Print this article

Samsung 244T


Date
: 02/12/06 – 05:10:34 PM

Author
:

Category
: Monitors

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer
: Samsung

Price
: ~1400 USD

When Samsung contacted us regarding the new
Samsung 244T
we jumped on the opportunity to review this monster. A school break was coming and I knew this would be a great time to put the full 24" screen to the test.

Samsung has been a leader in the LCD industry and their panels are some of the most popular and best on the market. What makes them so great is quality, and today we'll see if this new 24" Digital LCD monitor will live up to the hype.

Page 2 : Package Contents

The 244T was dropped off at my house in perfect condition. Surprisingly, the retail box was not overwhelmingly large. It's a lot thicker than your typical Samsung LCD monitor package and it's not the boring brown!

The top of the box is very simple. In the background we have the backside of the monitor. On the foreground we have the company logo, market division, model number, a few specifications and the front of the monitor.

A close up shot of the specifications reveals a few features utilized with the 244T. A maximum resolution of 1920*1200 is capable and all the Samsung Magic features are available: MagicColor, MagicTune and MagicRotation. It is also noted that PIP is possible and there are a number of input methods.

One side of the box is pure artwork.

On another side we have some more features and a product label giving the model number and more features.

The 244T comes in two different colors; one option they give you is the silver, which I have today, and the other is black.

Before we open up the box, let's run through the specifications and features the 244T holds.

Page 3 : Specifications

Taken directly from Samsung Canada's webpage, we have these specifications:

For a monitor of such caliber and high class we expect nothing but the best. On paper this monitor delivers! The pixel pitch is rated at 0.270, which is much smaller than the typical 0.294 we see on most monitors. Despite the size of the monitor, Samsung still manages to get a contrast ratio of 1000:1 and a 6ms gray-to-gray response time. The viewing angle is not compromised as we still have the 178/178 degree angle.

The display is VESA compatible for those who want to mount the monitor on the wall, but you will need the 100mm wall mount.

In terms of power consumption this puppy takes 100 Watts to light up and remains on standby with less than 2 Watts.

A whole list of Magic features are presented in the features section to help sell this monitor:

Again, on paper all of these specifications sound amazing. What's odd is that while the specifications claim 6ms gray-to-gray, Magic Speed claims the monitor is 16ms; signigicantly slower and in a range where ghosting may occur. The RTA, Response Time Accelerator, claims there will be no ghosting or blurry effects, but we'll see if that's true later in this review.

Let's move on to what's inside the package.

Page 4 : Package Contents

Slicing open the box I find only a few things scattered inside.

What I have are a few registration papers, a driver CD and a bunch of power cords.

All that remains in the box is the monitor, and judging by the position it appears that no assembly is required!

Simply remove the protective Styrofoam cover and then lift out the monitor and remove the bag. It's a very simple and easy process to follow.

One thing I didn't expect was for this monitor to have a USB port on the side. While it's not particularly uncommon, some people will find this extremely useful as you no longer need to reach over to your PC to insert a USB stick.

However, depending on where your PC is located, the provided USB cable may not be long enough. I also would have preferred that the USB header going back to the PC be located to where the other input cables are, so that you don't see the cable wire coming out from the side of the monitor.

To quickly show that the monitor can be pivoted, here's a picture of the display panel in a rather awkward angle:

Rotating it back to the standard position most people use…

Here's a close look at the buttons to power-on/off, switch between displays and control the OSD:

A small LED on the power button glows green when the monitor is in use and blinks green when it is in standby. It's very nice to see the power button centered away from the rest of the buttons that way you don't accidentally press it.

The base of the monitor is large so it can support the weight and not tip over, but it is also very simple. The loop is conveniently large enough for you to place a few items, like coffee cups.

Moving up from the base we find ourselves at the spinal column. Here we have an odd little loop protruding from the column. It's a perfect way to keep all the cables tidy and in one single bunch.

Finally we reach the back of the monitor. There are a number of hinges that allow you to tilt the monitor up and down, depending on the angle you want to view it from, and rotate the panel to any of the 360 degrees you prefer best.

A feature I did not expect to find with the input panel was an actual power on/off toggle switch.

Somewhere in this panel is where I would have preferred the USB input from the computer be located, but I guess we can't have it all. As with all Samsung monitors I've seen, there is no need for a power brick as the power conversion is done internally.

I think it's time we set up the monitor!

Page 5 : Installation

Setting up the monitor is not very difficult since Samsung has provided everything you need in the box. Generally we don't see many monitors come with the DVI cable, but for a display unit that costs 1400 dollars, I guess they thought they have enough of your hard earned money. :)

For hardware installation, all you need to do is plug in the power cord, screw in both ends of the display cable (DVI or RGB depending on your video card), flip the toggle button to the on position and power up your PC. By default, Windows XP will automatically reconfigure the display settings.

For optimum performance, you should install the various software applications provided by Samsung on the CD. This is useful if you plan on using the monitor in one of the rotated positions.

The software installation is very simple and in a few minutes you'll have it all installed and ready to configure to your liking. Popping in the driver CD, we're greeted with a simple splash screen.

Selecting the English language takes me to a new menu.

Moving the mouse around, certain icons like MagicTune will be explained.

Choosing to install for Windows XP, the software prompts you to select whether or not you are using the analog or digital display.

