Reviews for Samsung SyncMaster 204T-Black 20" LCD Monitor

Super display for the price

Strengths: rotation feature is great even though I don't use it much. I've just setup two of them side by side.

Weakness: Autorotation feature seems not to work (but I don't have them hooked up through DVI yet).

This 20" display is great in regards to the resolution. I haven't seen any burned out pixels yet after a month. For the price it was great in comparison to other 20" monitors. For playing games I have seen no problems with the refresh rate.

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Inexpensive Real Estate

Strengths: 1600 x 1200 Inexpensive No Dead Pixels Easily adjustable Sleek

Weakness: Color/image quality Very Blue Lack of any extras So-so pixel latency

I decided this year to rid myself of the CRT shackles I've had and reclaim my desktop. Two months ago I bought a Dell Ultrasharp 2405FPW which turned out to be one fantastic monitor (after reading oodles of reviews).

I searched high and low for a secondary display that was affordable on my meager college budget (financial aid really is a dangerous thing). PCmag.com picked the 204T as an editor's choice, CNET gave it a 7.2 and a few other lesser websites had good things to say. Originally I was aiming for something cheaper but I soon learned that many quality 19 inchers at 1280 x 1024 cost roughly the same if not more. I first looked to Dell's Ultrasharp 1905FP, a rather well liked LCD only to find a new 1907FP. Little does the glowing CNET Review mention the new 1907FP is a 6 bit (per channel) display meaning 2,097,152 colors instead of a full 16.7 million plus many complained not only were colors a step down but the viewing angle had been decreased. So I broke down and decided I wanted a monitor that'd match the vertical resolution (1200) of my 2405FPW for my dually monitor usage.

I'd probably be more impressed with this monitor if I didn't have the 2405FPW sitting next to it. Out of the box the monitor disgustingly blue. Many monitor makes presets are tinted blue to stand out on shelves which is ironic as generally for long view sessions slightly warm colors generally cause less visual stress and more pleasant to the viewer (basic color psychology generally cites this as the eye likes slightly tinted whites due to the sun's natural warm tint). Trying to UNBLUE the monitor is a hassle. The 204T looks much like an LCD, overblown colors and insanely bright. All the presets are bright and the game preset is enough to blind. A few readers mentioned this and is much akin to the current trend of monitors. Contrast ratios (Rather meaningless unless to the ANSI Spec) can be greatly increased just by making a display bright as contrast ratios are mostly garbage as there's no standard, plus LCDs (as a response to early LCDs being perpetually dim) have brightness ratings. Combine the two and you get ungodly bright displays that may be pleasant across a room or facing direct sunlight out doors on a cloudless day in Flagstaff that are more or less overkill.

After a half hour of fiddling with OS X I couldn't match the preferred settings on my main display and it still looks unnatural and forced. I honestly wonder if the Samsung engineer were working on this monitor under red lamps due to the overly cool color temperature.

Also notable is almost every review mentioned the lousy Analog performance, I haven't tried it myself its to be considered, also, the 16 ms makes for a luckluster choice for gaming.

While all negative said and done, most 19s in this price range suffer worse, with bad viewing angles, much more uneven color/brightness (the left side edge appears to be slightly brighter) and often awful pictures. For the $450 spent, there just simply aren't any 1600 x 1200 displays that are worth even looking at besides the 204T. Many of the 19 inchers priced at the same range suffer the same problems if not worse. I'd probably be much more content with the 204T if it just wasn't side by side with an obviously superior monitor. If Samsung rereleases the 204T with a much less blue tint, then this would be getting a double thumbs up from me and a customer testimonial.

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Gorgeous wide angle pivoting display

Strengths: inexpensive monitor for 1600x1200 resolution, WIDE viewing angle - great for portrait

Weakness: monitor sits a little high off table

I bought a refurbished model from www.techforless.com since this model is now discontinued. I own three other identical units and use it primarily for office/development work (no gaming). This is one of the only 1600x1200 units in a 20" form factor - Samsung's new lineup forces you to go to 21" to get the T models that have the wide viewing angle.

I have tried the Samsung 204B which has much faster response time, but trades it off for a weaker viewing angle, so colors on side of screen appear shifted to orange. The 204T on the other hand has very little color shift when viewed from 24" distance.

2 of my screens were flawless, 1 had a stuck-on dead red pixel and 1 had a dead green pixel. Since I don't work with a dark background much, this has never bothered me. Also screens have never developed any new dead pixels after purchase (unlike some Sony screens I tested).

Software works I guess, but is not designed for dual-headed systems, so I stick with ATI's built-in pivot software and third party color management tools. Also monitor at lowest elevation sits a little high since it has to have clearance for pivoting the screen. Okay for me since I'm tall and touch-type, but shorter people may be bothered having to look up from a keyboard.

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Great Monitor

Strengths: Screen rotation is great for web surfing and email. Includes the DVI cable.

Weakness: Rotation software could interfere with your video card drivers

This 20" display is perfect for side by side document viewing. The 90 degree rotation makes it even better for long page dicuments. The 1600 x 1200 is a must when using a large display. There are many 20" monitors to chose from but only a few offer this resolution. That was key in my decision to go with Samsung. I also have a 56" DLP and 32" LCD TV from Samsung. Their quality and reliability have been great.

Regarding the rotation feature. I installed the sofware that came with the monitor but later removed it because it interfered with my ATI Graphics driver. I still can use the rotation feature because ATI has this feature as well.

Paid $499 after rebate from Best Buy.

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Great monitor once I found one that had no dead...

Strengths: Screen size, rotatable, DVI connection, resolution 1600x1200

Weakness: poor quality control

I had to go through 3 of these before finding one that had no dead pixels (right out of the box). The severity ranged from 1 or 2 areas to one that had a fairly big line of dead pixels in two areas. Make sure you open the box in store and test it out before walking out of the store with it.

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Dark colors=backlight issues

Strengths: brightness, clarity, text, colors

Weakness: the backlight on the monitor I received was horrible. All was well until I saw how bad the backlight was when my screen went black for my screensaver to come on.

The baclight leakage was so bad that there was almost a white "X" across the screen whenever the screen was dark. I had some uneven backlight issuies with a dell I purcahsed but nothing this bad.

I will return this model and either a)try a replacement or b) try a new brand all together.

This sort of backlight problem is unacceptable for a $500+ monitor. Threres just no way Im willing to shell out this sort of money and accept so much backlight leakage.

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next level - 20 inches

Strengths: size, resolution, DVI port

Weakness: refresh rate

I am using 2 of these monitors on one computer and enjoying the brilliant colors and great looking pictures that this monitor is capable to represent.
This was an upgrade from the same 19" monitor and downgrade from the same 21" one as I found optimal for my work to be 20".

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Best Samsung Monitor with Monitor Type Flat Panel LCD TFT (Active Matrix)

Display is Good according to 6 Monitor experts. -- "The 204Ts digital image quality was outstanding."-pcmag.com -- "colors were accurate and vibrant."-review.zdnet.com -- "Colors were solid and bright"-review.zdnet.com Read more to find expert opinions on more features like Sound, Connectivity, etc.

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