Monitor Reviews

I've owned this monitor for about three months now, and I must agree with Scott Pope's review in toto.

It IS quite heavy, but I don't mind this so much since I don't move my monitor very much, as a rule. It is also deep, but if you have the space for a 21-inch monitor, then you'll have enough space for this one.

I, too, use the 1920 x 1200 resolution, as I've been unable to find a card that supports the 2304 x 1400 res. Currently, I use an ATI Raedon 9700 Pro and am quite happy with the results. This monitor also supports inputs from two boxes, someting that may be of interest to people like me who have a small LAN but don't want the clutter of multiple monitors.

The controls on this monitor are quite easy to use. I quite agree with Scott that, although the monitor is targeted for CAD pros and such, there are many advantages for the more "casual" user: DVDs are SUPERB in widescreen mode (the monitor having a true 16 x 10 aspect ratio), desktop space is greatly enhanced; and applicatins like Adobe Photoshop and Pagemaker are greatly benefitted by the additional workspace that this monitor affords.

Web pages are no problem, either. Given browser controls, text size etc. are easily controlled, and surfing is actually more pleasurable.

In sum, don't worry about the weight or the space required of this monitor. They're not so much an issue. Just get a friend to help move it, and a sturdy table to put it on, and you'll be fine. The rewards this monitor offers more outweigh (pun intended) the physical proportions of the monitor.

Oh, if you do buy the monitor, be sure to visit the Sony site and get the .inf file.

Full Review
I purchased the Sony GDM FW900 as part of the ultimate personal computer, which would double as a business and entertainment machine. The picture is INCREDIBLE. The picture quality is superior to anything I have seen, including the Apple 22" and NEC 21".

There is one problem, however, size. It weighs 95lbs dry and is very deep. Moreover, I have not had any luck finding a graphics board or drivers that go up to 2304 x 1440. Yet, the 1920 x 1200 is still pretty incredible.

There are two items besides size and quality, that really make this a profession piece of equipment. First, there is a nice cylindrical control panel (must see to understand) and the use of a profession five BNC video cable. The latter seems to improve image quality (not exactly sure why besides the shielding).

While the monitor is targeted to engineers and researchers, it makes an excellent piece of entertainment hardware that can be used to watch DVDs and HDTV signals.

I've had this monitor for about a week now and I'm thoroughly happy. You haven't played a game until you've played it on a 24inch monitor! Also, the pitch is .23 - .27, anyways! The screen functions are accessed from a console that rotates the buttons in to view from the bottom of the screen. Altering the look/appearance of your screen is a snap. Also it's possible to have multiple computers hooked up to this bad boy. ... You can have two word documents open and on screen at the same time without having to squint and break out the magnifying glass. If you want the best and don't mind dropping the dough, this is your best bet.

It is not jut the best Display I ever had see. I solve two other "problems" in Mac use:
It give tho more USB conectors and it have a switch to turn your Mac On.
If you can afford the price, I recomend.

I write from the college newspaper and we use this monitor to work on the lay-out for the paper each week. This monitor is great because the graphics are clear. We also run programs like Adobe Photoshop, and the graphics are awesome with that program as well. This monitor just works great. We haven't had any problems with it!

i have had mine for 4 months - no problems -- I switch it between my G4 and G5, I'm going to get a Apple 17" soon for the G4. My wife doesn;t think I need both and announced ownership of the G4.

I had a long time to research which TV I was going for and if you want a theater style experience with lots of great features, and fit it into a budget, get this set. The biggest consideration in my opinion AFTER image quality (which is outstanding, but that's been dertermined in other reviews) is Aspect Ratio and how the TV deals with the two different formats. (There are several aspect ratios, but I'm speaking on 16:9 "theater" & 4:3 "television") This set does a good job of giving you several basic formats in which to choose from. If you're looking for a TV that you can completely fine tune your picture with several zoom settings, this may dissapoint. I found that they've included the perfect mix and I constantly find a perfect aspect ratio for me. One setting titled "JUST" takes a 4:3 image and keeps the center 2/3's in original aspect and gradually stretchs the remaining 1/3 equally to the edges, this gives the most pleasing results for TV viewing. On another note, Please read the manual for any TV you purchase. The manual of this set says to not use the 4:3 drop down (which will make a television (4:3) signal display in the correct aspect, but will leave you with bars on the left and right of the screen) should be used LESS THAN 15% of the time. If you don't you'll get image burn in. And nobody wants that.

