I've had this monitor for a few days now. Here I will present my impressions so far. Please note that I'm not a professional in any way, I don't have any calibrating equipment, nor am a display-geek in any other sense than being a discerning user. These are thus my subjective impressions of the monitor:
Sleek design, great ergonomics. First thing I noticed is that this monitor is huge. Moving from a 19'' 5:4 LCD at 1280x1024 (which I've had for six years), this screen is absolutely enormous.
Colours are good, if perhaps a bit on the cold side. I have fiddled around with the colour settings and found ones that look pretty good to me, though. Whites are very white. This is especially apparent when comparing to my old screen, which is some kind of PVA from back in 2005. I never realized until I put them next to each other how white should look. White is really chemically white, and also keeps its whiteness well at lower brightness levels, at least until 20-30% brightness where it starts getting a little gray. As for blacks, they are pretty good for an IPS/PLS, I would say. I'm comparing with my old PVA screen and the blacks seem pretty equal after adjusting brightness settings. The SA850 does suffer a little from IPS glow (PLS glow, I guess). This is only apparent when looking at it from an angle. Viewing angles are otherwise good, but blacks definitely do not look as good from side angles because of the IPS glow phenomenon. Please note I do not have any long term experience from using IPS screens, so I cannot judge if white glow is better, equal or worse compared to most IPS screens.
Backlight bleed, which other reviewers have listed as a major problem with this model, is really insignificant on my screen. This leads me to believe that this is just a case of getting your hands on a good one, and that I was lucky in this regard. There is some faint bleed up in the right corner, but the only time this is noticeable at all is when looking at a completely black image and actively looking for bleed. Otherwise, it is not a problem.
I have tried watching a few movies, and have not yet noticed any input lag or response time issues. I have not had a chance to play any fast-paced games yet though, but I don't think there would be any issues with that.
I did also buy a Dell U2412M, because I was undecided of how big a screen I really wanted and wanted to evaluate both the Samsung and the Dell before deciding to send one back. After using the Samsung for a few days, and then comparing with the newly arrived Dell, I can say for sure I am keeping the Samsung and sending the Dell back. Not only because I find it hard to return to anything smaller after starting to get used to 2560x1440, but the anti-glare coating on the Dell really bothers me. So this is what anti-glare coating looks like. And people are saying it's not so bad on the U2412m compared to some other IPS screens? It must be truly unbearable on those other screens, then. The Dell looks dirty and I keep wanting to wipe it with a cloth or something, only that's not going to help. :/
In comparison, the Samsung is incredibly crisp and sharp. Whites are not grainy at all, unlike the Dell. I'm not going to do a full review on the Dell, but here is a summary of what I think of both screens.
Dell U2412M:
+ great value for an 1920x1200 IPS screen
+ fairly modest stand, looks pretty sleek
+ build quality is good, there's no creaking or anything when adjusting the screen
+ black levels seem pretty good
+ great ergonomics, easily adjustable in every way
- colours, after fiddling around a bit, are good but nothing special. a bit too cool, I think. Also, adjusting colours severaly impacts how white looks on the Dell, which is not the case on the Samsung.
- intrusive anti-glare coating makes whites or bright colours look grainy
- text and small details look sort of fuzzy after comparing with the Samsung
Samsung S27A850D:
+ incredible 2560x1440 resolution. so much space to do things, after adjusting for a while and realizing you're not supposed to maximize browser windows with this kind of resolution.
+ great, vivid colours. out of the box, they were a bit cool (to my untrained eye), but after adjusting colours, and especially after comparing with two other screens, they now look great to me. not vivid in the 'over-saturated wide-gamut' way (I tried such a screen once), but colours have more...pizzazz, than the Dell (which being an IPS is supposed to have great colours itself).
+ whites are superb and stay white even when adjusting colour settings or turning down the brightness.
+ everything is very sharp and crisp, which is especially apparent when reading text.
+ anti-glare coating is excellent: hardly noticeable at all, although you can see a brief hint of it if you stare very closely at the screen and actually look for it. compared to the dell, though, the samsung is eons better.
+ blacks are good. not as deep as on a CRT, obviously, but definitely equal to both my ancient 19'' PVA and the Dell U2412M.
+ sleek, professional-looking design. be prepared that this monitor will take up a lot of space, though.
+ great ergonomics, easily adjustable in every way
- osd menu is not very intuitive
- buttons are really annoying to navigate in the dark, since they are neither tactile nor have any light on them. this is really a design miss by samsung, though a minor one.
- while build quality is good overall, the bezel does creak a bit when squeezing it. this is not the case on the dell. not that you really need to squeeze your bezel all that much.
+- emits hardly any heat and doesn't get hot. this is basically good, but it does mean I can't warm my hands on it the way I could on my old PVA.
also, I am having a problem with the monitor not saving the resolution when I restart my computer. however, I am not sure if this is the monitor's fault or not. currently looking into this, will create a separate thread for the issue.
all in all though, I am very pleased with this monitor so far. please do take this review for what it is; my subjective impressions of the monitor.
questions?
