SAMSUNG S27A850D Matt Black 27" 5ms WQHD LED Backlight Widescreen PLS Panel LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 1000:1

Pros: Very sharp especially for a matte display. Bezel is comparatively small, panel is thin. Height, tilt, rotation adjustments are great: stiff enough to stay put, but adjustments are easy.

My eyes are a little older than when I used to play FPS every day, but when I do game on this monitor, I really enjoy it and don't notice ghosting. There's an adjustment for "Response Time" in the OSD; even on "Normal" (out of Normal, Faster, Fastest), it seems fine to me.

2 DVI and 1 DisplayPort input is nice.

Cons: The Eco settings make things really dim; I tried them but turned them right back off.

Other Thoughts: I use a similar 27" WQHD display at work but prefer this one, so I bought two for use at home.

There's a side-by-side mode (two sources at once on the display) but it's not useful for me.

I got red sparkles before I really cranked the DVI connectors down tight at both ends.

Pros: Perfect non-glare coating. Text is very sharp.

Cons: Won't auto-wake from sleep: have to push power button on and off.
Not perfect consistency based on viewing angle.
Light bleed from corners.

Other Thoughts: The box says this is a "business monitor," and for normal every-day computing purposes such as reading and editing Word documents, viewing Excel spreadsheets, surfing the quality of this monitor is incredible and blows away the cheap piece of junk on my desk at work. If anything, my complaint is that the monitor is TOO BIG for mere web surfing.

Even though it's a large monitor, it's very thin, much thinner than the Samsung 214T which its replacing. And you can adjust the monitor any-which-way as far as height or angle. The integrated USB 3.0 hub is actually very convenient if you're going to use the monitor to dock a notebook computer. And the displayport input works great with my MacBook Air.

But remember, even though it's a pretty expensive monitor, it's only an entry-level 2560 x 1440 monitor, so if you have some critical need for editing photos or video, you should heed the warnings of others which I think are accurate. There's some light bleed in the bottom corners which is easily noticeable when the screen is displaying something black and the lighting is dim, and there is not perfect consistency in brightness and color temperature if you change your viewing angle (although I don't think this is any worse than on the "Retina" display on my new iPad).

My main annoyance with the monitor is not about the stuff above, but that it won't auto-wake from sleep when used with my desktop computer with a Radeon 5700 series video card (if you computer is set to sleep the monitor after a certain amount of inactivity)--I need to toggle the on-off button on the front of the panel.

Pros: Samsung PLS screen technology delivers a great looking display at a lower cost.
The bezel and stand have a sleek look.
Landscape or Portrait mode - just pivot the screen on its stand.
DisplayPort.

Cons: "Power on" light is annoying. The screen is intelligent enough to know when there is no signal on any of the inputs - that is the only time the "power on" light should light up.
No display port cable included - you have to buy that separately.
The power cord hugs the wall, but covers up two outlets.
The standard power connection on my computer allows me to any length or style of power cord I want to connect the power supply to the wall outlet.
Why did Samsung have to use a non-standard connection with the power module?
Why is there no HDMI input? I would love to connect my camcorder to it.

Other Thoughts: Samsung highlights the eco-friendly features of this display - I wish they would have put as much thought into the experience of plugging it in and using it all day.
The screen display is beautiful and I'm not planning to return it, but I'm not planning to buy another one.

Pros: The monitor is very nice much nice than the DELL u2711. It is also fairly thin and light for the size.

Cons: It does not come with a HDMI cable.

Pros: Got this to replace a Samsung 2693HM (25.5" @ 1920x1200). Incredible difference! Very sharp - I can't believe how how small a font my old eyes can read now. Colors are amazingly deep and rich. A little calibration required (didn't need a calibration device) to get it set up, but that's to be expected. Good button placement. Stand seems very sturdy, even when rotating to portrait mode, and allows for almost any setup you want. Viewing angles are very good. The semi-gloss screen is, for me, the perfect compromise between a matte screen and the glitter it causes (I couldn't deal with the Dell UltraSharp U2711) and a glossy screen and having to deal with reflections. Very little backlight bleed on the panel I received and no bad pixels.

