Samsung SyncMaster 957MB

• Reviewed by: ajacko

  Strengths: Good picture quality where the focus wasn't off.

  Weaknesses: A very obvious focus problem in the lower left corner extending half way across the screen horizontally and 1/3rd of the way up vertically. No ammount of adjustment made any improvement.

  Overall: Despite a number of unfavorable reviews, I went ahead and ordered this monitor. Big mistake. The focus was off in the lower left portion of the screen. There were red and blue halos around light items on dark backgrounds, and everything looked fuzzy in general. I returned the monitor and was refunded the purchase price, but I am out over $50 for shipping the monitor too and from my house. My recommendation: stay away from this monitor.

• Reviewed by: netmarco

  Strengths: Pleasent box design. MagicBright is cool for alternating between work and gaming. With supplied MouScreen software, we control all monitor settings without pressing the front buttons.

  Weaknesses: Screen Geometry.

  Overall: U cant set screen geometry right. There is always a horizontal wave at the top of the picture (3mm tall). With best settings, the wave is still there and focus gets really poor in many areas of the screen.I dont like to watch text going up and down the hill, so I had to return the screen to the store and now i wait for a new 957MB. I hope my luck gets better this time.

• Reviewed by: mm1952

  Strengths: color

  Weaknesses: Cost, picture quality

  Overall: I've had two different 957mb and they both have had signifcant problems (distortion on both sides of the screen resulting in blurry text). I'm using a Radeon 9700 pro video card which has worked fine with another monitor, so the card isn't the problem. This monitor gets good reviews most of the time. Only explanation I can think of is that Samsumg has quality control problems - if it works it good, but may not always work. I think I'll stay away form Samsung products.

• Reviewed by: GarrettME

  Strengths: Good color and clarity in the center region of the screen.

  Weaknesses: Distortion on both left and right sides of screen. Expensive.

  Overall: Comparing my experience with two different 957mb monitors to the high review rating given this monitor, I suspect Samsung must have some quality control problems. My experience with the monitor has been very unsatisfactory. My preference is to run the monitor at 1280x1024 resolution. On the right side (about 3 inch) of the monitor, every other row/line (about 1/4 inch height) has a series of faint vertical lines (about one pixel width). The same condition exists in the left side, but to a lessor estent. The center of the screen looks fine. With the moire adjustment, the above problem can be removed, but the screen has a bad case of moire on each side after the adjustment. Another problem - After running the monitor for 10-15 minutes, the screen shrinks some in the vertical direction and expands some in the horizotal direction (less than 1/4 inch). Overall, I have used other 19 inch monitor that are better and much cheaper. Samsung has not been willing to replace the monitor with a new one. I would not recommend this monitor and plan to replace mine in the near future.

• Reviewed by: thedoublea

  Strengths: compared to my previous $200 17", none

  Weaknesses: limited screen controls, mickey mouse software, fizzy.

  Overall: Not suitable for photographers. screen controls are quite limited and with refresh rate set at factory recommended settings, text looks fussy (after focus). software calibration for monitor/printer profiling is very limited.