Entered CNET Catalog: 01/18/2006
SKU: 204B-BLACK
Manufacturer: Samsung
Manufacturer description
The Samsung SyncMaster 204B is a 20-inch TFT-LCD monitor delivering a 800:1 contrast ratio, 5ms Response Time, 0.255mm pixel pitch, 1600 x 1200 maximum resolution, a scanning frequency of 30-81 kHz horizontal and 56-75 Hz vertical, and horizontal/vertical viewing angle of 160°/160°. It features built-in power, a narrow bezel with MagicColor, MagicTune and MagicRotation technology and has a height adjustable stand.User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5
User Rating: 
8/10
Fantastic monitor at a very reasonable price-point
Pros: Excellent sharpness and contrast, color fidelity is on par with Apple Cinema Display, both Analog and DVI connectors.
Cons: Stand is a bit flimsy, anti-aliasing is a bit aggressive (but adjustable.)
Let me just say that, for the cost, I was floored. The display is crisp and true, color is accurate and type and UI controls (on OS X when connected to a MacBook Pro) are sharp and clear. There are so many players in this end of the market, and so many are really awful; I was surprised and pleased to find a true value in the Samsung LCD display.
User Rating: 8/10
Excellent, affordable 20-inch flat-panel.
Pros: Large screen; high resolution; excellent performance in both movies and games; sharp text and images; long warranty
Cons: Uniformity in color is not perfect; can sometimes see slight backlight bleeding; takes some time to calibrate to get the best picture.
User Rating: 
9/10
High quality affordable 20? LCD
Pros: Color Reproduction, Brightness, Pivoting Stand, Price
Cons: Color Calibration
The only complaint I have with this display was in re-calibrating it for my printer. I am an amateur photographer and getting this display to my preferred color settings took a lot more time than usual. This is not a complaint of the menu system, but for whatever reason it took me a good 20 minutes to get everything set. I would say the majority of users would not be concerned with this because out of the box color settings were well done.
User Rating: 9/10
Clear, crisp, and bright.
Pros: very sharp clear text and color
Cons: none so far
User Rating: 
4/10
Disappointing
Pros: Good price; included features
Cons: Excessive & uneven backlighting; mediocre pivot software
I've bought three of them (2 different Best Buy stores) and returned all. The backlighting on all is too strong and is uneven. The bottom part (in landscape mode) is significantly brighter than the top. In one, the top corners were darker than the top middle. In another, the screen gets brighter from left to right as well as top to bottom.
In portrait mode, not surprisingly, the backlighting problems are more obvious. There's considerable variation across, all the way down. That is, everything on the left is brighter than everything on the right.
In portrait orientation with the included MagicRotation software, Internet Explorer 6.0 shows artifacts. In the same situation, my e-mail program displays continuous paragraphs of unformatted text VERY slowly. Pivot Pro trial version completely eliminates both problems.
If Samsung can get the backlighting right, this will be a good product. However, I will probably have bought something else by then.
