom were both rather important.
I tried indoor & outdoor, with & without flash, but none came out with true colors. I took a pic of our building with trees in front and blue sky & clouds in the background and it came out with the colors of the building & trees faded and the sky was all white, as if it were completely overcast - not a hint of blue showed up in the pic whatsoever and you couldn't see any clouds.
I tried adjusting the exposure, ISO, etc. but nothing could get a true-life color to come out.
So - off to the store to return the Polaroid and pick up an Olympus.

I purchased the PDC 5080 because I was looking for an affordable 5 megapixel camera. When I received the camera within 2 hours I discovered the microphone for the video feature did not work, the flash whited out everything unless I took a picture in pitch black conditions and the camera completely froze (i.e. could not take/view pictures, turn on or off, nor see anything in the lcd screen) twice. I contacted Polaroid and Computer Geeks (the company from which the camera came) by e-mail 4 days ago and neither contacted me. I had to call Computer Geeks and set up a return which went smoothly. So all in all, great price but far from a good deal.

I bought this camera despite the review that the other customer wrote saying hers was defective. The one I received from Ceylan Electronics works just fine and the pictures look just as good as ones on my brothers more expensive camera. I am very pleased with my purchase at this great price. Paul

This is not what the picture shows. The picture is for the IceStation that allows you to prop your laptop up so that the screen is at usual desktop-monitor height. The product described, however, is for a monitor/iMac stand with retractable keyboard tray.
(The star rating I give is irrelevant; I had to put it in to submit this comment.)

Sure its a more expensive product, compared to other comparable, or supposedly comparable products, however, you get what you pay for. In this era of mass everything and relatively shoddy quality it is good to see that Samsung, at least from my experience, walks the talk in product quality.

Very good viewing, very good set up, no problems, no drama, ahhhhhh, the price of luxury i guess!

I just bought the 940MW and it is great. The remote is convenient and the TV picture, while not perfect, is acceptable. I'm sure that with HD hooked up it would be better. The computer source yields a crystal clear picture with no ghosting in motion. I enjoy the PIP function which allows me to watch the news while I am working. The only thing that I would change is that I would add a tilt capability, but this is minor. I am moving to the UK soon and I am especially excited that this tuner will work in just about any country with any TV protocol.

I bought the Samsung SyncMaster 940mw a couple of days ago, wanting to upgrade an older 17in Samsung LCD. My desktop is a Gateway GT5028 with AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual 3800+ and 1536 MB ram.

When I unpacked the monitor the quality was apparent, and the silver and black matches the silver and black color scheme of the Gateway. The 19 inch screen gives me plenty of work space and even though 1440x900 is a bit odd (same as 17in iMac) my Gateway video card had no problem with it.

The colors are vibrant, the screen is bright, no dead pixels and the text is clear and easy to read... The monitor comes with a few presets like, internet, text, and entertainment... And a custom setting that's easy to set up and allows you to change the monitor's setting to your liking. Watching a DVDs is a satisfying experience on the 19 in wide monitor and the sound from the built in speakers are better than I expected (even has a Dolby setting).

The TV tuner is a real plus... I don't have cable TV or HBO... I have an antenna on the roof, but the 940mw has an input, so I bought a splitter... One antenna cable goes to the my TV and one to the monitor. Picture in Picture (PIP) is great... I webmaster a few web sites and spend hours a day on the Internet... With PIP I can watch the local news or PBS and work on my web sites, check email and surf. Picture quality in PIP mode is really good, even with an antenna on the roof, and with the touch of the source button I can go full screen. In full screen mode the picture is good, but not great... I'm thinking with cable or satellite the full screen picture would be a lot better.

A thought on having the TV tuner in the monitor and not in the computer, it has no impact on the OS or memory... Downside, you can't record and save for later.

I'm happy I went with a monitor/tv combination... For the price ($399 @ BestBuy) I got a great monitor and a good TV... I have more work space and a whole lot of media connection options for the same price as good 19 in monitor without a TV tuner... Thank you Samsung.

I have been contemplating whether to buy a decked-out 19-20" LCD or the Samsung LCD TVs that the XBOX booths are using for the last 2-3 months.

Came across this Ferrari monitor, and since I have been looking at the Samsung 23 and 26 inch TVs, my price sensitivity has been inflated and felt dropping ~$550-600 for a 20inch LCD was acceptable.

Given that I wanted a dual functioning LCD and TV, the Ferrari really appealed to me. I was about to order it, but I'm glad I poked around on A9 for more reviews.

- This monitor, according to many review sites, (and many from other continents), HAS a TV tuner built in. This is great since I would've been able to plug in my DVD player, etc, and living in a 400 sq ft apt, it's ideal for me.

- But the REALITY = North America models DOES NOT have the TV inputs built in. Why the reason Acer removed them, I do not know. It's a shame, because I was this close to buying it. Looks very attractive, regardless, but without the TV functionality, $570-$600 is too much to drop just for a nice chassis, paint job, and the Ferrari emblem.

I'm going for the Samsung instead sometime soon.

Acer America - you should do more market R&D first before deciding to pull the TV tuner/input feature.

I had been thinking a lot about changing my CRT montior to LCD monitor. I was waiting for lower pricess, faster respons time & wide screen monitor. I was keeping my eye on Samsung, Benq & Acer. Last week, I visited JAREER Bookstoor in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) I found this LCD. It really impressed me with the disign, the specs & the price. So, I could not wait anylonger & I got it. I will provide my comments about the disadvantages only because the advantages you may get it from the product specs. My comments are as follow:
1- Doesn't have direct Elictrical connectivity (you need Adapter which is comming with the package)
2- It is really very difficult to connect the the power Cable & the regular (VGA) PC connection.
3- Not perfect quality of picture if you use the VGA Connection while the DVI Connection is perfect.
4- No flixpility to turn the monitor right or left because it is fixed.
5- hight cannot be adjusted.

Some of you may ask how did I gave 4/5 while having the mentioned disadvantages. Then I would say that this LCD monitor have many feature in one piece. It has TV tuner, Composite inputs, DVI Input, SCART Input, Nice Speekers. In addition, it comes with a remote control. The screen quality is very high & the side view is very sharp & clear. In conclusion this master piece has every thing you need. One last note, I purchased this monitor with a higher price than what you can get in the states. It costs me about 640$ so you should be gratefull that the pricess in the states much lower.

Regards,
Abdulrahman
Saudi Arabia - Riyadh