I would recommend Panasonic TV's to anyone, this is my second, and I will continue to purchase them in the distant future.

If you want a nice HDTV and have the room, I recommend the 53" rear projection PANASONIC.

Take a look at the Amazon reviews, Circuit City (or Best buy, can't remember which has reviews between BB and CC).

The reviews were so stellar that I actually bought it sight unseen and shipped it from Amazon. And man!, were they right....the features and clarity is amazing (remember to lower brightness and no game systems for 1st 100 hours to avoid burn-in...also, avoid playing in 4x3 mode with vertical black bars for same reason).

When you do all the math, it is cheapest to buy from Amazon (but only with an Amazon Credit Card) becuase it sells for $1499 at Amazon plus $119 for shipping... but then there is NO TAX (most states) and with the Amazon CC you get Triple point for Amazon purchases (and for every $2500 points you get a $25 Amazon Gift code in the mail), so that gets you *almost* enough points for $50 in Gift codes.

Even with free shipping promo's or the $100 GC from BB, Amazon beats them becuase of the no sales tax.

IMPORTANT: Everything I have read and heard from tech people in the industry (not you minimum wage CC or BB sales clerks) say that Plasma is too young of a technology, doesn't generally come with a tuner or speakers, costs a ton more and has a lifespan measured in hours (instead of years). My research suggests your plasma will last 5 years (and start to get fuzzy in about 2) and the rear-projection will last approx 20 years (but will of course need some maintenance over that time frame).

Also, I have also heard that you should stay AWAY from LCD Projection TV (just get the standard 3 gun projector type) becuase the LCD type is driven by a bulb that costs $200-$300 and blows out every 5000 to 8000 hours (but indications are that your first one will happen in approx one year...which seems even faster than the the hourly guestimate). In fairness the bulb (on some models) is user replacable and the bulb may come down in price if the technolofgy catches on, but i wouldn't bet on it.

The panasonic 53 inch has a native resolution of 1080 (and I believe you need a converter box to scalle the 720 broadcasts....it does regular old cable without a box , but becuase it is digital the picture ain't amazing with regular cable...but that doesn't matter to me...I wanted the HDTV for DVDs and when I eventually feel like shelling out more $$ for HDTV cable.).

BTW, My last box was a rear-projection and died in about 6 years, so I was NOT ready to buy another rear-projection. But after research I found that my old box was notorious for a very high failure rate...there was even a class action lawsuit. I would mention the manufaturer, but it wouldn't matter becuase it was branded under multiple names and they don't make it anymore, so I don't want to prejudice people against a brand becuase of one particulr (defective) 6 year old model. However, I will say the manufacturer was NOT Panasonic.

Suffice it to say, that I was all gung-ho for plasma and NOT looking for rear-projection, but after all the research and info I got, rear-projections in general, and the 53" panasonice model specifically, won the contest hands down !

If you have info that counters all this, please post for others to see...These are just my opinions based on my experiences/research and this is a big purchase...the more opinions the better.

Panasonic Part Number: PT53WX53 (They also make the same unit in 47 inch: PT47WX53)

I bought this TV last month but before I did, I surfed the web for about 2 weeks to read reviews and compare prices. I even went to the Electronic stores that sold the models to see which one was more appealing. This model in each and every store I went into was CRYSTAL CLEAR, the picture was GORGEOUS. The Amazon price is so/so but right around the store price. I bought mine from a MErchant affiliated with amazon and WHAT A DEAL I got !!!!!!! $350 cheaper then the Amazon price.

