Personally, buying an LCD is incredibly difficult. Where people that only use the computer to either browse the internet, or to update their iPod, monitor choice doesn’t completely matter. For people who use their computer for a gaming tool, or they need the type of monitor that is going to replicate colours perfectly, the monitor means everything. I’ve always found it difficult to choose between different monitors, and searching for a review on a specific model generally pushed me over to buy that monitor. What I bring today, is my opinion (or a review) of the Samsung 215TW.

Whether you’re an avid WoW gamer, the basic internet user, or dabble in a little of the arts, the monitor plays a important role in all of this. For the past two weeks I had been searching, comparing, and debating on my next type of monitor. I, for one, am a fan of a dual monitor setup. whereby I’m using my secondary monitor for things I keep open constantly (MSN, Foobar) and my primary monitor is just that, primary. Considering this was going to be my second LCD, I had to choose carefully as not to pick something that I wasn’t going to be happy with, I also knew that I wasn’t going to go any smaller than my current 19″. With that, I had two monitors in mind, the Samsung 913C or the Samsung 215TW.

Samsung 913C

2000:1 contrast ratio, 2ms (Grey-to-grey) response time, 16.2 million colours (6bit panel), 19″ LCD

Samsung 215TW

1000:1 contrast ratio, 8ms (Grey-to-grey) response time, 16.7 million colours (8bit panel), 21″ Widescreen LCD, Component & composite input, and the ability to pivot.

At this point, I probably would have already been sold on the 215TW, but the only thing that had me worried was the response time and whether the actual response time would be far greater than what it is reported. After a quick search through Google, I had come across a couple of forums where people who did own this monitor were having numerous problems with it. One of the main problems was it’s slow response time (the ultimate killer in most LCDs) which resulted in ghosting in movies and gaming. This was the only thing that brought doubt in my mind, that this monitor was feature packed, yet it’s response time was the downfall of this awesome monitor. Again, after further searching and reading, the slow response time of the monitor was, by large, because of the 8bit panel used by the monitor. The 8bit panel, which allows 16.7 million colours was another reason why I was leaning more towards this monitor than the 19″.

Colour reproduction is one of the other aspects of a monitor I tend to look hard at. I don’t want a monitor that is going to look dull, and washed out as a result of it’s inability to reproduce colours properly. Whether a monitor is able to display certain colours isn’t just restricted to photographers, or people in design, but also if you want to watch a movie. Watching a movie on a monitor where it’s unable to produce even the simplest of colours will degrade the experience completely. I use my computer for watching movies because it’s easier, and because I’m able to lay in bed in the airconditioning and watch them. I wasn’t too worried about the 215TW’s ability to reproduce colours fantastically because it already has 500,000 more colours than the 913C (and my BenQ FP937s+.)

My first impression of the monitor was: “Holy crap.” Even when I went to pick it up from the courier I was excited to say the least. To begin with, I was still a little unsure of how big the monitor was going to be, but once I removed the foam from the box, I was sure I had picked the right monitor. It come with the usual accessories, VGA, DVI, and power cable, and a 3.5mm male-male cable (for the speakers), and a CD of drivers. From the moment I picked it up, the quality of the stand was a lot to be desired, it isn’t flimsy, but it isn’t the most quality build I’ve seen. The 215TW has the ability to extent the height, by removing a pin and sliding the monitor up. Well, this was where I got confused, because I wasn’t sure whether the pin was holding the monitor in a certain place, and whether you needed to keep that pin in. Unfortunately, monitors generally don’t come with instruction booklets and the only information I was given about the pin was “remove to change height.” After being a little “violent” with the pin, it had come out and the monitor moved fairly freely on the stand. When I say “fairly”, I mean it takes a little bit to move it up, and the only way to bring the monitor back down to it’s original position, is to bring it all the way to the top and slide it back down again. Even when I’m moving it while it’s sitting on my desk, it’s a little awkward.

Plugging it in and turning it on was no hassle, as the ports are incredibly accessible, and it helps that you can pivot the monitor 90° to gain even better access to the ports underneath. From the moment that it was turned on, I was amazed, the brightness (although it was set to 100) was incredible compared to my BenQ sitting right next to it, and the colour was immaculate. I spent a good half an hour in front of the monitor before I realised that it didn’t have one dead pixel. Not one. Watching a DVD on it was incredible, and what had me impressed further, was HDTV shows (Heroes) displayed full screen. Full 16:10 display, without black bars and everything. Suffice to say, I’m glad I bought this monitor. I was not only impressed by the colours, but also because I had more estate that I could play with. In other words, I could display more on the one monitor, than I could before. I was impressed, thoroughly impressed.

I moved on from movies, to test it’s response time, and so far, I have yet to be let down by this monitor. I played a quick game of Counterstrike: Source with no ghosting or lag at all. Is it possible that I’m using to gaming on an LCD? Of course. Did I notice the different between the two monitors? Not in the slightest.

As of this moment, I’m incredibly glad that I had spent the extra money on getting the 215TW, and I doubt I could go back to anything smaller than a 21″ from now on. Considering the Samsung 215TW was almost the exact same price that I had paid for my BenQ FP937s+ two years ago, I’m content. If anyone was contemplating buying this monitor, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this monitor. It’s incredible, and honestly, it’s worth the money.

Do you want to see the rest of the pictures? I’ve posted the hi-res pictures in my gallery.