Samsung SyncMaster 910T review

The Samsung SyncMaster 910T is a large-screen business-oriented LCD with an attractive price, because it lacks multimedia extras such as speakers. The 19-inch Samsung 910T has a crisp, professional look, thanks to a clean, 20mm-wide bezel that surrounds three sides of the screen and widens to just 25mm along the bottom edge. The 910T's design stays focused on getting down to business without flashy distractions.

The six-button control panel is so bland as to be nearly invisible -- the raised black-on-black labels and icons are practically impossible to read. Fortunately, the SyncMaster 910T comes with MagicTune software, which lets you adjust the display from your desktop using keyboard and mouse. You can also use MagicTune to calibrate your monitor's colours, which may be useful if you share your LCD with another person, work in an environment where the ambient lighting changes frequently, or need to use specific colour profiles in your graphics applications. Unfortunately, MagicTune does not work with Macs.

The 910T has a decent range of adjustability options. The screen raises about 60mm, tilts forward 5 degrees and backward 25 degrees, and pivots easily from portrait to landscape mode. Samsung includes PivotPro software, but again, this works only with Windows systems. The 910T lacks a lazy Susan, but it will slide smoothly on a polished work surface. The 910T's small triangular base is prone to wobbling when the panel is extended to its full height. A round, open loop of flexible plastic just above the base gathers the cords into a loose ponytail, but doesn't really attempt to hide them.

Setting up the SyncMaster 910T is easy and quick. It has one analogue and one DVI-D connection port and comes with cables for both. Complete instructions for installing drivers and software are on the included CD-ROM.

Running at its native resolution of 1280x1024 pixels, the 910T performed well across the board on our DisplayMate-based tests. The 910T's 700:1 contrast ratio helped to create good-looking, dark and legible text. Text characters were not as sharp as they could have been, and the darkest shades of grey on the greyscale test screens turned black a little too quickly for our taste, but these flaws are very minor -- and common.

Colours on the 910T were solid and true, with very little fluctuation, or colour shifting. The 910T that we saw had a couple of very small uniformity errors. The screen appeared to be brighter in the corners, and we could see a bright line running diagonally across the screen. In our informal DVD and gaming test, the 910T did not fare well. Moving images cast ghostlike shadows and streaks, the colours seemed overdone and dark areas were devoid of details.

The Samsung SyncMaster 910T comes with a three-year parts-and-labour warranty. Technical support is available between 9am and 6pm Monday to Saturday (calls charged at national rate). Additional support in the form of manuals, drivers and answers to FAQs is available on Samsung's Web site.

Edited by Charles McLellan
Additional editing by Nick Hide