When I got the TV 8 days after ordering, it was delivered and opened. I then realized how big it was compared to how small it looked in the store. I WAS PLEASED. the sound was EXCELLENT, picture perfect. I bought some home theater speakers and WOW. AMAZING !!!!!!!! 1 tip- when fine tuning the picture set it while your on a nature/wildlife show/channel its a good measuring stick for picture tuning.

negatives-per channel watt output is only 15w, and it doesn't really look good inside a enclosed wall unit. other then that I LOVE IT !!!!!!!!!!! YOU WILL TOO !!!!!!!!!

I've had several scales over the years and was disappointed with all of them. Nearly a year ago, I started eating healthy and exercising regularly and, as a result, have lost about 30 pounds. I had been using the scale at the gym to weigh myself but it never seemed to be very reliable, despite the fact that it was a "doctor-type" scale (the gym never has it calibrated).

I started researching scales and heard about this one, so I gave it a try. I LOVE it! It is SO easy to set up the first time and also easy to use. Two people can set up their stats and use separate buttons to weigh in and track their progress in weight and body fat. You use your toe to quickly and easily turn on the appropriate button (you can also hit a "weight only" button just to weigh yourself without the bodyfat part).

The display is very easy to see and I love the digital readout!

I read the reviews on the BF679 scale. I read reviews on alot of different scales but this one had the best said about it. I have now received my new scale and it gives a whole new meaning to stepping on the scale. It seems to give me more incentive knowing my body fat is way too high along with my weight. Health becomes a bigger issue when I see the numbers on this scale. It was easy to program and instructions were easy to understand. I would recommend this scale to anyone who is losing weight or thinking of losing weight. It is wonderful and so worth the price (which I bought on sale through Amazon) I belong to Weight Watchers and there was only 2 tenths difference between this scale and the one used at my meeting weight in. Also, it registers the same weight if I would happen to step on it 3 or 4 times in a row, no jumping a pound up or down. Try it, you'll like it! Judy

Received my scale today. I took the scale out of the box, put in the batteries, programed it. It took less than a minute to figure out how to program it and complete the process. I love the fact that it calibrates the body fat percentage. I got on & off at least 5 times and each time it registered the same weight, also the same with my husband. Unlike my old digital scale - I can gain & loose 5 lbs within 20 seconds! Everytime I got on that one I could'nt even guess what my weight would be. I only wish I would have gotten this one 31 lbs ago when I started my diet. Now that I'm at goal weight this scale will help keep me right on target.

Just got the set couple of days ago. 1)It DOES NOT take 2 minutes to "warm up" it is on fully bright at 15 seconds or so. I haven't seen it with an HDTV source yet but I can tell you that a "superbit" DVD looks stunning. It also looked very crisp with my XBOX hooked up. The EZ picture formatting is great for stretching the 4:3 TV signal (i like the 2nd zoom best) there are plenty of inputs on the back and the set has lots of nice features (pic in pic, pic out of pic, 3 window channel scanning)
You can view the display at almost 180 degrees and it doesn't "black out" like an LCD panel. Don't be disappointed if a standard TV signal doesn't look "stunning" I think it's just the nature of the beast. It still looks pretty good. I am anxious to switch over to "the dish" so i can get HDTV. Oh yeah, it's light (for a big set) 135 lbs. you can actually move the damn thing if you need to! Aesthetically the set is gorgeous to look at even when its turned off. My favorite thing is to put 2 large pictures side by side and watch the main channels (coming straight from the cable) and then "surf" the cable box channels and the window beside it. This can be done by piping the cable box output into a video input. I was very hesitant buying the tv sight unseen but am very pleased. BTW, you can go to the Zenith website and download the PDF manual for the set, that is very helpful. Finally saw picture in HDTV and it was STUNNING. Downside, NO DVI INPUT! DVI is apparently the newer pure digitial uncompressed connection (a little larger than an RGB jack) Newer TVs have them WHY DOESN'T THIS ONE? That's the only drawback I can think of. The HDTV picture into the RGB jack still looks fantastic.

