Samsung 215TW or LG L203WT?

Which LCD would you prefer?

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[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Nov 22, 2004
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First time LCD buyer here. I want to make sure that I make the right choice. First, I am looking for a widescreen display, which is approximately 20". I would also like it to be responsive enough for games, and at the same time have the ability to pivot between landscape and portrait.
At first I was going to go with the 215TW, however some of you say that this monitor has a few banding issues, as well as quite a bit of lag time. This seemed like a good choice until I found the LG. As a second choice I saw the LG L203WT. Historically in the past, I have been really impressed with the LG. My brother has a 17" (I cannot recall the model), and it performs very well. The backlighting is 100% even, and there is only a single stuck pixel. So, now I am torn between the two. Do you think the Samsung is worth the extra $50? The Samsung does have all of those spiffy inputs on the back, but in my application they are not mandatory. Oh, and one last thing. I was hoping to find something which supported HDCP standards (if I am going to spend upwards of $550 I want the thing to last me a few years; IE- after Vista comes out). I am not sure if the LG supports this, but I know the Samsung does (as you can tell this is a major selling point to me). Let me hear your opinions/thoughts!
 
I wish I could help but I'm in exactly the same situation as you and cannot decide either. I noticed the LG doesn't have speakers but I guess you would probably already have some you would prefer to use. The Samsung warranty would be better.

As I think you mentioned you had seen the two LCDs, what brand did you prefer image/colour wise? I haven't seen any detailed reviews on either LCD yet and finding something on LG with other models is even a problem at times.

I guess you also noticed the HP f2105 as I did but even though it received fantastic ratings with its colours etc etc the only complaint was the text. This was a deterent to me. I did notice that the Gateway FPD2185W, Samsung 215TW and HPf2105 all use the same Samsung panel.

By the way the Samsung 940MW is HDCP enabled as I spoke to a Samsung rep. It has a tuner as well and is 19". I haven't been able to find a detailed review on it either regarding colour and image for the occasional photo.

Don't forget that Samsung has a free DVD player if you buy their 215TW before the end of the month - I guess that offer applies o/s as I'm from Australia.

I hope you're able to make a choice as a result of other peoples comments.
 
Wow a 5-0 vote kind of says it all!

maganpepi, I have seen the LG in person. TO tel you the truth its just oo hard to tell which is better in store. The colors on both screens looked perfect to me, though I know it would look different once I got it home.

Also, I know a lot of OEM's use the Samsung's as their primary pannel. This was another selling point to me. Obviously they must be reliable to some extent if 3 major OEM suppliers are using them in their LCD's.

So, I guess I shall go with my first intentions and purchase the 215TW. Originally, this was going to be my choice, but again I saw the LG and was torn between the two.

Thanks for everyone's contributions.


Oh, and as a little PS. I wont be getting this LCD until June 20th, which is my birthday! :)
 
I am getting the Samsung 215tw next Saturday! :) Maybe even as early as thursday or so.
 
Ive had 2 of these. I got 1 for my wife and immediately went out to get one for myself lol.
Unfortunately the one I got had backlight bleed on the left side fairly bad and I ended up returning it. There was none locally so I just put off getting it again until later.

Sadly, my wifes invertor went out yesterday so now we had to send it in for warranty work >.< I recommend gettin gthe extended warranty on this puppy just incase something like that happens to you.

Other than that it is an AWSOME monitor! Good color, great brightness and no ghosting at all. Really nice.

Im either going to get that again or something else. Ive been seriously looking at the 37" westy. :) Good times!
 
Wish I could afford a 37". Even the tube HDTV in my room is 27"!

Anywho, I was wondering about that extended warranty. Seeing the Samsung allready has a 3 year warranty (I believe), is the extended warranty for BestBuy? Would this mean, that if the monitor dies anytime within that warranty period, I can just return it to the store and pick another up?

Thanks!
 
Many happies for 20 June! What a u beaut pressie!!!

I'm leaning towards the Samsung as well. I was also interested in the LG due to it having a slot for your card for viewing photos on the PC. This saves downloading the pictures on your computer - sorry I can't explain it better.

What worries me a bit is that I could end up with the worst case of bleeding, banding etc etc and I wouldn't know it. I'm not experienced enough to test these things. I've noted the details for testing the pixels.

It's a pity there weren't any comments from those who own the LG LCD but then I guess it would have made it harder when it came to deciding.
 
I've just read all the comments on the gaming thread provided and I also did a search on Hard Forum for LG's L203WT. It appears that people are preferring the LG to the NEC. Anyway, I will have time to think about it further as the LG doesn't seem to be in Australia yet. It's not listed on the LG website although its sister is. Now I'm back where I started - decisions!!!
 
So will your birthday see you STILL with the Samsung or are you undecided after reading more about the LG?
 
I believe I am sold on the Samsung. My original intentions were to end up with this monitor.

Plus the 11-0 votes pretty much say it all as far as these forums go.

The Samsung also has other important features which I was looking for (IE HDCP and tilt features).

