The Samsung SyncMaster™ 213T is an elegant, flexible, and most importantly, high-performance 21.3" dual-input analog/digital LCD display. Form, function and finesse are embodied in this stunning monitor that pivots, turns, and rotates, all with a simple touch. The dual inputs accommodate an analog or digital signal, all-the-while showcasing ultra-crisp, ultra-vivid graphics and text. The 213T boasts a contrast ratio of 500:1, 1600 x 1200 active native resolution, pixel pitch of 0.270mm H/V, Xtrawide™ 170/170 viewing angle, analog and digital video inputs, and a scanning frequency of 30-93 kHz horizontal and 56-85 Hz vertical. The 213T’s Pivot Technology lets you turn your display from landscape to portrait without breaking a sweat. With a narrow bezel (measuring a mere 0.75") the 213T is a desktop space-saver and if you’re feeling more permanent, you can even mount the display on the wall and get it off your desk completely. To ensure long, reliable performance, the 213T comes with a three-year parts and labor warranty, including the backlight. Add toll-free, 24/7 support for the life of the monitor, and you’ll have a worry-free, high-end display for years to come.
The Samsung SyncMaster 213T combines versatile viewing and connectivity options with powerful image performance. With sharp 1,600 x 1,200 resolution, 250 nits of brightness, and a 500:1 contrast ratio, images appear rich and clear. Dual inputs allow for digital and analog connectivity, and a stylish modern silver design completes the package.
Viewable at up to 170 degrees (horizontal and vertical), pivot enabled (landscape and portrait orientations) and wall mountable, the viewing configurations are seemingly limited only by imagination. The PC and Mac compatible Samsung SyncMaster 213T comes backed by a two-year warranty on parts and labor.
1 Best... Panel... Ever...
Hands down. Samsung rocks in the LCD department. 1600x1200, not a single bad pixel. Bright, fast, kickass. I'd give it 6 stars if I could.
2 Portrait Mode is Plus and Great for Movies
I bought this monitor after browsing monitors ranging in size of 17" to 21". The size is spectacular, although the price from a 19" to 20" to 21" is significant, so only get this one if you value those extra 1 or 2 inches or will outgrow one of the smaller sizes (note the resolution jump from 19" to 20" though). I was a bit nervous when I purchased this monitor because I wasn't sure if the extra few hundred were worth it, but I am very please so far. It is huge, sharp, switches to portrait mode (more convenient than you may think), and plays movies quite well.
The portrait mode is great for documents and surfing the web. I can view 1 1/2 pages of Word documents and search web pages faster. Be sure to get the software to switch your computer to portrait mode (I'm not sure if it usually comes with the monitor; I use PivotPro). I also sometimes do homework with as much viewing space of the document as a 17" monitor and still have a movie playing in the bottom quarter of the screen... one of the many conveniences of the portrait mode. Also, increase the sensitivity of your mouse (or get a mouse with more sensitivity) so scrolling across the screen isn't an inconvenience.
I watch movies quite frequently and, when viewing from 4' or more away, the only noticable differences from a TV is higher resolution in the monitor (pro) and very slight distortion with fast movements (con, but barely noticable). I haven't played games on this monitor (yet), so I cannot vouch for the performance there.
Overall, I am very pleased. Also, no dead pixels or blemishes (at least yet). I don't think I will ever outgrow this monitor; an increase in size would actually be an inconvenience for most of my uses because then there is too much to keep track of (only pros I can think of for a larger monitor would be dual document viewing and a larger screen for movies). I would highly recommend this monitor for anyone considering an 18" through 24" monitor!
3 Wonderful Monitor, I love the ability to rotate the Screen
I saw this monitor set up in a "Big Box" store when I was on vacation and after using it in the store for a while, ordered one sent to my local "Big box" after checking prices online. The small footprint, lack of heat thrown off by a CRT, crisp display (I use the DVI so I can't speak to analog issues, but it looked fine in the store) and ease of setup is all I could want. I went to PivotPro's website and D/L'ed a free upgrade and haven't had any problems with switching between landscape and portrait modes.
