DigitalSandbox

I bought a new monitor this weekend. You see, I had to buy a new one because my old Viewsonic CRT monitor was dying. I knew there was a problem when I turned it on one day as saw that the screen had turned a lovely shade of pink. Now, when I say lovely, I actually mean hideous. Naturally, as an aspiring web designer, I must have a monitor that can properly display color. So I began searching for a replacement.

Before I could replace it with a new model, it came back to life (i.e proper color display). Which was good, because I couldn’t really afford a replacement right then. This little scenario would repeat itself a few more times before it refused to come back from the land of Pink.

So last week or so I renewed the search for a new monitor. Of course a TFT display with DVI connections was high on my list of much have features. This weekend that search has ended and a new monitor sits before me.

My Samsung 730B is awesome. It’s a 17” screen?for the unaware, there is no difference between what you can see on a 19” screen and a 17” screen (both are 1280 x 1024 resolution) and the 17” versions are usually $50-$100 cheaper. It sports dual inputs, one analog (blech!) and one digital (mmm, DVI!).

The best part is the refresh rate. Early (and today’s cheap) LCDs suffer from a slow refresh rate of 25 ms (or worse). Many of today’s LCDs are using faster refresh rates (12-16 ms) and are generally considered quite nice. Samsung has gone one better with this screen. It has a super low 8 ms refresh rate! This makes it perfect for gaming and video.

There is so much I could say about how nice this screen is. The colors are bright and graphics and text are crisp and clear. After looking at my pink screen for so long now, it almost doesn’t seem right! The best part is how much roomier my desk is. That old CRT was occupying a huge amout of real-estate on my little desk (when I say little, I mean down right tiny, my desk is one of those workstation variety where there isn’t room for any thing but the computer), but now I can actually open book up and set it on my desk instead of in my lap.

If you’re in the market for a new screen I highly recommend the Samsung 730B. You won’t regret it.