Other than the color banding which some of you are complaining about (ill have to see it for myself to see if I can live with it (I probably will end up getting used to it)), there are no other major flaws which I can see.
 
I went with the best buy warranty because it had a 0 dead pixel return policy and a 3rd replacement lemon policy. I couldnt stand ANY dead pixels... Id go crazy. I was, however, looking today and noticed that they have since changed their policy to 4 returns and pixel policy based on the mfgr recommended...... that sucks. Companies are getting so CHEAP... ~_~

Anyways, I never noticed any banding or anything on my wifes monitor. On the one I had I just had a fairly bad backlight bleed on the left side. Her monitor has a slight backlight bleed on the left side but its not bad enough to where it is a problem.
 
Which panel is the Dell 2007fpw using now? I heard it was using a new Samsung 8ms panel. Its not the 215TW is it?
 
The LG is also HDCP but I'm glad you still feel you've decided to go with the Samsung and you're not unsure like myself. I noticed when I was looking at the 3 yr Samsung warranty that various model sizes are covered for different warranties. As the Samsung is 21" they will replace your LCD for any time during the 3 years if you end up with one dead pixel or more. Now that's pretty good.
 
The Dell 2407 and Samsung 215TW both have a WS Samsung S-PVA panel. This is what I found when I looked at Hard Forum's technology guide ie. 215TW has WS Samsung S-PVA (LTM210M2) panel. Doesn't the 2407 have banding problems also?

Just thought I'd pass this on.
 
Also, I just did a search and LG203WT makes use of the S-IPS panel giving the great colour & viewing angles. Mind you the Samsung also has great colour as you said. Well I've said enough for now and the shower beckons so...
 
mind you, the speakers on the samsung are so terrible that they might as well not be there at all.
 
I am not planning on using that crappy little soundbar. I use my Logitech Z-5500's for sound. As many other users wished, I wish that thing was removable.

PS. Thanks for the comment regarding the pannel type. I was wondering that myself.
 
I just bought one of these panels after having a best buy dude set both of them up next to each other. The sammy is slightly bigger, has adjustment options where the LG doesn't, has more inputs other than DVI and VGA and colors looked pretty much the same. Sadly they weren't hooked up to regular PC's so I couldn't play with them but having the slideshow on them was good enough for me. The kicker for me was that the 215TW comes WITH the DVI cable, where the LG doesn't. So if you plan on using the DVI cable with the LG, pony up the extra dough to get one which almost evens out the price diff.

I bought the 215TW that he opened for me cause it didn't have any dead pixels that I could see and after further review at home I ddin't have any. Adjusted the brightness and contrast to my liking and then jumped into some DOD source and it was like butter. Colors were noticably different from my old Samsung 172x which was a TN panel. The 215TW is slightly faster IMO than my 172x was so it that helped. Overall EXTREMELY pleased.

On a side note, with the brightness turned to gaming, there is some backlight bleed from the corners, but its not noticable on anything else than a black screen.
 
I have just rung LG and Australia doesn't have the LG model that we've been comparing - only the m203wx that has extras I don't really need. I can't believe it.

I now know the monitor I'd buy without a doubt that beats the Dell 2405 without any trouble at all and that's Samsung's 244T 24" widescreen. It has HDCP. It sounds like the perfect monitor scoring 10/10 for every area except 9/10 for extras (I think). Now all I need is AUD$1750!
 
I have assigned a plus mark ("+") for each category where one of the monitors is at least slightly better than the other.

Contrast/video detail in dark scenes----- LG +
Backlight bleed issues--------------------- LG +
Sharper/clearer text------------------------ LG +
Faster refresh time (less ghosting)------- LG +
Dead pixel issues--------------------------- LG +
Input connections and height/tilt---------- Samsung ++
HDCP compliant---------------------------- equal (both compliant)
Color banding issues----------------------- equal (both minimal)

The bottom line is that these monitors are so close in each of the above categories excepting connections/adjustments that gamers will and should lean to the Samsung for that reason.

Caveat: My opinion is based upon a few months of ownership/use (movies/video playback and web site text) with the L203wt; and only in-store comparisons and reading forum threads respecting the Samsung 215.
 
I was at Costco today ans saw the Samsung 215TW. I looked very good, it was running Mac OS X in analog mode, I was impressed by it's clarity and contrast. Costco wanted 529 dollars.
 
Maybe the Costco around here stocks them- havent been in there for a while so I do not know what their stock looks like.

If I can get it for $20 less over BB that would be nice. Still though if I do go to BB I get to use my rewards card!
 
The Dell 2407 and Samsung 215TW both have a WS Samsung S-PVA panel. This is what I found when I looked at Hard Forum's technology guide ie. 215TW has WS Samsung S-PVA (LTM210M2) panel. Doesn't the 2407 have banding problems also? Just thought I'd pass this on.
Click to expand...

According to the Samsung 215TW manual online it is using an 'a-si' panel, not a 'pva'. I would tend to believe Samsung here since it's in the manual.

Edit: I'm an idiot it's a a-si PVA to the best of my knowledge.
 
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