I find myself using the monitor in it's vertical portrait mode, except for gaming, as both web pages and documents usually view better this way.
4 Samsung 213T
I bought this monitor about 5 months ago now and love it. I have it coupled with a new Nvidia GeForce 6800 256 MB graphics card. For those of you who worry about "Ghosting" when game playing I have not seen it. Half life 2 and Doom 3 look truely amazing. With full resolution 1600x1200, colors are vibrant and blow away the normal "glass" monitor I had before. The monitor also pivots any way you can think of and comes with cool software that will keep everything legible no matter how the monitor is turned. The size is great and it's footprint is small.
5 Wow!
This is a beautiful monitor--thin bevel, clear and sharp picture, etc. You will not be disappointed.
6 Awsome display; Awful documentation
Based on the reviews that I read here and at several computer hardware review websites I, too, finally made the switch from a 21" CRT to this Samsung 213T LCD DVI TFT monitor. (To give you an idea of my level of expertise, I knew that LCD stood for Liquid Crystal Display, but I had to look up the other two acronyms to find that they stand for Digital Video Imaging and Thin-Film Transistor.)
I began to question my decision when I opened the box to find that the only written documentation was a four-page "Quick Setup Guide" written in, would you believe, 14 different languages, the first instruction in the "Read Me Before Installation" section of which said, "1. Due to the technological limitation (sic) in the manufacturing process, the pixel (sic) in the LCD panel of this product may look brighter or darker than normal by 1PPM." Nowhere in the very brief English instructions did it say that it would be wise to study the User's Guide included in HTML and PDF formats on the driver CD before disconnecting your old monitor.
My computer has a Radeon 9800 video card which has both an old-style VGA connector, to which my old CRT was attached, and a DVI connector. The 213T monitor comes with both DVI and "D-sub analogue" (ne VGA) cables attached. Naturally, I connected the DVI cable. When I fired up the system the 213T display was blank except for a message that said "No Connection, Check Signal Cable" (I'm surprised that it wasn't in 14 languages too). So I detached and reattached both ends of the cable. Same, unhelpful, message. I then used its D-sub cable to connect it to the VGA socket on my graphics card, and I can confirm what other reviewers have said about quality of the 213T's picture when used in analogue mode: substantially inferior to my old CRT.
Wondering whether the DVI connector on my graphics card might be faulty, I then connected the 213T's analogue cable to the DVI connector using a VGA-to-DVI adapter. I was rewarded with a picture, but it was, of course, the same analogue picture I had gotten using the D-sub cable connection. After going off on several other wild goose chases I finally remembered the old adage, "When all else fails, read the instruction manual," which was on that driver CD.
Sure enough, there was a troubleshooting section there, which said that when connected using the DVI cable, "If you still see an (error) message on the screen when the monitor is connected properly, check to see if the monitor status is set to analog. Press Source button to have the monitor double-check the input signal source." Sure enough, when I hooked it up to the DVI port again and did that, it worked. I wasted about an hour and a half before making that discovery. My error must be a rather common one, which could have been prevented by one sentence in the Samsung Quick Setup Guide saying the same thing!
So much for the bad news. The good news is, as most of the other reviewers have said, when you get it hooked up to DVI and tweaked properly, this monitor provides an excellent display. Don't under any circumstances waste your money on it if you don't have a DVI-capable graphics card to hook it to, however. And tweak the 213T carefully. You'll find that the native 1600x1200 resolution looks substantially better than lower resolutions, even when you turn on Windows' ClearType and tweak its settings as one reviewer has recommended. If you are migrating up from a lower resolution big screen monitor as I have done, you'll find that Windows' type and icons look pretty small that way, but their clarity is excellent and if you find that you need to you can increase their size in WindowsXP ([Control Panel][Display Properties][Advanced][Item: Icon]).
7 Professional Quality
A great monitor for the photo or video professional!
