Apple Reviews

This monitor was a huge disappointment. I believe there is either a manufacturing or design defect. To find out why, here's an exceprt from a letter that I sent to NEC-Mitsubishi.

Dear NEC-MITSUBISHI Engineering,

I'm writing you after I spoke with your customer support representatives over the phone, and they recommend me to write you about the issue which I'm going to describe here, because I believe it's a manufacturing defect in all DP2070SB-BK models manufactured in January and February 2004.

So far I have tested two brand new units. The first one I purchased from Amazon.com and it was manufactured in January 2004 (serial # 41101003YA). It had an incurable geometric distortion problem, and therefore I replaced it with another brand new unit from Amazon.com that was manufactured in February 2004 (serial # 42101534YA). The second unit suffers from exactly the same incurable geometric defect.

I have tested the units on different computers that have different video cards manufactured by different companies. The first computer has an NVIDIA Quadro 2 EX chipset and the second one has an NVIDIA GeForce Ultra FX 5700 chipset. I have moved the monitors to different locations, rotated them in all directions relative to the Earth's magnetic field, tried different power outlets, turned off all electrical equipment and lighting, tried different data cables with different thicknesses and qualities, in addition to the cables that come bundled with the units. All of these didn't eliminate the geometric defect.

Also note that I have tried two different DP2060u models on the same computers (the predecessors of the DP2070SB) and both of them don't have the geometric defect of the DP2070SB-BK.

I believe this eliminates the possibility that the defect is connected to my equipment or location.

Basically, both of the DP2070SB-BK units bend the center of horizontal lines downward in the upper half of the screen (the horizontal band around 2.5" to the top and 2.5" to the bottom of the upper aperture grill wire). Horizontal lines curve in the center downward in a flattened U-shape pattern, so if you have a horizontal line in the mentioned band area that extends from the far left to the far right of the screen, and hold a straight ruler against the screen that meets this line at the far left and the far right, you will clearly notice that the horizontal line curves downward in the center, and its distance from the bottom of the ruler at the center (actually about 0.5" to the right the center) is about 2.5 to 3.0 mm. You can also clearly see the curvature if you do the following.

1) Open a window and extend its right and left borders all the way to the left and right of the screen.

2) Open Notepad with a blank white document and maximize it, so that you can clearly see the upper aperture grill wire.

3) Bring the first window to the foreground, so that it's visible against Notepad's white background.

4) Align the top border of the window with the far left and far right of the upper aperture grill wire.

5) You will clearly see that the window border dips in the center about 2.5 to 3.0 mm below the wire.

This test obviously assumes that the aperture wire is perfectly straight, but as I mentioned above, you will also see the same defect if you placed a straight ruler against the screen.

Note that this curvature doesn't happen at the very top of the screen or its lower half. Only in the band around the upper aperture grill wire.

The defect is visible and very annoying to any discriminate graphics or CAD professional. In fact, I can't tolerate it at all!

I have tried every geometric adjustment using both the front buttons and NaviSet. I reset the geometry to the factory default at all applicable resolutions and refresh rates and used the "Auto" function on the recommended resolution and refresh rate (1600x1200@85Hz). Also note that the factory reset brings up an image that is rotated counter-clockwise on both units. This defect seems to be some kind of vertical pincushion pattern (push on the top), and the geometric controls can only adjust horizontal pincushion patterns (push on the sides).

The two units will be returned to you soon from Amazon.com, but I'm sure that all the DP2070SB-BK units manufactured during January and February 2004 (or may be before or after) have the same defect.

This is the very best CRT monitor you can buy. I watch full length movies and television on it daily and it's absolutely perfect...better than my regular tv! You can make so many adjustments I find it hard to believe that anyone could find fault with this product. I have a ATI 9800 Pro and everything is perfect...no defects whatsoever. No computer display, not even a LCD comes close to this monitor for viewing pleasure. One of the things I love are the Super Bright Modes...there are three levels of brightness making it better than a LCD. All the controls are a finger touch away at the bottom of the display and easy to use. If you don't like that you can download the NaviSet software which is great also. This monitor even has 4 USB connections on the side! The only other CRT that comes close to would be the 21" Sony Artisan and that costs $1795 with a smaller screen! The only downside to this CRT monitor is the size and weight but if you have the space you will be much happier with this monitor than with a flatpanel because in my opinion LCD and flatpanels have limitations relating to viewing angles, etc...which make them not perfected yet. This monitor may be large but it's also large in delivering a perfect picture and for the price (Amazon's price is the best) it's the best value on the market bar none.