Cons: More connection inputs, especially HDMI, would've been nice. 16:10 aspect ratio would've been great too, but sadly, 16:9 seems to be the standard for hi-rez 27" monitors.

Other Thoughts: Hope it lasts a really long time!

Pros: This monitor rocks. It's expensive but what can you expect for a monitor with a matte screen at 1440P. Gaming, working, watching video, etc...it's all good. Monitor is very bright and color depth is fantastic. Height adjustment is very useful.

Cons: Expensive. Does not have HDMI connections.

Other Thoughts: If you want a 27" matte at 1440P, look no further.

Pros: High resolution, completely adjustable, 27", PLS display. Minimal backlight bleed for an LED (which is very difficult to come by now).

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: I was expecting a lot from this monitor, and I set my expectations a little too high.

Unfortunately, it's really as good as any LED monitor can get, which isn't anything great. Compared to other LED and LCD monitors, this one definitely ranks at the top of my list.

I have experience with Dell's Ultrasharp LED's, Samsungs 120hz LED panels, and now this, and at the $560 price point I got this monitor, it was absolutely well worth it.

Under $700, this monitor is a great buy, any more you're better off spending the extra $100 on an Apple Cinema Display. The glossy panels really do make all the difference in the world. I hate reflections and glare in my monitors as much as anybody else, but having a matte screen makes what could be an amazing monitor, just a good monitor.

I'd recommend this to anyone as long as they can grab it for $700 or less, otherwise, not worth it. Definitely much better than my Dell Ultrasharp 27", though.

Pros: Price: Fair price, good color out of the box. Bright, saturated display with good contrast. Stable backlight, no noticable color shift during use.

Cons: Stand is a bit weak. Some flexture compared to other higher end monitors I've used.

Some color shift as you move vertically, not equal to other IPS panels I've used.

Other Thoughts: After using teh monitor for a couple of months, thought I'd upgrade it from a 3* to a 4*. In general use the monitor is acceptable for photo editing. You just need to place it where your eyes are mid screen rather than top of screen to avoid any shift while working (top of screen is an ergonomic standard).

Calibrated with a i1Pro Photo and the delta was minimal. After a month the calibration hasn't changed. It's a bright, high contrast monitor. Overall I am pretty happy with it. Perhaps a $2,500 monitor would make me happier... but I've also paid for the i1Pro calibration system with the difference.

Pros: Reasonably low glare, convenient button layout, reasonable response time, colors that "pop," USB 3.0, thin, clean and classy looks.

Cons: I notice some color shift if I am not staring directly at the screen, however it isn’t enough to bug me that much. What I simply cannot forgive is the terrible backlight bleed. It is some of the worst bleed I have ever seen on any monitor. The bleed is the most atrocious when the monitor is not eye level. When head on I still notice it in the corners (and that’s with the brightness at 0).

Other Thoughts: I spent a good deal of time following this monitor. It’s not every day that a new LCD panel type comes around. I waited till I could find a professional review before I bought it. They gave it praise, saying the colors “popped” and it needed little calibration out of the box. After I hooked it up, everything was oversaturated. Once adjusted, it really is amazing. The colors really do "pop." I still catch myself marveling at some pictures since they look so gorgeous. It’s not easy to amaze me, as I have seen several IPS, PVA and MVA monitors.
Really, I’m torn. This panel type costs less to produce, making it a bit less than some competitors, and there are a myriad of pros. But sadly, I cannot recommend anyone purchase this monitor.

Pros: Nice, lightweight monitor. Bright, contrasty, and plenty of adjustment features for a consumer level monitor.

Cons: Not an IPS monitor. Closer to MVA. Colors gray out at 45 degrees vertical, not 80 like IPS. This means when the monitor is close, you can see variation vertically. Two or three people can't review an image and see the same thing.

Other Thoughts: I'm giving a 3 because the monitor isn't as advertised (170/170 degrees at 10% contrast). Its also pretty expensive for an MVA class monitor. Viewsonic is selling MVA monitors for half this price. NEC, HP, Dell have true IPS panels, starting $100 more. If the panel isn't an inch deep on the edges (or more), it probably isn't an IPS monitor.