Samsung SyncMaster 204B
So I finally went back to Best Buy and returned that 19" Samsung 930b for the 20.1" Samsung 204b. I have to say, it was well worth the extra $175.00. The monitor has a little bit better colour, but mostly far far better resolution. According to the specifications, it's the same brightness as before, but it's got a slightly higher contrast ratio at 800:1 and a slightly faster response time at 5ms (vs 8ms in the previous model). The first thing I noticed about this monitor when I pulled it out of the box is that it can switch between landscape and portrait mode, but with a resolution of 1600x1200, I can't see why you would need a portrait mode.
This monitor is considerably more flexible than the 19" model with a weighted swiveling base that is small enough for you to wonder how it doesn't fall over (but it seems very stable). It spins quite easily on the base, and pivots in the center as opposed to pivoting at the bottom as in the previous model. The picture is vibrant and the amount of screen space makes it feel, when you sit infront of it, as though it's a wide screen even though it's not. In fact, I don't suggest the wide screen version of the monitor (which I didn't as quickly find a link to) as it actually has lower resolution, giving it almost the same number of pixels horizontally as the standard layout.
Setting up the monitor just right in X11 took a little bit of tweaking, because it started out with a slightly higher than suggested refresh rate (at 65 hz) and it wasn't as nice on the eyes. After a bit of searching I found this snippet of configuration that let me set the refresh rate a bit closer to the suggested level.
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Samsung 204B"
VendorName "Samsung"
Option "DPMS"
Mode "1600x1200"
DotClock 162.00
HTimings 1600 1664 1856 2160
VTimings 1200 1201 1204 1250
Flags "+VSync" "+HSync"
EndMode
EndSection
As soon as the monitor got a signal that was at a level it didn't like, it popped up a nice intrusive warning in the middle of the screen for about five seconds saying "Not optimal display settings, Suggested Setting: 1600x1200 60hz". So I knew exactly what to shoot for, without ever looking at the book. It's just a monitor, why would I look at the book?
At any rate, I'm quite happy with my purchase, and suggest it to anyone looking to spend under $500 on a nice monitor. It's got a fair amount of bang for the buck.
