SAMSUNG 204B-BK 20.1" UXGA 1600 x 1200 D-Sub, DVI-D LCD Monitor

Pros: 1600x1200 resolution and DVI produce nice, crisp text and lots of screen area. So much better than 1280x1024. Screed door effect much less noticable than the 19-inchers too. Response time is good and I find it a pleasure to game on. It's an LCD so there's still ghosting, but I don't find it to be an issue, personally. The stand's flexibility is great, especially the pivoting of the base. Analog and Digital inputs are handy and the switch for the modes is right on the bezel for easy access; great if you have two machines plugged into it. Standard 4:3 ratio means resolution is almost guaranteed to be supported and scaling won't result in aspect ratio problems.

Cons: As has been said before, the vertical viewing angle on this display is pretty lousy resulting in the top of the screen appearing darker at the top than bottom. It's a common problem and definitely present on this one. I was able to angle the monitor very close to vertical on my old 710N and mostly mask the effect but not so with this one. You just have to put up with it. I don't find it to be an issue in gaming or movies/TV but on the desktop if there's a pattern or solid background you can see it pretty easily so if you're buying it for graphical design work or are very bothered by this issue, you probably want to look elsewhere. Colors aren't bad, but they're not outstanding either. On its own though I think the display looks fine. Default settings are pretty bright. Plan on turning it down if you're not in the habit of wearing sunglasses indoors. Some backlight bleeding around the edges is apparent on dark screens

Overall Review: Overall for the price I find this to be a great monitor. It's not perfect, but none of the alternatives are either. I do hope Samsung will conquer the vertical viewing angle issue eventually, but none of the cons above detract enough from the enjoyment of this monitor to make me regret the purchase. Great deal overall!

Pros: I finally made the jump from my 19” CRT to this amazing 20.1” LCD. Right out of the box it was a delight to install and use. Flabbergasted upon powering it up my jaw bounced off the desk many times when it first lit up. Incredible images and so much detail. I was so used to the glare of my CRT and had to turn off my overhead lights when using it. My wife accused me of being a vampire because I was always working in the dark! LOL. Now I can open the curtains and turn on the lights because I CAN see the screen with extreme clarity. Eye popping colors, super bright screen, and amazing detail. Don’t put off making the jump from a CRT to this LCD. The timing is perfect for it and the technology is up to par. I see no ghosting while playing BF2 or Half Life 2. A great gaming monitor for sure! No Dead Pixels! Don’t believe what others write about viewing angles. It is great.

Cons: I can’t think of one con for this monitor. Although, mine WAS made in Mexico, and there is a piece of “material” about the size of two pixels on the lower left corner of my monitor. It is not stuck pixels…but rather a “shaving” of manufacturing material underneath the plastic monitor covering. Such a spot tends to draw your eye to it when a white page is on. I have contacted Samsung and they are shipping me a new monitor at ZERO cost to me. It is part of their defective exchange program. GREAT SERVICE!

Overall Review: There are so many self acclaimed “critics” of products on Newegg that one would think that they are trained professionals! Yes, it is possible to find something wrong with any product. For some people there is never a perfect product. Well, this monitor comes close to perfection in my personal opinion. Clean clear text, no visible ghosting, and bright screen. That is what I wanted and that is what I received! The .255 dot pitch size is amazing too. Using my 7900GT video card I turned this bad boy up to 1600 x 1200 while playing BF2. It seemed to lag a bit at this high of a rate so I turned it down to 1280 x 1024 and it works flawlessly. I am still in awe of the incredible picture it gives me that I am continuously bragging about it to everyone. My company IT guru is about to smack me cause I won’t shut up about how wonderful it really is! Buy One Now!

Pros: Very easy adjustablility of height and tilt. So far so good on the resolution. Support from has been very good.

Cons: I had my first 204B up and running for about 15 minutes before running dxdiag which (presumably) turned it into an large paper weight. I called both Samsung and Newegg and chose to do the Advance Replacement where Samsung sends a replacement immediately (and puts a hold for a GRAND on your CC) and pays for shipping both ways. I got my replacement in 4 business days which I thought was great.

Overall Review: Based on the good reviews I'm assuming the failure of the first monitor was an anomaly, but I'm still nervous about testing the limits. Thankfully the Samsung exchange process has been a mostly pain free experience.

Pros: sharp picture. good contrast ratio, every thing you want about a good monitor.

Cons: The first SAMSUNG 204B that I got worked fine for about 2 weeks. then suddenly a horizantal black line apeared on the screen. I wouldn't call them bad pixels because the color on them sometimes changed, but they were inconsistant with the neighboring pixels. I called SAMSUNG customer service and they sent me another one for exchange. This one had another problem. When ever you watched a movie in 1600x1200 resolution, the backlight would start flickering. I called Samsung again, they told me that I will have to choose between upgrade, getting a refurbished one or getting a refund. I chose upgrade, after a week they told me that the upgrade was not availabe and they will send me a refurbished one. I would expect a referbished monitor have passed the Q.C. tests. This was a nightmare. The third one had thousands of bad pixels, and they were flickering between green and red. That was it, I called SAMSUNG and asked for a refund.

Overall Review: After returning the monitor for more than 25 days, I havn't received my refund check yet. It was a good monitor while it was working properly, but if you are willing to take the risk, be my guest.

Pros: I've had this monitor for a year and a half. I have experienced no dead pixels, had a crisp clean picture. Gaming is great, DVD playback is very clean. I highly recommend this monitor!

Cons: None!

Overall Review: Buy it! You're getting it for $100 less than I paid a year and a half ago!

Pros: Bought two that arrived quickly. These are very nice monitors, when they work.

Cons: One had a full horizontal line that was out. Newegg doesn't take monitors back and Samsung was anything but helpful. I had the choice of waiting two weeks for a refurb (no thanks), or a month for a new one. Still waiting....

Pros: 1600x1200 resolution Wide variety of setting to customize viewing

Cons: Vertical angle is small. You really need to sit directly in front of the montiror. A little to bright even with brightenss turned down to 25%. SOme issues with clipping on quick moving games.

Pros: No ghosting and extremely crisp clear display. Played world of warcraft, Unreal Tournament 2004, Dungeon Siege 2, Oblivion and I like it much better than the 19' CRT it replaced. Movies look great. With DVI 1024x768 looks fine on my geforce 6800 gt. In analog you'll want to do 1280x960 or 1600x1200.

Cons: The Top of the display is darker than the bottom due to the view angle and is really noticeable on webpages. Colors especially look darker at the top of the page and it could be confusing if you do graphics work (which I don't). If you set the brightness down it's less noticeable but still there, black text almost looks grey at the very bottom of the screen. I never had a problem with this in games however (even when I was looking for it). bought 2 of these and each had 1 dead pixel (near top rt/bottom rt corners).

Overall Review: If you mainly game on your PC like me, get this monitor. If you do development work, particularly web development or graphics/photos consider a monitor more geared towards that.