Got this baby a week or so ago and it's great. I almost bought the 50" Sony which I had seen at the store but a last minute search revealed some issue with the bulbs burning out so that scared me enough to choose the Zenith. I'd wanted a plasma originally, but the quality of this picture is comparable to a $6,000-$7,000 plasma of the same size. Nice.

The HD programming while limited in availability looks outstanding. I thought the brightness levels might be an issue in a bright room like I have but it's not. The TV is surprisingly slim, and not particularly heavy for a set of this size.

I had alot of time to research TV's. We just built an addition
that will serve as a media/rec room. I wanted to buy a tv that we could surf the internet and play video games on without worrying about burn in. The picture quality is just as good as the Sony and Panasonic and is 2" bigger. It is very stylish. The pictures dont do it justice. You can't see the front speakers like in the pics. I could not find a picture of the matching stand anywhere online, but ordered it any way. The stand is just as stylish. It has 2 heavy glass shelves for components that are open and do not have doors. The TV only takes 15-20 secs to turn on. My kids won't let me near it. They have been playing Xbox on it non stop. The built in speakers are very good. I purchased mine for $2,499 right here on Amazon. $1000 cheaper than Bestbuy. It goes on sale periodically. I recommend waiting for such a sale. It was delivered in perfect condition.

Just got the set couple of days ago. 1)It DOES NOT take 2 minutes to "warm up" it is on fully bright at 15 seconds or so. I haven't seen it with an HDTV source yet but I can tell you that a "superbit" DVD looks stunning. It also looked very crisp with my XBOX hooked up. The EZ picture formatting is great for stretching the 4:3 TV signal (i like the 2nd zoom best) there are plenty of inputs on the back and the set has lots of nice features (pic in pic, pic out of pic, 3 window channel scanning)
You can view the display at almost 180 degrees and it doesn't "black out" like an LCD panel. Don't be disappointed if a standard TV signal doesn't look "stunning" I think it's just the nature of the beast. It still looks pretty good. I am anxious to switch over to "the dish" so i can get HDTV. Oh yeah, it's light (for a big set) 135 lbs. you can actually move the damn thing if you need to! Aesthetically the set is gorgeous to look at even when its turned off. My favorite thing is to put 2 large pictures side by side and watch the main channels (coming straight from the cable) and then "surf" the cable box channels and the window beside it. This can be done by piping the cable box output into a video input. I was very hesitant buying the tv sight unseen but am very pleased. BTW, you can go to the Zenith website and download the PDF manual for the set, that is very helpful. Finally saw picture in HDTV and it was STUNNING. Downside, NO DVI INPUT! DVI is apparently the newer pure digitial uncompressed connection (a little larger than an RGB jack) Newer TVs have them WHY DOESN'T THIS ONE? That's the only drawback I can think of. The HDTV picture into the RGB jack still looks fantastic.

Got this baby a week or so ago and it's great. I almost bought the 50" Sony which I had seen at the store but a last minute search revealed some issue with the bulbs burning out so that scared me enough to choose the Zenith. I'd wanted a plasma originally, but the quality of this picture is comparable to a $6,000-$7,000 plasma of the same size. Nice.

The HD programming while limited in availability looks outstanding. I thought the brightness levels might be an issue in a bright room like I have but it's not. The TV is surprisingly slim, and not particularly heavy for a set of this size.

I had alot of time to research TV's. We just built an addition
that will serve as a media/rec room. I wanted to buy a tv that we could surf the internet and play video games on without worrying about burn in. The picture quality is just as good as the Sony and Panasonic and is 2" bigger. It is very stylish. The pictures dont do it justice. You can't see the front speakers like in the pics. I could not find a picture of the matching stand anywhere online, but ordered it any way. The stand is just as stylish. It has 2 heavy glass shelves for components that are open and do not have doors. The TV only takes 15-20 secs to turn on. My kids won't let me near it. They have been playing Xbox on it non stop. The built in speakers are very good. I purchased mine for $2,499 right here on Amazon. $1000 cheaper than Bestbuy. It goes on sale periodically. I recommend waiting for such a sale. It was delivered in perfect condition.

