Quick question: Samsung S32D850T or BenQ BL3200PT

I

insoc123

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 14, 2010
Messages
300
I'm stuck between these apparently very similar monitors. If you had to choose between these two options, which would you choose? My purposes will be office work, watching youtube videos and playing games. Thank you!
 
I bought both and returned both. They're pretty much the same. Go for the cheapest one you can find. I like the styling on the Samsung better but the BenQ has a better build. The Samsung flexes when you push on the frames, but the BenQ is solid hard plastic. The stand on the BenQ is ugly IMO. They're both matte screen so blacks and colors don't pop, but that's the same for most monitors with matte screens. Regardless of the advertised 178 degrees angle, color and contrast do shift as you move your head.
 
Well, I just ordered the Benq from amazon.com not because it was cheaper (actually it has the same price of the Samsung one) but because I read better reviews for it and it's supposedly to be better on input lag and responsiveness than the Samsung although I agree that the differences could be negligible.

I'm very excited about this one. Even though I've been using for a long time IPS monitors (my last one was a Dell 2713HM) I've been experiencing playing on HDTV for over a year now and I truly enjoyed playing with a Samsung 32" HDTV I bought. Recently I upgraded to a 55" curved Samsung HDTV and for every day playing I think it's not that useful because I rather do it all (play and work) in the same monitor but after experiencing gaming at 32" it's hard to go back to 27". The problem was with all displays at 32" being at 1080p and the 4K 32" monitor that would have the problem of small fonts and I don't like the scaling issues.

So this solution seems great to me because I will have a 32" display in which the pixel pitch would allow me to use it as a work display and also being able to play with it!
 
Good choice either way. I'm not sure how often you upgrade you monitors or video card, but you may want to consider 4K if you don't plan on upgrading for a while. 4K is great for desktop work, but within the next year or two, 4K gaming will be possible with one video card. 1440P is a 'tweener res, but that's just my opinion.
 
Well I'm a pc-addict-geek so I often update my video cards on a yearly or year and a half basis and the monitor it depends if there is something new and good on the market.

Actually my pc is a gaming one and I have a SLI on GTX 980 SC but I use my pc not only for gaming but for regular stuff (email, youtube, ms-word and such) and I hate the small fonts and bad scaling of Windows.

I hate that much that my current monitor is a 27" 1080p because I couldn't just work with the small fonts and bad scaling of my other 27" monitor at 1440p.

So it seems like this 32" is a very good alternative for users like me...
 
Windows 10 supposedly cures scaling, FYI. It's a free upgrade in June.
 
Yes, I've heard about it. Either way I would rather wait for more powerful gpus in the following years because with the GTX 980 SLI I'm very confident I could max out almost all games at 1440p but can't say the same at 4K...
 
I purchased and used a Samsung S32D850T for about a week. Here are my thoughts. I ended up returning it and ordering a Dell U2715H.

1. Very poor color uniformity. I mean VISIBLE shifts in color on the plain single color login screen of windows 8.1. Not noticeable when gaming though. Very noticeable when browsing the web.

2. Very nice size if you want to sit back at a large desk and game. The scaling of 1440P is great with 720P sources (like a ps3) as the pixel ratio is a nice even 4:1.

3. The color "pop" as it were, is actually pretty impressive for a VA panel. Good response times, but that's probably pretty subjective.Blacks were jaw-droppingly deep. Much better than the IPS Dell I switched to.

Now, I know you ordered the BenQ, but I'd keep an eye on that color uniformity issue. I did a lot of research before trying it out, and some people ended up returning their units several times before getting a good one. I think the two units use the same panel, can't be sure about that though.
 
You know what spikeline? Your post is very positive for me. Points 2 and 3 sounds just exactly what I need. I have been using IPS monitors since long ago (since 2006 approximately) and yes whenever I see a TN monitor working I think to myself, wow! what good stuff is all these people missing. I think I couldn't go back to a TN monitor. Said that as much as I appreciate quality products and the good color renditions of a IPS monitor I am no expert so to be true I don't have the deep knowledge about color that professionals do. I can see strong and evident variations but subtle ones no. For instance, when I have play with my HDTVs with my PC I love the colors even though said displays are not IPS nor professional. The colors are fine to me.
For me it could be great if my Benq could give an image similar like the images my HDTV (recent Samsung F6300 and F8000 series) can render.

Thank you very much for posting your experiences.
 
I have the Samsung, i went through 3 BenQs with loud ticking noises (i guess from the PSU). The BenQ build quality otherwise is better and the bezels are thinner IIRC. This is my 2nd samsung, as the first one had a defective stand (made a horrible crunching noise) and the bezel was loose and popping out. I would stay away from this panel because ALL of the ones i've had suffer from the black vertical lines running down the screen, and IMO the 2100-2700 contrast ratio (bit of a panel lottery there) is not THAT much better than a decent IPS (1000-1100:1 contrast ratio). Really the main benefit is there is no backlight bleed like in an IPS. There is still a glow effect from gamma/contrast shift as you view the picture off center. Also colors aren't going to "pop" on this one because of the fairly heavy matte coating on the screen. If you haven't seen a plasma maybe you'll be impressed by the blacks. But don't think you'll be able to play in a dark room and be satisfied with black levels. But yeah, your average TV's VA panel will have far superior blacks. Im puzzled as to why we get crappy VA for PC monitors. For instance you can easily pay 400 bucks for a Samsung VA TV that has a good 4-5K contrast ratio, which is getting into "inky" black territory.
 
w123 said:
I have the Samsung, i went through 3 BenQs with loud ticking noises (i guess from the PSU). The BenQ build quality otherwise is better and the bezels are thinner IIRC. This is my 2nd samsung, as the first one had a defective stand (made a horrible crunching noise) and the bezel was loose and popping out. I would stay away from this panel because ALL of the ones i've had suffer from the black vertical lines running down the screen, and IMO the 2100-2700 contrast ratio (bit of a panel lottery there) is not THAT much better than a decent IPS (1000-1100:1 contrast ratio). Really the main benefit is there is no backlight bleed like in an IPS. There is still a glow effect from gamma/contrast shift as you view the picture off center. Also colors aren't going to "pop" on this one because of the fairly heavy matte coating on the screen. If you haven't seen a plasma maybe you'll be impressed by the blacks. But don't think you'll be able to play in a dark room and be satisfied with black levels. But yeah, your average TV's VA panel will have far superior blacks. Im puzzled as to why we get crappy VA for PC monitors. For instance you can easily pay 400 bucks for a Samsung VA TV that has a good 4-5K contrast ratio, which is getting into "inky" black territory.
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Being that I have been accustomed to IPS panels any improvements contrast wise would be appreciated. I'd love if there were more options in the 1440p 32" market but as you perfectly now all options (Samsung, Benq, Asus and Acer and other I might be missing) are essentially the same. Funny thing is that even though most of amazon.com reviews are not made by people with technical knowledge, both the reviewers of the Benq and Samsung ones (verified purchases) rave about them and couldn't be more happier.

Maybe the more you know the more you can ask about a monitor. Take for example this forum member NCX. No monitor is the right one for him!
 
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