I've had this monitor in my mind for many months because its specs were excellent and I thought the 17" versions from NEC were awesome. I was looking forward to high resolutions at high refresh rates.

I read a review at ePinions about "ghosts" and didn't frankly believe it because the reviews in CNET Shopper were all positive, except one who complained about the illegibility of text. Now I know the source of the problem.

I wish I listened! What a major disappointment after the long wait and expectations. Each black letter on a white background has an ugly bright ghost to its right. I spent an hour fiddling with convergence (basic and area) and all the other settings to no avail. I tried many resolutions and refresh rates, even suspected my new ELSA video card and installed the old one to be sure, and moved the monitor to other locations to eliminate the possibility of electromagnetic interference; nothing changed.

Increase the sharpness to 4 and the ghosts will be much more pronounced and uglier. It looks as if every dark line has a long bright smear to its right, as if somebody pressed his finger against the screen and smudged it to the right. Letters were simply bleeding bright white to the right. Those ghosts make sans-serif letters (as in Arial or Verdana) very blurry and a major hassle to read.

I called NEC tech support just one hour after plugging in the monitor, and the engineer offered the same advice on their web site; that I had to unplug any extension cable between the monitor and the PC. But I don't have an extension cable! I just plugged the monitor directly to the PC using the standard data cable that comes with it. Then he simply told me to return the monitor without bothering to try further remedy. His quick suggestion sounded very suspicious; simply return the monitor after only a couple of minutes of support over the phone. This clearly tells you that NEC knows very well about this terrible problem, and in spite of that, they let people buy this "prestigious" monitor, which is supposed to represent the best NEC has to offer.

I thought the data cable that comes with it is unusually thin, so it could be that the cable's quality is causing interference. I shelled out the next day (price) for Belkin BNC cable; I just wanted to rule out the last possible cause and exonerate the monitor; still, the ghosts didn't nudge!

Just before I returned it, I noticed two vertical lines at the middle of the screen that resemble the standard horizontal lines that show up on all Trinitron monitors. Only this display has four of them.

Steer clear of this display; it's too expensive and heavy for a paper-weight.

The 22" (20" usable) NEC FP1370 monitor is the hottest
display available! We now own three at the office, are about to buy a
fourth, and I'm trying to convince my wife that I need one at home as
well . Especially in a multi-tasking environment, any large
monitor enables you to work more efficiently as you can see more of
what you are working on at the same time, eliminating need for much
scrolling and window manipulation. However, the totally flat display
coupled with the remarkable resolution and refresh rate capability of
the FP1370 enables you to work routinely with a very high resolution
(1280x1024, or even 1600x1200) for hours at a time without eye strain.
In practice at our jobs, this means we can see four times as
much material at one time than we could with our old 17"
monitors. While the price is admittedly steep, especially for
personal use, the productivity gains possible make the NEC FP1370 well
worth considering at least for office use.

personally installed five of the E090/E0900 monitors. Over the course of time three of them failed within the warranty period. Of the three, one has yet to be returned. Why is this important? It has been ten months and all correspondence and calls have been ignored. I have talked to regional managers and customer service reps. They are (apparently) refusing to honor their warranty. I, as a dealer, had to replace this monitor for a customer out of pocket. I can't believe I am the only one this has happend to. Therefore, anyone who purchases any Princeton monitor should be aware that their warranty policy is questionable. if the monitor fails, you may have to buy (presumably a different more reliable brand) on your own. I have dropped the line entirely.

I bought one of these a month ago to replace a Princeton 17" I have had for a long time. My 17" was so reliable and the quality was great, so I decided to stay with the brand.

It was a good decision to make. The Princeton 21" monitor actually takes up less deskspace than my 17" did, and the quality is excellent, especially for many of the newer games that take advantage of the 3d graphics cards. The color depth and dot pitch provide an excellent viewing experience. The quality is probably more evident when playing DVD's, however.

Monitors are not the kind of thing you want to buy a new one of every year or two. You want one that will last a long time, and provide great quality. My Princeton 17" is 6 years old and still is one of the best monitors I have used, and I have no doubts this 21" one will show itself to have just as long a life. The quality difference is amazing, especially adding the 4" of additional viewing space. Also, the monitor seems to run quite a bit cooler than my 17" did, which in my small office is a real factor.

If you have the money to make a new monitor purchase, the Viewsonic 21" is the one to consider. Sure you can get cheaper 21" monitors, but for something that you will be looking at so much over the next 6 or more years, do you really want to risk it, or skimp and get something you end up not being happy with?