This is a wonderful machine. I purchased the LV-75 for use while traveling but I have found that I use it almost every day. The picture quality is fantastic and it contains all the features that you could possibly want even when hooked up to your home system. The sound quality is very good while using headphones and adequate through the built in speakers. I assume that the sound quality will improve with future models - that is the only minor flaw I can find. If you are seriously considering a portable DVD player I highly recommend choosing one with a 7" screen. The viewing area is sometimes cropped a bit depending on the films format and there's no space to waste on a 5" screen. Overall I am very impressed with this player and feel that I made the right decision after researching many different models.

Just bought one of these from Amazon. Have had no problems whatsoever. Plays double sided disks, does not get warm, no reflection from silver casing. Battery lasted me easily through the in-flight portion of a cross country plane trip with a stopover. If you want perfect sound and a perfect picture, get a home theatre, not a portable DVD player. It's true the controls are not that intuitive, but that's what the manual is for. There was one movie I couldn't hear that well on the plane with the noise-cancelling headset on, but I could hear the other, so you may want to bring a variety when you travel. A major life-saver for frequent travelers. If you can afford it, buy it.

I just bought this thing from Amazon and all I can say is WOW!!!!

This is probably the best purchase I have ever made. This thing is everything I ever expected and more!! It's easy to use as well - even my wife can operate it!

I have to say, everyone out there who is thinking of buying this, stop thinking. I bought it and I am extremely happy with it the moment I powered this thing on. YOU ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY CANNOT GO WRONG WITH THIS PURCHASE! I GUARANTEE IT!!!

Recently spent a month motorcycle travel in Europe using GPS III with local database information. Extremely useful when unsure of location. Interesting to track route and time between destinations. Readily captures signal. Accurate enough to use on walking tour in strange cities - keeps track of routes followed - distance covered. Amazing technology.

There is a newer III out which has an expanded database and allows for downloads from your computer. Check it out first, before buying this one, unless price is the main issue.

I am with the U.S.Army and purchased a GPS III while in Albania on a mission. We used this unit everyday and compared it with our traditional navigation methods. The unit was accurate enough for navigation in a foreign country. It was also used while in Kosovo with the same accuracy. I have had the occasion to use the unit since returning to the US and it has performed flawlessly.

As a software developer with broadband internet and a TV tuner in my PC, I usually have a ridiculous number of things on screen at the same time. It's not uncommon to catch me writing code in one window, reading documentation in another, and watching TV in a third. Attaching two side-by-side LCD displays to my PC would manage this just fine, and probably more cheaply to boot.

But I also like to play games and watch movies, and for that, I wanted a single large panel. The only thing that fit the bill was the Apple display.

I purchased it after much ogling of showroom displays, and attached it to my PC's DVI port (with the help of Apple's DVI-to-ADC adapter). Windows XP detected the new monitor, my video card (ATI 9700 Pro AIW) recognized the higher resolutions, and I was instantly using Windows in crystal-clear 1920x1200 resolution, with no dead pixels.

There are a few negatives:

- The brightness does drop a bit at about 45 degrees, so the sides of the screen may appear darker than the center, but only if you sit really close to it, and are really paying attention.
- On a PC, the Power and Brightness buttons do nothing (except glow in a really cool way when touched). You'll have to use whatever display settings your video card driver provides for color, brightness, contrast, etc. As for turning it off, you'll have to either use Windows' screen-saver option for powering the display down after a few minutes, or unplug it.
- The two built-in USB ports don't suport USB 2.0.
- The ADC connector is proprietary to Apple computers (and only a few models - go figure), so you'll have to buy an adapter (either VGA-ADC or DVI-ADC) to hook it up to your PC.
- Even with my Apple-manufactured DVI-ADC adapter, I get a small amount of "static", especially on black backgrounds. My eyes are trained not to notice it anymore, but considering how pricey these are, it's annoying. UPDATE: I have since found a setting in the ATI configuration that fixes this ('Alternate DVI operational mode'). So this is no longer an issue.
- On my PC, the display doesn't show anything until Windows XP has started up. This means you can't see the BIOS diagnostics or boot menu. On forums, some people have reported this as a problem, and some say it works fine for them. If anything ever goes wrong with the boot process, I'm not sure what I'll do.

