Samsung 220WM review

[CpuMan]

Well I bit on the samsung 220wm on ThanksGiving day for $199 on line, $225 shipped after taxes and shipping.

Now that I have had 4 days to play around with it I thought I would post what I thought of it. (Keep in mind this is my first LCD).

All in all for the price it is a good value. It was quite a step up from my old 17 inch crt. Nice big wide screen, bright, crisp, good color (but took a bit of tweaking), no dead pixels, fast, no ghosting that I could see in games, 3 year warranty.
It has both analog and dvi inputs and I like the easy to get to buttons on the front to adjust profiles and settings. Can not comment on the built in speakers as I have not even bothered to hook them up.

But it is not perfect. Like most already know the viewing angles on this monitor are not that great, TN panel, stand is sturdy but no adjustments can be made to the stand whatsoever.
It has a little light bleed on the top and on the lower right, but I only notice it on a all black background.

I do not know if this is a problem in both Vista and XP or just Vista but I did notice that in Vista, while viewing photos there was a very bad yellowish tint to any photo I viewed, so bad infact I was seriously considering returning this monitor. But after a little research I found that a lot of Samsung lcd monitors seem to exhibit this problem and found a solution here, https://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1385804&SiteID=1
After applying this fix, photos look good with the 220wm.

I would have liked to of compared this monitor side by side with some other monitors in its class, but being it was a 1 day sale on ThanksGiving day online and I did not want to wait on line on BF I went for it, so far I am satisfied with it.

Thats all I have after only 4 days of use,in case anyone else is considering purchasing a 22inch monitor in the $200 price range.

 

[SliWolf]

I also purchased a 220wm display, but got it at Best Buy so I could get the 4 year warranty and not have to worry about RMAing it back to an online source when it fails. Boy am I glad I did because I had the center bulb burn out on me just a few days ago and had to return it for another one over at Best Buy. Good old Best Buy customer service reps were great as usual, they just took my statement on what was wrong with the display and then told me to go find another one in the computer department and bring it back to them so they could put my warranty info on the new LCD from the old (but not very used) display that I had brought back.

I use my display for 2 different systems, my PC and my 360 Elite, I find the Source button on the display pretty useful because I can bounce between my 360 and my PC while I'm playing games.

The speakers on the 220wm are your typical LCD speakers, small, chirpy, and not very loud. I had used them for a bit with my 360 and then decided it better to splice the sound for my 360 into the 5.1 stereo surround my PC uses and I get a much better quality sound thats quite enjoyable now.

I also find that, like a typical TN panel, the stand isn't very adjustable, only tilt can be changed, no hight adjustment so I find myself putting it on top of a black box I have sitting around to get the proper viewing angle for me (I'm 6'4" so hight is a bit of an issue with me).

Other than that, the colors on the 220wm are great, sharp, crisp, no ghosting from what I can see (and I do play loads of FPS's and RPG's), text is nice and crisp, the menu's for the display are fairly easy to navigate and use, but it may have problems with its internal bulbs and may need to be replaced if being used all the time. There are 4 others that use my setup so it gets very little rest.

I did upgrade from another LCD, my 19in LG wide screen was what I was using until I purchased this and I can tell you, although my LG may have a 2 ms response time and native 2000:1 contrast, this 220wm still out performs it in almost every aspect except one. I find that my LG displays blacks a bit clearer with less bleed through from the back lights than the 220wm does but other than that, the Samsung has the LG beat.

For all the others who got this display, I wish you luck in finding one that lasts you a good long time because my old one didn't last a week before the bulb went out.

As for rating, I'd give this about 3 1/2 out of 5 stars just due to it having a short life span.

 

[CpuMan]

SliWolf,
That sucks about the center bulb going out so soon, but good that you were able to get it replaced so quick. I did not even know there was a center bulb, thought there were just 2, one on top and one on the bottom.

Hopefully you will not have any problems with the replacement.

It is encouraging that it is a good display compared to your older LG.

My stand seems to have no tilting adjustments on the 220wm? Unless it needs more force than I am willing to give it?

 

[SliWolf]

Yeah, it did kind of suck when the bulb went out, it went out right in the middle of me watching a movie so I had to end it and watch the rest in the other room on the other TV.

But as for the tilt adjustment, just grab hold of both sides of the display and twist with your palms, you'll find you can adjust it quite easily.

 

[GMcDougal]

is anyone else noticing this monitor is getting better and better as time goes on? my backlight bleed is almost none now, compared to what it was at first. Color also seems to have gotten better from when i first got it. How is everyone still liking this monitor?

 

[j0j081]

just FYI Samsung has an advance RMA service (they ship first) so no need to worry about getting a warranty from some place like Best Buy in addition to it.

 

[CpuMan]

But as for the tilt adjustment, just grab hold of both sides of the display and twist with your palms, you'll find you can adjust it quite easily.

Thanks, I did as you said and it does have tilt adjustments, I just needed to give it a little more persuasion.

is anyone else noticing this monitor is getting better and better as time goes on? my backlight bleed is almost none now, compared to what it was at first. Color also seems to have gotten better from when i first got it. How is everyone still liking this monitor?

I still have just a little back light bleed on the top, and on the bottom right hand corner it is a little more pronounced. But I only notice it on a all black back ground. So far it has not gotten any better or worse on mine.
It's still a great monitor for the price I paid.

just FYI Samsung has an advance RMA service (they ship first) so no need to worry about getting a warranty from some place like Best Buy in addition to it.

Thats good to know about the advance RMA, I like that if anything should go wrong. And even with the online purchase you still get the standerd 3 year warranty.