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Samsung 245T

84

Very Good

  • Pros
  • Picture-in-picture
  • Plethora of inputs
  • Cons
  • No Display Port connection
  • No built-in speakers
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Samsung 245T Review

by Greg Adler

This fully adjustable monitor has many inputs and good image quality--along with a hefty price tag.

Samsung's 245T is a great-looking, thin-bezel monitor that can swivel, tilt, pivot, and be adjusted for height.

The monitor's connectivity options include four USB ports, plus HDMI, VGA, DVI, composite, component, and S-Video ports. The only input missing is a Display Port connection, a linking technology that has gained popularity recently.

Despite the 245T's $649 price tag, you don't get a built-in Webcam or speakers; but the display does have a picture-in-picture option--a great feature to have, in view of all the input choices.

In our PC World Test Center evaluations, the monitor performed well, earning a score of Very Good. Nevertheless, it finished slightly below Samsung's own SyncMaster 2493HM (which has built-in speakers) in overall performance. The 245T's extra video inputs and USB ports (four versus the 2493HM's two) are the main differences between the two monitors. But those extras raise the 245T's price to about $150 more than the 2493HM's.

The 245T is best suited for users who need many connectivity options--because, say, they want to use it for PC work and TV/movie viewing. But the 245T costs about $100 more than Gateway's FHD2400, which has just as many inputs and received the same image-quality score.

User Reviews for Samsung 245T

  • Reviewed by: kerbe

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: Ease of use.Glorious image quality.HDMI connection.

    Weaknesses: Doesn't seem to have a "sleep" mode.

    Overall Evaluation: Sometimes I just sit and stare at this monitor -- the image quality is STUNNING! I can walk across the room from it and still clearly read 10pt fonts. Photographs and DVD movies are beautiful at the monitor's native HD resolution and I love being able to use an HDMI cable (rather than the heavier. less flexible DVI cable), especially when rotating the monitor from landscape to portrait mode. My computer is EnergyStar rated and shuts down various and sundry parts of itself to save power. When it kills the video card, the monitor runs a kind of "No Signal Found" screen saver -- I'd much rather it went into "sleep" mode but I've been unable to activate that option, if it exists. My concern, in moving from a 19" standard monitor to a 24" widescreen monitor was that it would overwhelm my desk. I'm happy to state that it does not. Although twice the physical size of my previous monitor this unit seems, somehow, unobtrusive. So the picture is overwhelmingly beautiful while the monitor, itself, is not overwhelming in the least!

  • Reviewed by: rommel160

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: Sturdy screen stand -- pivots, tilts and height adjusts.MagicTune and pivot software make possible lots of color adjustments and pivot screen editing. Sturdy. Attractive

    Weaknesses: Cannot display deep blacks and contrasting colors for movies. Manual is pdf downloadable-- no paper copy.

    Overall Evaluation: The 245T model pivots and the matte finish has less glare than HP screens, and the MagicTune software has lots of adjustments but no paper manual. I chose to not print the PDF manual, but rather to play with the buttons on the screen The manual adjustments were somewhat more extensive than the software adjustments. However, the 245T with 1000:1 contrast ratio will not display really deep blacks and the colors are nothing to brag about for watching movies. The MPA adjustment for movie motion is sometimes good, sometimes bad. The Samsung 2493 has 10000:1 contrast ratio (deeper blacks?) and a larger color gamut and is $100 cheaper; but it does not pivot.

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