MaximumPC 2007 H

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or power users, a big screen is a necessity. It not only enhanc-

es your computing experience, but its commanding presence

makes a statement about your commitment to extreme hardware.

Right now, the biggest desktop monitors are 30-inch LCDs. There’s

a lot to like about these 2560x1600 native-res beauties, but they’re

not perfect—and they’re costly. This has led many a reader to won-

der whether it wouldn’t be wiser to purchase an LCD TV of com-

parable size, which can be had for a lower price and includes the

added value of TV functionality.

To answer this question, we compared Samsung’s SyncMaster 305T

30-inch LCD monitor (reviewed May 2007)—our favorite of the currently

available 30-inch offerings—to Samsung’s LN-T3253H 32-inch LCD TV.

Each is a fair representation of its category’s strengths and weaknesses

and thus capable of helping us determine the better big-screen solution

for a power user’s desktop.

LCD Monitor vs. LCD TV

SCREEN REAL ESTATE

While the TV screen is two inches

larger on the diagonal, the monitor offers far more

screen real estate. Its 2560x1600 resolution far

exceeds the TV’s 1366x768, delivering four times as

many pixels (four million to one million), so you can

consequently fit far more content on the screen at

once—shoot, you can fit more content on a 24-inch

monitor. WINNER: MONITOR

LCD TV

Samsung LN-T3253H

$1,300, http://www.samsung.com

VERSATILITY

The 30-inch monitors on the market right now rely strictly on

Dual-Link DVI, so provided your graphics card supports it (most current cards

do), you can use this screen with your PC—and that’s it. A TV, on the other

hand, will provide accommodations for a variety of devices. This LN-T3253H,

for example, offers TV, AV (2), S-video (2), component (2), VGA, and HDMI

(3) inputs—we connected our PC using a DVI-to-HDMI cable. Plus, you get

a bunch of audio ins and outs for feeding sound from this surfeit of sources

into the TV’s built-in speaker or to an external sound system. A remote con-

trol makes it easy to switch among your TV, PC, console, DVD player—what

have you—whether you’re viewing the screen up close or comfortably reclin-

ing at a distance. WINNER: TV

head 22 head TWO TECHNOLOGIES ENTER, ONE TECHNOLOGY LEAVES

round^1 round^2

BY KATHERINE STEVENSON

16 MAXIMUMPC HOLIDAY 2007

DISPLAYS