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"Still looking ..." on by straca
Pros: Good color reproduction, very bright, solidly built
Cons: Poor text display, light leakage
Summary: I used it to display charts, photos, etc. and it does a great job at that. However, text is a totally different matter. It is fuzzy and very tiring. I can look at my laptop screen all day long with no eye fatigue, but after less than 30 minutes of looking at the Samsung SyncMaster 205BW my eyes get very, very tired. Also, the light leakage was terrible (almost looked like clouds).
Perhaps it was just this monitor was defective, but if your primary use is data processing, programming, lot of text typing, I would recommend that you look elsewhere or have the option to return it. Otherwise, it is a great monitor for $230 that I paid at Costco. -
"Samsung Strikes a Home Run" on by Wayne Loder
Pros: Large vibrant display does everything I ask
Cons: None apparent
Summary: Bought this unit for $179 from Staples on Black Thursday. What a sweet deal. I have to work on my computer 8-10 hours a day and have almost no eye-strain--the 17 inch I had just wasn't making it and this is such a big step up. The guy who got an inferior model replacement from Samsung should have moved up the food chain and asked for a manager. If he didn't do that, then he has no one but himself to blame.
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"Monitor stand is flimsy. Abysmal Customer Service" on by rzippelius
Pros: Cheap. Nice Display
Cons: Flimsy stand. Did I mention abysmal Customer Service?
Summary: I bought a Samsung 205BW last August and initially I was very happy with my purchase. Crips, bright picture and I liked the height adjustable swivel stand.
Unfortunately, after less than 6 month the adjustment mechanism of the stand broke, because it is very flimsy. I went to Samsung's web site and filled out a repair request and in the web form I agreed to an equivalent model as replacement. I even told them that I only needed a replacement stand. Big mistake! As replacement Samsung sent me a 203BW, which has significant lower resolution (1400x1050 instead of 1680x1050), has not an adjustable stand, has a different screen format (4:3 instead of wide screen) and a slower response time. When I called Samsung's Customer Support and told them that the replacement monitor was inferior in every aspect and therefore could hardly be considered "equivalent" to the original, Samsung's response was that this was Samsung's policy and there was nothing they would do to remedy this problem. I told them they could have saved even more money by sending me a 15" model as replacement. After all a monitor is a monitor is a monitor and it appears that at least according to Samsung's Customer Support they are all created equal as long as the replacement is cheaper than the original. -
"Affordable, sharp widescreen monitor" on by mghotbi
Pros: Resolution, price, DVI and analog connections
Cons: No USB or card reader ports, no portrait display mode
Summary: Bought two of these for less than $250 each. One connected to my wife's computer using DVI and one to mine using VGA Analog connection. Monitor is crystal clear with excellent color and text on both machines. Has same resolution as most 22" monitors (1680 x 1050).
Widescreen format comes in very handy if you have a desktop full of widgets or multiple open windows. Monitor will not rotate to vertical (portrait) orientation - but few people need that in a monitor this size.
If you can afford the extra $450 - consider a 24" LCD which will give you true 1080p resolution and true two-page desktop. Otherwise, seriously consider this instead of a 17 or 19 inch LCD for very little difference in price. -
"Over-rated product. Color bleed sucks." on by HamFiles1
Pros: Good DVD playback. Very bright display.
Cons: Colors bleed, esp. when using a word processor.
Summary: Viewsonic looks better. Bought this to replace Viewsonic VP 201, because it was damaged from when I moved. Color is vivid, and screen is bright, but colors bleed, especially if using word processor like MS Word at 75% zoom view. Tried all settings; only way to remove color bleed is to set "Sharpness" setting to below 20 %, which makes text and objects look slightly fuzzy. This product is overrated, IMO.
I will be taking this back, and getting a Viewsonic VX 2025.
SAMSUNG 205BW Black 20' 6ms Widescreen LCD Monitor with Height Adjustments user reviews
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