Samsung has stuck to a more sophisticated and costsly LCD matrix (PVA) in it's large monitors even while other manufacturers are chasing "fast response time" specs at all costs and going back to older, more primitive LCD matrices in order to keep costs down.
I had the chance to compare at lenght the Sony Xbright 19" and the Samsung. With the Xbright 19" Sony has given in to the mass market pressure and gone back to the older TN+Film matrix in the 19" realm. At first you are captivated by the Sony's brightness. But go off to the side of the Sony even a hair and the colors start dimming and degrading. The Samsung looks unchanged and the colors remain true. Even viewed from an extreme angle the Samsung's colors don't shift, and the image is clearly visible. That's one huge advantage of the newer, more elaborate LCD matrices such as S-IPS (found in some NEC's) and PVA (found in the 213t).
The Samsung's contrast is excellent, and I haven't noticed any problems with "speed" running video or intence graphical programs such as iTune's "Visualizer." And, you get 21.3 inches of this quality!
With included Pivot Pro software (PC only) or the Radeon 9800 Pro for Mac you can pivot the monitor in real time to portrail mode. Great for proofing portraits or displaying an entire score of music.
8 Big LCD Monitor at a Good Price
The Samsung 213t is significantly cheaper than other 21.3" monitors, although it should be noted that you'll spend a lot less on a 20" monitor. So if you're looking at this one, you'd better value that extra inch. Should you? This depends on whether you like high pixel density or low pixel density. The 21.3" monitor yields about 94 dpi (dots per inch); a 20" monitor is more like 100 dpi. Some of the smaller 1600x1280 displays (especially for laptops) go above 120 and even 130 dpi, and some people prefer the high density, even though the text gets smaller. WinXP has a setting to increase font and dialog box sizes based upon the local dpi, but this is imperfect, since graphics, unlike fonts, are not resized. We can argue theory forever, but the essential question is, what do you find easiest on your eyes? For me, the lowest dpi is most comfortable, because it draws larger characters, but I know of people who prefer the high numbers. If you're like me and you want low dpi and a lot of screen real estate, this is your monitor, at least in 2004. (There's a wider model, the 243t (24"), but it costs about twice as much.) The 213t price has been dropping over the year (with periodic rebates!) and may drop farther, and this model may well be replaced before long.
With any modern LCD monitor, be sure to use the digital connection to a DVI video card. The digital connection assures that the monitor will display *exactly* what the PC intends. If you use the VGA analog connection, you'll be open for some smearing and ghosting.
The 213t has no frills (no speakers, no USB). Its response time (25 ms) isn't as fast as some other monitors, so it's not the optimal choice for gaming or video. But it's a sharp, clear, large display. For the market niche it fills, it's the best monitor at the best price.
9 Buy Samsung at your own RISK
I bought a Samsung flat-panel LCD television in March, and it the panel went dead in April. I brought it to a one of Samsung's certified dealers for repair, and waited and waited. Finally in May, I was told that the the television panel was indeed defective and couldn't be fixed, so the manufacturer was obligated to replace it under the warranty. It's now September, and guess what, I'm still waiting for the replacement. Buy from Samsung at your own risk. From my own experience, Samsung does stand by their products. For a few dollars more, buy one of the better, more reliable brands.
10 Nice, but not quite there for my needs
As a graphic designer, I'd been considering this monitor but just couldn't justify the price....but finally broke down and decided to give it a shot. Setup is easy, and I was up and running in no time. I was impressed with the image quality and text sharpness, but as I spent more time with it, I discovered reds were displayed with a magenta cast, and it lacks some very important controls I need for my everyday graphic design work. I lay out several full color magazines, and the on-screen images need to be pretty close to what will be seen in print with regard to brightness, contrast, color, etc. In comparing this monitor's on-screen images with the press-printed magazine pages, no matter what settings I tried, I couldn't get it close. When I got the brightness about where it shoud be (images in magazine print are ususally darker than what you normally see on a monitor screen), contrast was too low and couldn't be adjusted any higher. Images looked muddy as compared to what they should look like. And there's no brightness adjust button to quickly go back and forth between user and programmed settings. I'd have to completely redo the settings each time I go between magazine work and everyday viewing for web, e-mail, basic design, etc. I'd expect more user-specific controls with a monitor of this price.