Just bought the 23" Apple Cinema display. It works at full res with a GeForce 4 4600 and Windows XP. It has no hardware brightness/contrast controls, but the NVidia driver has these controls + gamma. You can save configurations (such as nighttime, cloudy, office etc) and access them quickly from the taskbar. I have one dead pixel, but at this resolution it is hardly noticeable. You have to buy the DVI to ADC converter to get it to work with an NVidia GeForce card ($$$). There is no loss in quality when using the converter (it is all digital). Color quality and brightness are even across the entire screen. The pixel response is fast for an LCD, but not as quick as a CRT. Still, DVDs and flight simulator rarely exhibit ghosting. Definitely happy with my purchase.

This monitor was designed to be used with Apple's latest G4 Macintosh product line- A single proprietary cable (called the Apple Display Connector, or ADC) provides power and video information to the monitor as well as USB connectivity to the two port USB hub built into the back of the screen. The 1.5" surrounding bezel is grey, encased in clear plastic, giving it a crystal look matching the G4 Cube or Tower decor.

By utilizing Apple's ADC to DVI Converter (not included- provides backward compatibility with non-ADC Macs such as Apple's Powerbook notebooks) as well as a graphic card with a DVI (Digital Visual Interface) port, such as NVidia's GeForce4 4600 or ATI's 9700 Pro, the Cinema Display can be used by both older Macs and PCs. The converter combines AC power, DVI video data and USB data into one port for the monitor's ADC input cable.

The LCD display is roughly one inch taller and two inches wider than two sheets of paper (8.5 x 11) placed side by side- perfect for displaying two full page word processing documents, web page design, or any other applications which might require a number of simultaneous open windows.

There are three minor issues that I noticed. Most monitors have some kind of adjustment buttons... contrast, brightness, hue, tint, etc. Rather than provide external adjustment buttons, The Apple Cinema Display comes with their Apple Displays Software- Apple's "all digital", Mac-only display adjustment solution. PC users must make adjustments to the display via their videocard's driver software. The two touch sensitive buttons on the front bezel are specifically to turn on a G4 Mac and to access the Apple Displays Software... when attached to a PC with the converter, they serve no purpose (although they glow when touched).

Another caveat... Apple doesn't provide an *.INF file for Windows Plug and Play recognition. Windows XP just lists it as a "Plug and Play Monitor". It's an insignificant detail, but when there are few flaws to speak of, the insignificant ones tend to stand out.

Most flat panel displays are suspended from central hinge and mounted on a stand. The size and weight of the 23" Cinema Display make it difficult to implement this, so it stands on three feet- two 2" legs at the base of the screen and a central leg mounted in the back, similar to how a picture frame stands up. This makes the monitor tilt up at an angle, rather than flat in relation to the viewer. I corrected this by putting a video cassette under the back leg.

My Test System: Athlon 2800+, Asus A7N8X+ motherboard, 1Gb PC3200 DDR RAM, ATI Radeon 9700 Pro

First, I decided to watch a DVD. I had mixed results, but not due to the display.

Wide-format DVDs can be encoded two ways- either in full widescreen leaving the DVD software/player to create the black bars above and below the image when displayed on a standard monitor or television, or it can be encoded with the black bars as part of the video frames. This produces a normal widescreen look on a 4:3 ratio television or monitor, but a widescreen display will display black borders on the sides. As a result, the first TRON DVD release (not the 20th Anniversary Edition) and the theatrical release of DUNE (not the Sci-Fi Channel mini-series) that I watched had a two inch black border surrounding a widescreen video image.

Both Intervideo's WinDVD and Cyberlink's PowerDVD software exhibited the same problem, although PowerDVD does have a software zoom solution that cuts a little bit off of the left and right sides.