Sleek design, great ergonomics. First thing I noticed is that this monitor is huge. Moving from a 19'' 5:4 LCD at 1280x1024 (which I've had for six years), this screen is absolutely enormous.
Colours are good, if perhaps a bit on the cold side. I have fiddled around with the colour settings and found ones that look pretty good to me, though. Whites are very white. This is especially apparent when comparing to my old screen, which is some kind of PVA from back in 2005. I never realized until I put them next to each other how white should look. White is really chemically white, and also keeps its whiteness well at lower brightness levels, at least until 20-30% brightness where it starts getting a little gray. As for blacks, they are pretty good for an IPS/PLS, I would say. I'm comparing with my old PVA screen and the blacks seem pretty equal after adjusting brightness settings. The SA850 does suffer a little from IPS glow (PLS glow, I guess). This is only apparent when looking at it from an angle. Viewing angles are otherwise good, but blacks definitely do not look as good from side angles because of the IPS glow phenomenon. Please note I do not have any long term experience from using IPS screens, so I cannot judge if white glow is better, equal or worse compared to most IPS screens.
Backlight bleed, which other reviewers have listed as a major problem with this model, is really insignificant on my screen. This leads me to believe that this is just a case of getting your hands on a good one, and that I was lucky in this regard. There is some faint bleed up in the right corner, but the only time this is noticeable at all is when looking at a completely black image and actively looking for bleed. Otherwise, it is not a problem.
I have tried watching a few movies, and have not yet noticed any input lag or response time issues. I have not had a chance to play any fast-paced games yet though, but I don't think there would be any issues with that.
I did also buy a Dell U2412M, because I was undecided of how big a screen I really wanted and wanted to evaluate both the Samsung and the Dell before deciding to send one back. After using the Samsung for a few days, and then comparing with the newly arrived Dell, I can say for sure I am keeping the Samsung and sending the Dell back. Not only because I find it hard to return to anything smaller after starting to get used to 2560x1440, but the anti-glare coating on the Dell really bothers me. So this is what anti-glare coating looks like. And people are saying it's not so bad on the U2412m compared to some other IPS screens? It must be truly unbearable on those other screens, then. The Dell looks dirty and I keep wanting to wipe it with a cloth or something, only that's not going to help. :/
In comparison, the Samsung is incredibly crisp and sharp. Whites are not grainy at all, unlike the Dell. I'm not going to do a full review on the Dell, but here is a summary of what I think of both screens.
Dell U2412M:
+ great value for an 1920x1200 IPS screen
+ fairly modest stand, looks pretty sleek
+ build quality is good, there's no creaking or anything when adjusting the screen
+ black levels seem pretty good
+ great ergonomics, easily adjustable in every way
- colours, after fiddling around a bit, are good but nothing special. a bit too cool, I think. Also, adjusting colours severaly impacts how white looks on the Dell, which is not the case on the Samsung.
- intrusive anti-glare coating makes whites or bright colours look grainy
- text and small details look sort of fuzzy after comparing with the Samsung
Samsung S27A850D:
+ incredible 2560x1440 resolution. so much space to do things, after adjusting for a while and realizing you're not supposed to maximize browser windows with this kind of resolution.
+ great, vivid colours. out of the box, they were a bit cool (to my untrained eye), but after adjusting colours, and especially after comparing with two other screens, they now look great to me. not vivid in the 'over-saturated wide-gamut' way (I tried such a screen once), but colours have more...pizzazz, than the Dell (which being an IPS is supposed to have great colours itself).
+ whites are superb and stay white even when adjusting colour settings or turning down the brightness.
+ everything is very sharp and crisp, which is especially apparent when reading text.
+ anti-glare coating is excellent: hardly noticeable at all, although you can see a brief hint of it if you stare very closely at the screen and actually look for it. compared to the dell, though, the samsung is eons better.
+ blacks are good. not as deep as on a CRT, obviously, but definitely equal to both my ancient 19'' PVA and the Dell U2412M.
+ sleek, professional-looking design. be prepared that this monitor will take up a lot of space, though.
+ great ergonomics, easily adjustable in every way
- osd menu is not very intuitive
- buttons are really annoying to navigate in the dark, since they are neither tactile nor have any light on them. this is really a design miss by samsung, though a minor one.
- while build quality is good overall, the bezel does creak a bit when squeezing it. this is not the case on the dell. not that you really need to squeeze your bezel all that much.
+- emits hardly any heat and doesn't get hot. this is basically good, but it does mean I can't warm my hands on it the way I could on my old PVA.
also, I am having a problem with the monitor not saving the resolution when I restart my computer. however, I am not sure if this is the monitor's fault or not. currently looking into this, will create a separate thread for the issue.
all in all though, I am very pleased with this monitor so far. please do take this review for what it is; my subjective impressions of the monitor.
questions?