So for my personal use, this monitor is lacking in necessities for the price. Overall, colors are pretty good, and for those who aren't demanding with regard to very precise color reproduction and don't need the ability to control the image brightness with the press of a button, this is a fine monitor. I'm normally too busy for gaming, so it's not a concern to me.
Although smaller, I now have a Sony SDM-HS73B, which is sharper, truer color reproduction, and offers 4 brightness settings, which coupled with selected gamma settings, provides me with exactly what I need in a monitor. With the press of a button, I can instantly go from everyday viewing to magazine work. Image quality and color reproduction is superb.
The 213T was returned.
11 great monitor for certain uses, beware dead pixels
This bright sharp screen when pivoted 90 degrees on its side is great for programming and reading large amounts of narrow column text. For a dual monitor workstation, I have this monitor with its DVI connection and another older flat panel with an analog connection both hooked up to an ATI Radeon 9600XT dual port video card, and used ATI's included software to set that up.
I ended up going to two different stores and carefully viewing five of these monitors before I could find one without any dead pixels. To look for that problem, make the screen all black and look for any green or red pixels that are stuck turned on. Then make the screen all white and look for little grey spots that don't show white.
12 Expecations not met
I purchased the Samsung 213T as an attempt to upgrade my current NEC model LCD1912 - mostly wanted the 1600x1200 resolution and larger desktop work space. Initially, I used the analog inputs - truly a disappointment! Could not optimize for clear sharp lines and text no matter how I played with the settings, even when making sure to use native 1600x1200 resolution and 60Hz refresh rate. "AUTO" optimization button did little to improve anything. Switched to DVI and sharpness was much much better, but still not as good as the NEC (which only has an anlog input!). Once I was willing to accept the reasonable (but not perfect) sharpness of the Samsung, I then tried to optimize the colors for my digital photo editing. Here's where the disappointment really hit hard - The Samsung has no direct settings for color temperature like the NEC has. I had to play with red, blue, and green settings and could not come close to achieving the warm color temperature that is a simple button setting on the NEC. I was stuck with the bluish "cool" color temperature that most LCD displays seem to have. And overall, the colors on the Samsung just seem too washed out for my tastes - the NEC on the other hand can produce vibrant rich colors.
On the positive side, the Samsung 213T seems to be the first to come down in price to a reasonable level at this time for such a large monitor. You do get a lot of monitor for the money. The NEC LCD2180, also a 21.3" unit, is still much more expensive.
13 Upgraded from a 19" Viewsonic
I'm using this monitor with a dual processor Powermac G4 and a Radeon 9800 card. I upgraded from a 19" Viewsonic LCD- and even though it seems like only a 2.3" advantage on paper, sitting here at my desk and looking at this gorgeous thing, it seems HUGE.
It's running 1600X1200 and I am seeing a LOT more stuff on my screen than I did on my old monitor this morning!
No dead pixels, plenty bright, good contrast and color managed great using Apple's Display calibrator in System Preferences.
I was really tempted to get a 23" Apple Cinema Display but this seems just as big. The Apple display is a lot skinnier which is great for movies, but for regular work (I do a lot of photoshop) I prefer the 4:3 format to the 16:9.
The only con is it seems a little plasticky compared to the slick aluminum cases of the Apple Displays. Other than that, I am very, very happy. Make sure you look around for aggressive rebates on this monitor.
I also like the fact that it's light- only 12-15 lbs. I plan to take it with me on some photo jobs that I might have to do on location. By comparison, my 2 year old Viewsonic was only 19" and weighed almost 20lbs. Maybe plastic is a good thing!
