Samsung 173 Mini-review

[nire]

I picked up a Samsung 173p from Fry's yesterday. I paid the full retail price of $700. There is a $50 rebate, so that brings it fairly close to the price at newegg. I refuse to buy an LCD with dead pixels, so I was willing to pay more for Fry's excellent return policy (30 days). I actually got decent service too!

This monitor has outstanding quality in its construction and image quality. It only has software controls. I would prefer manual controls in case I want to run Linux some day. I also hope the included MagicTune software will have free upgrades as necessary to support future version of Windows.

My reference monitor is a Sony 19" G420 CRT. This is one of the best CRTs ever made by Sony. I was able to compare the CRT on VGA side-by-side with the LCD on DVI.

I first ran the LCD diagnostic tool at this link:
http://www.monitorsdirect.com/toolkit/index.shtml
I found no dead pixels and the 173P did very well on the ghosting test.

Text, photos, and other graphics look superb, suprisingly much better than on the CRT. I didn't think it could be much better. The colors are rich, darks are deep, and the text is razor sharp. There is more than enough brightness for most situations.

I watched the Matrix Reloaded DVD on the CRT and LCD, mainly watching the super fast courtyard fisticuffs between Neo and the multiple Mr. Smiths. Both monitors did well, but the LCD didn't keep up as well, there was ghosting (25ms response time). I have a 42" Panasonic plasma, so I doubt I'll ever do any serious movie watching on the 173p.

I don't play a lot of fast games anymore, however I do want to play Doom3 and HL2 when they come out. So I installed UT2004 and it looked and ran great. I think this monitor will do just fine for games. The colors and the clarity are superb.

I recommend this monitor to anyone who wants the best quality for text and graphics and does some casual/medium speed gaming. It's a damn fine monitor. I'll probably keep it unless something amazing comes out in the next 30 days.

 

[Grolandi]

I've been very interested in this LCD but I wish I could get a better idea of the ghosting while gaming.

You mentioned it was ghosting while playing DVDs and that worries me. On the screens were gaming is OK, the DVDs are fine.

However, I do know this 173P screen is tops for color and view angle, which would be nice.

 

[nire]

I decided to return the 173p for two reasons:

1. I don't trust Samsung to support software controls into the future (5+ years). Also it requires me to run a bunch of junk in the background. There's also a startup process that takes awhile to load the settings.

2. For the price, I think it should play DVDs perfectly. However, I found it a bit difficult to watch Matrix Reloaded.

I'm not sure if there's an LCD for me yet. For the money I ought to get something I'll be happy with.

 

[Grolandi]

Originally posted by nire
I decided to return the 173p for two reasons:

1. I don't trust Samsung to support software controls into the future (5+ years). Also it requires me to run a bunch of junk in the background. There's also a startup process that takes awhile to load the settings.

2. For the price, I think it should play DVDs perfectly. However, I found it a bit difficult to watch Matrix Reloaded.

I'm not sure if there's an LCD for me yet. For the money I ought to get something I'll be happy with.

Thanks, those drivers did have me concerned, but wasn't sure if they were required. It seems they are, not good.

This 172X is looking better all the time.