Experiences With The Samsung 215TW

[Slackenerny]

I'm really interested in hearing people's experiences who own or have used the 215TW.

I've been researching monitors for a while and had been thinking about the 226BW or 226CW but was getting frustrated with the lack of alternatives to the TN panels at the 22" size (which seems around a good size). However I then found this S-PVA panel at 21" and the same number of pixels.

I'm not considering a Dell 2407 as I don't want to have to push that many pixels in gaming, but on the other hand I'd rather pay more and get a better product if one's available. I just like around the 22" inch size. Other monitor suggestions are very welcome.

What are your impressions of:
- Colour quality & black depth
- Ghosting & lag issues
- Image quality outside native resolution

Bonus points if you also have experience with a 226BW and can give direct comparisons.

In terms of my usage: mainly gaming, document writing, software coding, and occasional movie watching but these are all compressed anyway so I don't care too much about video quality.

I guess I'm trying to get a sense of the increase in quality of going to the S-PVA panel. While the TN 22" may suffice, I'm not averse to paying more for something better. I'll probably keep this monitor for little while at least and for longer term purchases, I try to get a higher quality product (hence my P180 case etc.)

With all the stuff I do on my computer (coding for job, Ph.D, gaming) I'd prefer a higher quality product. My fundemental question is two-fold:

1) Is the better panel worth the extra $110 ($420 for 226BW vs. $530 for the 215TW)?

2) Are there any realistic downsides with the S-PVA over the TN (i.e. do you notice ghosting at 8ms)?

Please share with me your sagely wisdom on this matter.

 

[n7]

You can get much better 24"ers for only slightly more than the $530 you're considering, & if you can't run 1920x1200, 1:1 pixel mapping will let you run 1600x1200 or 1680x1050, etc. on there.

Now since JAG87 will likely make an appearance screaming at me for talking about Dell & 1:1, you can still run lower resolutions on the good 24"s with black bars around teh sides, regardless of how he wants to term it.

 

[BernardP]

Have a look there, but I agree with n7 that the 215TW is pricey for what you get:

http://www.widescreengamingfor...m/viewtopic.php?t=6859

 

[kef7]

I paid around $300 (office depot clearance) for my 215TW and I love it.

I'm not sure if I experienced the "input lag" other owners have mentioned; initial use seemed different but hard to qualify whether it was input lag or just me being used to using a 21" CRT. (I also switched to a different mouse around the same time)

The color quality improvement over my CRT was the first thing I noticed. I actually replayed a big portion of Oblivion because it looked so awesome. The black levels were also much better.

I don't recall using it outside of the native resolution so can't comment on that.

Despite my positive experience I wouldn't recommend buying one for $530. For that money I'd go with the dell 2407.

 

[Slackenerny]

Thanks for everyone's input. Much appreciated. Food for thought.

 

[KaranB]

Well I'd definitely reccomend it Had it for a few months now and have yet to find a single fault with it. It is a bit pricey compared to similiar Samsung models thanks to all the extra inputs it has.