14 Wish I researched Samsung's replacement policy before buying
Bought two of these monitors about two weeks ago. Both came with several dead pixels right next to each other forming an annoying blimp on the screen. Samsung agreed to replace both units. However, when the replacements arrived today, they turned out to be refurbished and with MUCH greater problems. One had a horrible color problem where one edge of the screen has one shade and the other another. Much worse when looked at from an angle. Another replacement was too dim even with brightness set to 100. Both refurbished monitors had many dead pixels. Apparently, this is acceptable to Samsung.
Beware! Samsung will only replace with refurbished monitors, so if yours comes defective, you are out of luck trying to replace for a new unit.
Needless to say, I will never buy Samsung again.
15 Good picture quality, not good for gamers
This monitor has a truly amazing picture at 1600x1200, and the colors are great, too. With DVI, the picture is very stable and quite beautiful
HOWEVER:
If you are a hardcore gamer, pass this one up.
Many people may disagree with this, but for me the ghosting is too noticeable and it is distracting and can actually detract from your gameplaying.
For instance, if you play Unreal Tournament 2004 online, you need to be able to rotate the camera all the time while still retaining the ability to discern motion in the distance (say, an enemy running at you). With this monitor the ghosting is just too much and it can seriously hinder your playing.
However, everything else about it is good as far as LCDs go. For me, I am going to return this monitor and go with a ViewSonic 22" CRT instead. It's half the price and offers just as good a picture quality in my opinion. Plus, I like being able to run my monitor at any resolution without having to worry about interpolation. And, I'll say it again -- for me ghosting is a show stopper.
Here's a small experiment: try tracking the mouse pointer with your eyes in windows while moving it at various speeds. On this monitor is blurs easily. On a CRT it doesn't. If you are a gamer -- stay away. For this price you can get a CRT that will blow this LCD out of the water.
However, other factors such as the ergonomics of this monitor are pretty good..
16 Tip if used in 90-degree "portrait" mode
Inasmuch as this monitor alone cost more than my last IBM computer system (including monitor and printer), I was highly critical of it the first couple weeks -- looking for dead pixels (none found) -- etc. I edit several newsletters in QuarkXpress and my eyesight is slowing failing. I bought this unit because of its nifty pivot-to-portrait-mode capability, a feature I value highly, and which reminded me of my old Macintosh Portait (monochrome) Monitor years ago, which I loved. Anyway, I was less than pleased at first with the sharpness of small fonts, when viewed in portrait mode: five lines were sharp, the next five line fuzzy, the next five were sharp, etc. In checking with Samsung's 1-800 technical support, a techie worked me through 20 minutes of fine adjustements until he suggesed I push the monitor's "Auto" button (I hadn't done so earlier, as I assumed incorrectly that it would merely discard all my fine adjustments are return to factory-preset defaults). But that did the trick! All type everywhere on the massive screen popped into equal sharpness, and now I'm 100 percent tickled with this unit and can recommend it to others.
17 Worth every penny.
This monitor is a great value, even though it runs around $1,200. All 21.3" of glorious viewable screen. Very bright and clear.
Also, it has the ability to physically turn from landscape to portrait and allows me to run several full screen docs side-by-side. At 1600X1200 I see everything. Great for business and everyday use and significantly reduces the heat in my office as well as gives me more of my desk back.
The only issue that I could possibly come up with is that in spite of what anyone says, no high-end LCD will beat a high-end CRT monitor. If you are a graphics person or big gamer go for the 22"Viewsonic P225fb, half the cost and better for those uses. Even at that I am a bit picky.
This monitor is just fabulous and you will not be disapointed.
18 Happy Customer
I've owned this Samsung (213T) 21.3'' Flat-Panel LCD Monitor for about a month now, and think it is an excellent monitor! My display had one dead pixel that's out towards the edge and can't even be noticed unless you know where to look. For a screen this size that's damn good. I've read in some reviews that criticize the brightness, that concerned me a little. But once I received my monitor I found that it not only was plenty bright enough, but I had to turn it down from the default setting! You definitely want to use the digital connection for hook up, don't even think of hooking up to the analog connection. I've played a few games and DVD's and have noticed very minimal ghosting. I love the adjustability of the stand, you can just about put the screen at any angle or position your heart desires.