Independence Day and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace were a different story though. The Cinema Display has a 16:10 ratio, while standard widescreen format is a 16:9 ratio. Because of this, playback of true widescreen movies on this monitor will still have black bars above and below the video image.

According to the Apple Website, The Cinema Display has "lightning-fast pixel response for full-motion digital video playback." They weren't overstating their claim either... I could not detect any of the "ghosting" that occurs with some LCD monitors when high action/fast movement video sequences are displayed.

Next I tried gaming. The two games I have installed are Funcom's Anarchy Online and Dreamcatcher's Hegemonia: Legions of Doom.

Hegemonia is a 3D space battle strategy game. It had only a few resolutions available in it's graphics options screen- the highest being 1600 x 1200. When I played this game, like the 4:3 ratio DVDs, there were black bars on each side of the screen. This is understandable though- few games are written to take advantage of non-standard screen resolutions. Other than that the image was sharp and clear with no distortions.

Anarchy Online is a "massively multi-player online role-playing game", or MMORPG. It was written to be able to utilize any display resolution, either in fullscreen mode or in a window, and I was able to play the game easily at 1920 x 1200. Every so often, though, I'd see the screen "twitch" as I played the game... It could've been any number of things, from the software itself, to Microsoft's DirectX API, to a build up of static. When I actually started playing the game, (after about 15 minutes of "ooohing" and "ahhhing" over the image) the twitches were hardly noticable... in fact, I've noticed them occurring less and less, which leads me to believe that it was indeed a minor static issue.

Summary: The 23" Apple Cinema Display is, simply put, one of the absolute best displays on the market. ... more.

I bought this as a monitor for my home office, thinking I'd use the TV tuner as a PIP (picture-in-picture) image while working. So far it hasn't gotten to my desk! I first set it up as a TV in the bedroom, just to be sure it worked. It is a great little TV! Then it went on the kitchen counter. So much better than a big boxy TV taking-up a lot of space. I want at least one more of these! Two minor issues: the sound is a bit tinny from the small built-in speakers (turning up the Bass setting helped.), and the on-screen controls are hard to read from more than a couple feet away. (The optional captions are larger and easy to see.)

As a monitor this one gets 5 stars... as a TV it gets 4 stars... overall 4.5. When using it as a TV image quality decreases at closer ranges, and also sound quality could definetly be improved... the good about the TV is the PiP mode, 64x Digital Zoom, and that the built in TV-Tunner is NSTC/PAL/SECAM compatible...

Ahhhh... It only weights around 9 pounds...

I've been in the market for quite some time to replace my aging CRT monitor, especially since it takes up an enormous amount of my desk. Looking at the monitors in my price range, it basically seemed like I could purchase either a 15" or 17" monitor. I'd been told to always buy the biggest monitor you can afford, but I'm not so sure that's true in this case. I took a chance and purchased this 15" Samsung, and so far I'm extremely glad I did. The picture is extremely sharp, bright, and very clear, every bit as good as any other 15" inch monitor I previewed. Furthermore, this monitor seems like just the right size for my desk, any larger and I honestly think it would take up too much space. But, the thing that really makes me happy is the fact that it can basically act as a very high quality TV, complete with a remote control and pretty decent speakers. Maybe in a year or so, I'll change my mind and decide to upgrade to a larger LCD monitor. Well, I'm sure prices will have dropped quite a bit, and there will always be more bargains to be found. However, I can always use this current Samsung as a TV next to my bed, placed on a wall somewhere, or in my kitchen. I can't say the same for any other monitor I could have bought. In other words, maybe in a few years I'll buy a new monitor, but there will be plenty of great uses for this one. Any other monitor I'd probably junk. If you're in the market for an LCD monitor, consider the fact that it will probably last you many years. Wouldn't it be nice if not only it could be a great primary display, but also could be used a few years down the road for something else? I can't recommend this monitor highly enough, and I'm extremely pleased with my purchase.