Installing Natural Color asks us to select the preferred language. It seems redundant since I told them to continue with the menu in English.

After a couple more clicks it'll ask you to restart now or later, I chose later.

The MagicTune and MagicRotation both ask for language preferences.

Finally, one last prompt to reboot and I oblige this time around.

Once back into windows, I can configure the options of the display. Starting with MagicRotation, I'm presented with how I want to rotate the monitor.

Natural Color is full of options for you to tinker around with. I personally found the default settings very comfortable, so I won't make any changes during the review.

That covers all the Windows configuration options. With the OSD there are a number of features you can change. The first option is selecting the signal source.

There are five different sources you can choose: Analog, Digital, Video, S-Video and Component.

Moving onto the picture menu, this is essentially the same options available in MagicBright.

For my entertainment needs, I choose the Entertain option, but for the rest of my work I like to use Internet.

A custom setting let's you tweak the contrast and brightness.

Another option in the Picture menu is for selecting either 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio.

The next menu page is MagicColor Pro where you can further adjust the screen to your preference.

I have never needed to adjust these settings on any of the Samsung monitors to achieve a nice vivid picture. The first option is picking the mode you want MagicColor to operate in, Intelligent is the default option.

The next option is varying the color tone. I believe this is similar to the color temperature.

The gamma option is your typical numerical scale.

The six color submenu lets us tweak out the saturation and hue.

Color weakness further refines the primary colors.

Because this is a very large monitor, you can setup a picture-in-picture and select what size you want the secondary screen to be.

The last menu page is the Setup where you can tweak the color of the OSD.

With our monitor all set up, it's time to see what we can do with it.

Page 6 : Performance

To start this page off, I want to first show you the various viewing angles you can achieve with the 244T. The panel can be tilted so that it is perpendicular to your eye or can be tilted upwards so you're looking down at it.

The high contrast ratio and the 178 degree viewing angle makes it possible to view the monitor from any angle you would
want
to sit at.

If you recall the options on the OSD, Samsung has provided three default brightness and contrast ratios: Text, Internet and Entertain. Here's what they look like:

Text

Internet

Entertain

By further adjusting the brightness and contrast, you can control the image to your preference. Even with Overclockers Online's dark background, the text is perfectly readable with the Internet or Text OSD settings. I even found the Entertain option to be too bright and only used it while I was watching movies or playing games. For the remainder of this review, all the images will be taken while the monitor is set to Entertain.

I subjected myself to the rigorous stress test of using this monitor for hours on end. My friends and I played countless hours of CounterStrike: Source, BattleField 2, Gun and Call of Duty 2. In addition, I watched a number of movies and wrote up my reviews while using this monitor. I topped it off with general internet activity like chatting on MSN, browsing the internet and answering emails. I've racked up a significant number of hours on the monitor. Without a doubt, this monitor did not disappoint! The monitor did not ghost or blur during any of my activities.

On a work related note, it was a complete blessing to be able to have two full sized windows open, side by side, for work.

For those who do a lot of programming, the ability for a narrow by long portrait monitor will allow you to scan over your code with less scrolling.

My fun does not revolve around work, and you don't brag about a 1400 dollar monitor by showing off how much deskspace you have. If you want to show off, you do it with games and movies. For demonstration purposes, I chose to shoot a few pictures while RedEye was playing. I selected the scene where terrorists were shooting their rocket launcher at a hotel. The pictures were very clear and I didn't miss a beat with this monitor.

The colors were a bit faded on the screen because of the camera settings, but in reality the pictures were very sharp and not fuzzy.

CounterStrike has always been one of my favourite games, and Valve has kindly made it possible for users with 20" displays in widescreen to select the resolution suitable for their monitor.

At 1920*1200 you will mostly have frame rates of 30 unless you pair it with a high-end GeForce or Radeon, but you can always notch the resolution down a bit….

Here's what the game looks like at this massive resolution:

The only way you're going to catch any ghosting is if you get a camera to find it. Niether my eyes, my brothers or my friends could find any signs of ghosting.

Even when I take an extreme close up of a small part of the monitor you can see no distortion.

With the large size and quality of the display, this monitor makes images jump to life… especially when you're gaming or watching a movie at 2 AM with all the lights out in the house!

Page 7 : Conclusion

Samsung has once again delivered an exceptional display product that's far superior than any of the monitors I have worked with to date. The colors are exceptionally beautiful and there was no ghosting or blurring even during the most action packed scenes tested.

With a variety of input options, I managed to try both the Digital and Analog connections, and neither of them caused any problems whatsoever. With the option of using HDTV, S-Video or Composite in, all this monitor is missing is a TV Tuner and a remote. :) The addition of two USB ports is a very nice touch, despite the USB input not being exactly where I would have preferred it to be. For those programmers who want more vertical space for their work, the portrait view is what you want. The old adage of "you get what you pay for" is certainly true, and while this monitor costs a bit more than some alternatives, perfection is priceless.

It has been a long time since we've found a product worthy of this award, but Samsung's 244T has earned itself the acclaimed
Overclockers Online POWER Award
.

Advantages

Amazing Color
Ghost and Blur free
Rotate panel to any angle
Bundled with Digital, Analog, HDTV, S-Video and Composite Cables

Disadvantages

Comes at a premium price

Overclockers Online would like to thank Samsung Canada for loaning us this monitor for review.