All I can say is I don't know why I waited so long in purchasing this monitor it's just fantastic!
19 Absolutely AWESOME!
I just got this LCD from CompUSA because of an awesome price.
Installed it and it works absolutely great! The stand is adjustable. NO one talked about that in any reviews I've read--and I've read plenty--but it's indeed adjustable. From pictures, it looks like it's stuck at one position, but don't let that fool you. You can actually adjust the height. I can't say enough good things about this monitor. It's a dream come true.
20 Good buy
I use this monitor exclusively for gaming. It's hooked up via DVI-D to an nVidia GeForce FX 5950 card. I have nothing bad to say about the monitor's performance - the games I play look spectacular with it.
I am used to a Sony Trinitron 19" CRT and now, when I look at the CRT alongside this Samsung LCD? The CRT looks terrible :)
Best part of this Samsung LCD? The blacks are REALLY black. When I use xterms the clarity of the text is out of this world.
If you can afford ~$1200, I really recommend this monitor to anyone.
21 Good monitor
This is a reasonably good LCD , it does suffer on the analog connector somewhat, the text is a little softer than i'd like
I use mine in portrait mode 100% of the time and its great, the DVI input is pretty good, though i still see some noise, but for the price its really good.
The software that comes with it for rotation is utter garbage, don't install it, it doesn't work well, the mouse goes crazy, no tech support, and it won't work with most laptops, use your video cards built in rotation instead if you have it, most ATIs and NVIDIAS have it, some of the ATI cards you have to tweak to switch the setting on, i did with my laptops 9000PRO.
Altohugh my 21" trinitron was a much better picture ,i prefer the portrait and the desk space! .
22 This is the best monitor I've ever had.
I have had a 20G 20" Viewsonic CRT monitor since 94 or 95, and although it's been good to me, it was starting to show some signs of aging, like not being able to handle strange resolutions ( like 848x480 ), and different refresh rate combinations. At times it would get stuck between switching resolutions and never recover until hours later.
After much on-line research, I decided to spend about the same about ($1200) I did 8 years ago, and get the best monitor for coding, e-mail and gaming I could find.
After having dual 18" LCDs at work, I decided that I needed at least a 20" LCD at home.
I bought the Samsung 213t...and got it plugged into my Quadro4 ( similar to GeForce4 ti 4400 ) through the DVI. The display model at Fry's was using Analog and looked awful due to ghosting. When I tried the DVI, it looked great. Based on that, I can't recommend this monitor unless you have a DVI connector on your video card or are willing to upgrade to such a video card.
I run it at native 1600x1200x60hz and it looks stunning. After getting ClearType set up properly through the Microsoft web interface, it looks even better. Text is so crisp I could cry, and gaming didn't exhibit noticeable ghosting to my eye so far.
No dead or stuck pixels on this monitor either. This is the best computer upgrade I've ever done. Highly recommended.
23 Great Bang for Buck
I've owned this monitor for almost 3 months now and think its the best purchase I've made in a long time. The size of the monitor, the resolution, and the ability to rotate are just some of its great features. I use it for various reasons, but I was suprised how great it is with games. I play graphic intensive games and I notice absolutely no refresh rate problems that apply to many lcds. I notice no differece between it and my old crt's refresh rate. I researched buying a new large lcd and found that this was the best bang for the buck. You will especially enjoy it if you think, as I do, that Bigger is Better!
24 dat's nice
Wow, everything looks good on this baby. Pictures are so vibrant and real, desktop wallpaper never looked so good. The pivot capability is nice but I don't really need it. I'm using it in digital mode connected to my ATI Radeon 9700 and the contrast and color are superb. I play a lot of games and even they look good sharp even with the slower refresh compared to CRT monitors. Now if I can just convince my wife to buy me another one so I can go dual monitor desktop baby yeah!!!!
