reviews TESTED. REVIEWED. VERDICTIZED
XXXXXXX 2006 MA XIMUMPC 00
tively impact the VP2330’s ability to han-
dle high-res digital images, games, or the
dark ambiance of Batman Begins. In such
applications, we’d even say the VP2330
performed on par with Dell’s panel.
Still, we’re wary of synching issues we
observed on the two VP2330s we have in
our Lab. While the monitors primarily had
problems synching with a BFG GeForce
7950 GX2 videocard after a warm boot, or
restart, we had a similar single occurrence
with an EVGA 7950 GX2, as well as with an
ATI X1900 GTO card, in different PC envi-
ronments. A cold boot fixes the problem,
but we don’t expect these types of prob-
lems, particularly when we’re paying top
dollar for a monitor.SAMSUNG 244T
Samsung’s 244T toes the line with the
same high-degree of ergonomic adjust-
ability that these others offer. And like Dell,
Samsung throws in the full complement of
connections—albeit just two, rather than
four, USB ports—and PiP, but no media
reader. Samy also throws in its signature
Magic Tune software for color tuning and
calibrating. And its OSD offers the great-
est degree of color adjustment, with slidercontrols for both hue and saturation.
Samsung’s monitors almost always
stand out with incredibly vibrant, vivid
colors. And sure enough, the 244T’s pic-
ture looks brighter and more intense than
the other monitors here. It’s especially
noticeable in a visually rich game like Far
Cry, or when viewing colorful high-res
digital pictures. But in DisplayMate we
noticed that the 244T compresses the
dark end of the grayscale range, with little
distinction between the darker grays and
black. It could be that by increasing the
intensity at the light end—to achieve its
eye-popping picture—Samsung is sacri-
ficing its darks. We lowered the gamma—
it’s nice that Samsung lets you do this—
and it seemed to help, as do the presets
for different content. Set to Entertainment
mode, the dark scenes in Batman Begins
weren’t troublesome.
We must note that Samsung’s monitor
revealed a flaw similar to the one in HP’s
screen in Pixel Persistence Analyzer. We
saw hitches in the 244T’s picture, but they
were only sporadic, and we couldn’t detect
a problem in any real-world tests, so we’re
not dinging it severely.Viewsonic’s VP2330 doesn’t always get
along with some videocards.Samsung’s brilliant picture could come at
a cost to detail in darker images.$1,100, http://www.samsung.comSAMSUNG 244TSWIMSUIT
Brilliant colors, ergo
options, and lots of inputs.LAWSUIT^8
Weak at the dark end of
grayscale; curious intermittent
picture hitch.$1,300, http://www.viewsonic.comVIEWSONIC VP2330WBCHARM
Performs well with a variety
of applications.HARM
Synching problems with
certain videocards; pricey.XXXXXXX 2006 MA XIMUMPC 00
SPECS
SCREEN SIZE 24 inches 24 inches 24 inches 23 inches
NATIVE RESOLUTION 1920x1200 1920x1200 1920x1200 1920x1200
INPUTS DVI, VGA, S-Video, DVI, VGA, Two DVI-I, DVI, VGA,
component, component, four USB 2.0 four USB 2.0
composite, composite,
four USB 2.0 two USB 2.0DELL SAMSUNG HP VIEWSONIC