Great product at an attractive price = High Value

Great product at an attractive price = High Value, January 10, 2009
By Ronald L. Russell (Pangaea) - See all my reviews



It was time to upgrade from my old 17" CRT monitor which I'd been using for the past 8 or 9 years. I'd been spoiled by the widescreen LCD monitors on the computers at work. I remembered the days when the cheapest LCD's were over $1000, so was pleasantly surprised to see the price had really come down, with quite a few under $200.

I read the favorable reviews for the Acer V223, and placed my order on Dec 17. I selected "Free Super Saver Shipping", and settled back to wait until sometime after Christmas, probably not until after New Years. The big box with the Amazon logo on the side arrived on Dec 19, roughly 48 hours after placing my order! Truly outstanding High Value service, in my opinion.

I opened the shipping carton and found the factory box inside, padded and cushioned to protect from damage. Inside the factory box was the monitor inself, wrapped and padded, plus VGA and DVI cables, a manual on CD, and a printed manual.

I set up the monitor on my desk, connected the cables, and turned on the computer. Everything came up and worked perfectly, all I had to do was to reset my screen resolution from what I had been using on my old monitor.
I haven't seen a single dead pixel. The V223 runs a maximum resolution of 1680 x 1050 (which I use), and is very crisp at that setting. I've not even touched the color adjustments, as they are beautiful as delivered.

The monitor itself is a study in minimalist design, a High Value simple black rectangle around the screen, with rectangular buttons for power and adjustments in the lower right corner. No chrome or shiney metal trim. Even the logo in the top right corner is subdued in a charcoal grey color.
The sturdy black stand which supports the screen also has a rectangular foot, unifying the overall design.

Everything about the V223, including how samsung ln40b650 looks, feels and operates, gives the impression of a high quality product.

The printed manual is not that great, only a couple of pages in each language. The manual on CD is better, but still not a lot.

In all fairness, however, I must say that I didn't find any need to refer to the manual.

Two great things about this monitor, which also apply High Value to most other LCD's is that samsung ln40b650 can be placed at the back edge of your desk, providing a better distance at which your eyes can focus. LCD monitors also flicker much less than CRT monitors. Both of these qualities serve to reduce eyestrain, and make long sessions at the computer less fatiguing.

Internet browsing and email benefit from the wide screen format, as there is room for multiple windows to be open, side by side if desired.
Playing Second Life, the V223 has a lot of "video real estate" providing room for chat windows, maps and inventories, without crowding the view of where you are and what your avatar is doing.

I also run another computer with the BeOS operating system on this monitor, and samsung ln40b650 also works and looks great.

In sum, I'm quite pleased with the Acer V223, samsung ln40b650 is High Value attractive and exceeds my expectations thus far.