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Introduction

It would be fair to say that the monitor is the most important part of any computer. As the main point of communication between the computer and the user, it limits the quality of any multimedia experience. Be it work or play, a good quality monitor is important. Cue the Pebble range from Samsung. Sleek, sophisticated design here graces a high specification panel. While the whole range holds a similar quality and style, we are looking at 22” model, the 2232BW in this review.

First Thoughts

As this is one of the best selling monitors on the market at the moment, one can only assume that buyers like the glossy curves Samsung have adorned this monitor with. On pulling this monitor out of the box, I was a little taken aback. It really does look very good. I could sit here and describe how awesome it looks for a paragraph or so, but I think I'll let the photographs do the talking. As a side point, this monitor sucks in dust like a vacuum cleaner. These pictures were taken after we spent some time cleaning it up with the kindly included dust cloth.

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Setting it up could be easier. The little diagram included as the instructions makes it look easy. However, this was not the case. You screw the support into the stand - okay easy enough. Then one has to snap the monitor into place onto the support. This was no easy task. After ten minuets of wobbling it back and forth and pushing it trying to get it into place, I gave up. After re-reading the instructions to make sure I wasn't being an idiot, I decided to give it another shot. Eventually, through pushing far harder than I was comfortable with, I got it to snap into position, and as it takes fingerprints as easy as the back of an old iPod, I'd already made a mess of it. Marvellous! It is actually quite fat at the back, bulging out far more than your average LCD. It weighs in at 5kg, which means its fairly heavy for a screen, too. It plugs in using either a DVI or Analogue (VGA) connector, and lets you switch between the two using a button on the front panel. This is handy for those wanting to plug in two inputs like a PC and a games console, and not have to fiddle with wires to switch each time.

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When you switch it on, it flicks back and forth between the two possible inputs looking for a signal. I noticed that sometimes it fails to find one, and one has to manually guide it to the right input via the button. Another quick point here, the round power button in the bottom right glows blue when on, and flashes blue when on standby. It's cute, if a little annoying when flashing.

Specifications

The specifications, with some explication, are as follows: Viewable area: 22” (widescreen). This is measured from corner to corner of the panel itself. The monitor itself is 20.4” wide, and 14.7” tall without the stand, 16.5” with it. Widescreen simply means the monitor does not use the standard 16:9 ratio of height to width used by most screens. Instead it has a ratio of 16:10, so its wider. This tends to be more practical for working, or viewing movies etc.

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Image Contrast Ratio 1000:1 / 3000:1 (dynamic). This is a measurement of just how much light is emanated from the brightest and darkest colours this monitor can display. A low contract ratio will give you a washed out black and desaturated colours. Here, the 1000:1 contrast ratio suggests a good quality of colour reproduction. Dynamic contrast ratio means the luminosity the monitor can produce over a period of time. Really here it is a sales gimmick, as static and dynamic contrast ratios are not fairly comparable to one another. Colour support24-bit (16.7 million colours) This simply means it's going to display a16.7 million colours. This is standard. Viewing Angle: 170. This means you can see the monitor correctly from almost any angle. Response Time: 2ms (Grey To Grey). This is how long it takes the monitor to actually react to given command to change. A slow response time is what gave older LCDs a bad name, as one could get ghosting. However, anything under about 25ms is unlikely to give this effect, and the 2ms time boasted by this Samsung means this issue has died out completely. Other specs, which I won't bother to define are:

• Pixel Pitch(mm): 0.282 x 0.282
• Brightness(cd/m2)(typ.): 300 cd/m2
• Horizontal Frequency(kHz): 30 ~ 81
• Vertical Frequency(Hz): 56 ~ 75
• Maximum Resolution: 1680x1050
• On Mode: 50W

It is noteworthy that this model does NOT include a TV tuner, as some websites erroneously claim. There is a model of this screen available with one, however the 2232BW is not it.

Testing

One note on practicality is that the stand has no swivel function. Only a limited tilt. There is no option to wall mount it either. The stand was already too hard to get set up, meaning it is one of this monitors biggest let downs. The picture quality is rather hard to show you. I cannot just take a screen shot, as your monitor just wont show you what I am seeing. However, I can confirm that the blacks are black, the whites are bright. Note: The Samsung Pebble is the monitor on the left in all the comparative images.

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I found no issue with the uniformity of the backlight, which was as good as a monitor in this price range will ever be. The sample I received had no dead or stuck pixels. In terms of actually testing performance, we used the great tests available at http://tft.vanity.dk . You can see here some comparisons to a run of the mill 19” Acer monitor (specifically, an AL1914 ). Notice first the colour comparison. The colour on these pictures is not doctored in any way, although the long exposure of the camera has exaggerated it beyond what one sees with the human eye. The Acer looks very pink indeed next to the Samsung Pebbles whites.

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This next test monitors the response time. The Acer has a 16ms response, compared to the Samsungs 2ms response. This test shows that somebody is fibbing. Here the same image is fed to both computers, and a photograph is taken. The numbers on screen are constantly moving. The Acer should show a number slightly lower in the millisecond column. It doesn't. Although notice some slight ghosting here is visible on the Acer, and not on the Samsung. This may mean that Samsung's claimed 2ms response time is a falsity.

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Conclusion

In terms of pricing at time of writing this monitor clocks in between 200 and 220 pounds depending on where you buy it. Other monitors in this price range include offerings from BenQ or Viewsonic, but these tend to have a 700:1 contrast ratio and a slightly slower 5ms response time. Add in the good looks of the Samsung, and in terms of value, we have a winner. While a bit of shopping around may find you an equal spec monitor for the same price, it just won’t look as good as the Samsung Pebble. Conclusion: So there we have it. It’s a great looking monitor, with a good picture, great looks, and a low price tag. A few minor issues do come up, such as the awful stand, and it’s mystical ability to attract dust. However beyond these more or less trivial matters, there is little to complain about. For your average home user, gamer, or anything other than top end graphic editor, this monitor suits perfectly. Pros: Better color than an air hostess’ cheeks. More aesthetic than the ceiling at St. Peter’s Both DVI and VGA, so no problems with inputs Better value for money than dinner on Bill Gates. Cons: A stand so bad they may as well have given you a bit of wood and some nails. Attracts more dust than my video collection.