This is one purchase I have been very happy with. 4 Stars, and the only reason it isn't 5 is because it isn't a flat screen.

Purchased this monitor as upgrade less than 3 yrs ago (still under warranty.) Have had 4 failures within several weeks of installation. System used exclusively by 86 year old retired person, not subject to abuse or heavy use. Since we cannot act as 24 hour a day on-site troubleshooters, are now seeking to purchase a replacement monitor, even though this is still under warranty. Princeton claims there are no problems with this monitor. We are wondering if they are shipping refurbished monitors under the warranty (charging $80+ shipping each time)? Spouse is purchansing mgr for computer system builder and knows the hardware. This is the most frustrating situation we have encountered in years!

My thinking about monitors is that I would rather pay 50 bucks extra and get a top of the line monitor (since that is the 'only' part of the computer that I stare at for more than 10 -12 hours a day). To me, a good monitor with great resolution is a better investment than going to the eye doctor and getting nerd eyeglasses.

I am very satisfied with this monitor, never had a problem with it. Extreme clarity, great colors. I like it a lot. Yes, it is expensive compared to other brands, but hen, like I said, I think it is money well spent.

I have just purchased a 191T+ monitor (which looks great, by the way) - and I could not open the box in the store. When I unpacked it and turned it on, it had a RED dead pixel - which for CAD (that's my bread) is extremely annoying (black/dark backgroung is the norm). Their (Samsung's) policy is 10 dead pixels for an exchange! Stay away from Samsung products - their quality is not what they claim. Check the review on Tom's Hardware - I should have listened to them.
FN, Ontario

My Sony 17" Trinitron monitor died and I started to look for a new monitor. I read many reviews about early LCDs and the horror stories people said about them. Lately the reviews have been about how people love their LCD screen so much. Now that I have mine I would have to agree with them.

Set up was simple. Take the old monitor away, plug in the new one. Right away the picture was brighter and crisper than the old CRT screens I was used to. The next thing I looked for was dead pixels. Not a single one. The next thing to check was how the desktop would look since I ran in 1024 x 768 on my old CRT monitor and the LCD is native to 1280 x 1024. The desktop looked ok, but when I changed it to 1280 x 1024 the desktop seemed to come alive.

Next came the true test. How would a game look on the screen. Well I popped the SIMS into the CD-Rom and to my pleasant surprise the picture was even better than the CRT model. No ghosting and brighter colors than before. It was like I had a new game to play.

The best part about this model is the amount of desktop I saved. Before the CRT screen covered the desk, now I can actually fit my keyboard on the desk.

After two days with an LCD I was hooked. Never again will I go back to a CRT for my home computer. Now I just have to get my workplace to spring for one.

I'm on my fifth refurbished system after purchasing a new monitor in November. All of them except the latest system had problems with discoloration. My current system has good color.

The screen doesn't appear to be truly flat. There is a piece of truly flat glass encasing the display.

The OSD controls are easy to use but don't allow me to compensate for vertical bowing toward the center of the display. Video performance at 1600x1200 @85Hz is not very good. All of the monitors exhibited these problems.

Samsung has good technical support people. They were always helpful and responsive.

There are alot of features, but this monitor seems to lack the basics.

I bought this monitor in August of 2001 but thought I should wait before I write a review so I know all the ups and downs.

Good:
Monitor is BIG, I can surf 2 web pages and watch a DVD without any overlap. It's also nice when writing a report because I can have my source info on the left hand side and MS Word open on the right. 1600x1200 @ 85hz ROCKS... I think the other guy that wrote the review must have had a crappy video card that couldn't handle the strain of running at that resolution and refresh rate. Also the max resolution of 2048x1536 is great, especially for the price.

Bad: only 2 bad things I can say about this monitor. 1) Vertical bowing on the right I can't adjust (the bottom where the clock is comes up about 2mm) and 2) Sometimes when I turn the monitor on after being cold for a while there is color blurring and slight double vision but it goes away eventually.

I bought this reader a few weeks ago at Fry's for $14.99. My boyfriend and I were taking a two-week trip and wanted to be able to periodically download photos from our cameras and burn them to discs.

Easy enough, you say? Wrong! This p.os. was a complete waste of money. We literally had to hold it in place while it was plugged in just to keep the connection from failing. And since returning from said trip, the reader has completely died and won't work at all.

And the worst part is that because I bought at Fry's (which, in case you've been living under a rock and hadn't heard, is synonomous with "really bad customer service") returning it is almost more trouble than it's worth. Either way, whether I take it back or not, the next reader I buy won't be a SIIG.

I bought this SIIG CompactFlash reader because I previously purchased a SIIG SmartMedia reader and had no problems with it. With the CompactFlash reader I had a bit of trouble installing the drivers but it was most likely user error. I jumped the gun and plugged the reader in before installing the drivers like the directions suggest. After a bit of jockeying around I was able to fix my mistake. Had I followed directions the install should have been easy.

I like the SIIG readers because:

1) They're small and can be plugged directly into a USB port without a cable. This might be useful if you're traveling and want to plug into a laptop. The size is only 3" x 2" x 3/8" so it's very portable. They also come with a USB cable which I have plugged into the USB port of my desktop at home. The nice thing about the included cable is that it's basically an extension cable when the CF reader isn't plugged in. I plug various USB devices into it when needed which is much easier than crawling under my desk to plug something in.

2) They're fairly inexpensive. This was the least expensive CompactFlash reader that I found at my local electronics store. You might be able to find cheaper but it's always worth it to pay a bit more for something that works.

3) They work. Although I had some problems installing this one I've never had a problem with my SmartMedia reader. I don't anticipate having any problems with my Compact Flash reader now either.

If you don't need a multi reader device and want something small and portable this is the reader for you.

Simply put, it doesn't work. I got this for my dad the christmas, along with a Toshiba camera, and new (128mb) smart media memory card. Being an aesthetic freak, i have to say that it does look kinda cool, but thats where my praise ends. Of course, it may be a defective one, but i've got to report on the one that I got. We're not really sure why it doesn't work, it could be the fact that the connector is really loose in the unit itself, or maybe the build quality is just bad. I really would not suggest you buy this, as it doesn't work (for me at least), and it just sems to ooze cheapness and poor build quality. Do ourself a favor and check out one either here, or try somewhere else, like Directron.com for a smart media specific one, its up to you.

Ok, the hardest part was opening the heavy duty plastic package. I read the first paragraph of the instructions, plugged one end of the USB cable into the unit and the other end into a USB port on my PC.

Windows 2000 immediately sprang to life, detected and set up the SmartDisk media reader in about 10 seconds. I looked at the diagram in the instructions to see how to orient the SmartDisk and put it in. When my PC still said to enter a disk, I realized I needed to push it in all the way, kind of like a diskette.

When I did that I had a 64 Meg removable drive online, and it is MUCH faster than the floppy disk adapter that I was replacing. I uploaded the pictures from my digital camera in about 30 seconds.

Thumbs up on this one!

received as a gift, and no later than 1 1/2 year old started having a short inside monitor, currently i have to beat/bang on top/side to get full brightness, (very annoying)..personally i'll never buy their products.

With a few small gripes, this monitor is still wonderful for most. (NOT good for Graphics Professionals.) If you don't want to go above 1280x960 on a 19" monitor, and you're on Windows, you're pretty much guaranteed to be happy to get this monitor at this pricepoint. The color is pretty good, the pixels are fairly small, and a 75 refresh rate(at 1280x960) isn't half bad. This is one of the best 19" monitors you can get for around this pricepoint.

The gripes...

- Slight moire towards the side near the lower part of the monitor under Linux or the Mac OS. (9, X) cannot be gotten rid of using on-screen Moire reduction controls, and Degauss does not effect it. It can be gotten rid of in other ways, but they're more difficult.

- at 1280x960, the maximum refresh rate is 75, which is a bit low. Going above 1280x960 can make the refresh rate intolerably low. (The monitor supports a 1600x1200 resolution)

- On-screen controls make it unnecessarily difficult to fix trapezoidal/pincussion issues compared to some other brands, and the higher-end Viewsonic monitors.

- This monitor is *BRIGHT*. With the brightness settings on the monitor all the way down, the monitor was still far too bright, and required some tweaking from within the OS to bring the brightness down to a comfortable level.

Overall, though, it is about half the price of the monitors that are gripe-free, and compared to other 19" monitors in the same price point, the issues I experienced with the Viewsonic e90f were minimal and easy to resolve.

Our company purchased two years ago thirty two (32) Viewsonic 220 and 225 monitors. As of July 2004, eighteen (18) have literally gone up in smoke. These monitors are miserable pieces of junk and pose a safety hazard.

Received this monitor last week and it is fantastic. This is my second ViewSonic monitor, purchased the first one in 1994 and never a problem, I hope this one gives me the same service.