Samsung's latest 19-inch LCD monitor is about as ho hum as they come, but its got a stylistic flair (okay, so we're suckers for that silver accent) that makes us want one anyway. The SyncMaster 931BW sports a 16:10 widescreen panel, WXGA+ (1,440 x 900) resolution, a 2,000:1 contrast ratio, 300 cd/m2 brightness, 170-degree viewing angles and a lightning-quick two-millisecond response time. You'll also find an HDCP-compliant DVI port alongside the obligatory VGA input, and while pricing details don't seem to be readily available, it should be hitting Japanese shops late next month.
UPDATE: Seems like this thing has made the rounds in certain locales -- guess it's just about Japan's turn.
[Via
Impress]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
andi @ Oct 17th 2007 4:40PM
The time I'll be interested in other 19-22 inchers will be the day they'll sell 19/22 inch monitors with full HD resolution for a decent price :) 'til then, I have my good asus 19'er
Jonny @ Oct 17th 2007 4:44PM
This monitors been availible in the United States for like a year now.
They're just NOW getting it to Japan? O.o
I remember selling these things back when I worked for BB.
City 17 @ Oct 17th 2007 4:45PM
I have that monitor but its 22"
Joe @ Oct 17th 2007 4:45PM
Seems to me it's time for another Engadget give away.
Oliver @ Oct 17th 2007 4:46PM
What? i've had this one for more than a month now.,, in Holland.
http://img84.imageshack.us/my.php?image=931yn1.jpg
Zach @ Oct 17th 2007 9:32PM
And you've gotten it quite scuffed up for only having it one month. Very impressive.
Trevor @ Oct 17th 2007 10:01PM
I have pretty much the same monitor. The 940bw. It is the same specs minus the fancy casing. Very nice though, I highly recommend it. Probably cheaper than the 931bw too.
Oliver @ Oct 17th 2007 4:49PM
colors of the wind tab? you didnt see it.
Tim Wong @ Oct 17th 2007 4:55PM
these were on sale during black friday 2006 @ Best Buy. Besides, we already have the 906BW, which is nearly the same thing chassis/specs wise.
Optimus Rhyme @ Oct 17th 2007 4:57PM
I have the 22" and I love it.
The auto colour doohicky doesn't work on a mac but the monitor is perfet for my Graphic Design needs...
RetepNamenots @ Oct 17th 2007 5:00PM
I've got the 22" also, but the colour correct thingy is only accessible when you're using VGA, rather than DVI.
Long @ Oct 17th 2007 5:02PM
I have the same one for over a year. Got it on Black Friday 2006 for $129 no rebates.
David @ Oct 17th 2007 5:15PM
Nice monitor, but horrible company.
Here's my story (warning: it's quite long):
My one-month old Samsung computer monitor (SyncMaster 245BW), which I used for gaming, started acting up on me a few weeks ago. I went through Samsung's warranty/exchange process, which required me to bring in my monitor to a UPS store and exchange it with a new one once it arrived. And that's what I did last Friday.
It turns out that the UPS Store manager gave me someone else's monitor (same screen size, different model - 244T, refurbished but with slightly better features - and thus would be more expensive if brand new, but now that's questionable as it is refurbished. Nevertheless, I'm happy with it.) Of course, I didn't know at the time that it was supposed to go to someone else.
She called me on Monday morning to tell me to return the refurbished monitor to the store. She said my assigned monitor was coming in a couple of days. I got a similar call from Samsung. I conferred with a lawyer-relative, who told me that what they're doing is unacceptable: first, my month-old monitor breaks down. Then I wait 3 weeks to get a new one and incur costs going to the UPS Store (via zipcar). Then I would have to go to the store once, possibly twice more (once to drop off the "wrong" monitor, another time to pick up the right one) all to ameliorate someone else's mistake, someone else's negligence? This was no "benefit of the bargain," no being "made whole."
So I started fighting back. I called Samsung to try to get them to arrange for home delivery and pickup of the proper monitors. Failing that, I asked that they reimburse me for the car rental.
They balked. They were also quite rude. They said it was UPS' mistake, and that they're not liable. I told them UPS was their sub-contractor, and the laws of agency make them vicariously liable for UPS' negligence. This fell on deaf ears.
I called the UPS Store manager, but of course she was being as rigid as ever and refused to arrange home delivery, saying it wasn't an option. I then called UPS Corporation, and the phone rep was incredulous that she didn't offer home delivery (apparently it was the obvious choice in such a situation).
At this point, I looked into my rights and found out that the doctrine of "good faith purchase of goods" allows a purchaser (which includes me) to keep property that he transacts for, in good faith, with a merchant, even if that property belongs to someone else. The reason behind this doctrine is that, as between the merchant and the consumer, the merchant should be held liable because only he has the institutional capacity to check for good title. Moreover, the law should instill confidence in commerce by giving people the peace of mind that what they buy is theirs.
Long story short... Samsung called back and was now willing to hear me out, knowing that I could be exercising my right to keep the monitor. They were willing to arrange home delivery, pay for reimbursement, whatever. I told them that the ten-dollar car rental was not important, and all I ever wanted was to be heard, to be reasoned with, to be treated with respect (I'm omitting the parts where two clerks and a supervisor all but hung up on me). I told Samsung that I'd been a loyal customer up to now, and that this was no way to treat their customers. I told them I wasn't adding conditions to any new monitor exchange, but that if they wanted to earn back my trust as a future customer, they had better "do the right thing." I didn't specify what that "right thing" should entail.
I got a voicemail message two hours later telling me they decided to "let" me keep the monitor. I don't consider this "doing the right thing," as this was already the status quo. I'm happy to be vindicated, but disappointed at having to resort to such naked assertion of my rights. This was completely avoidable by good, sensical customer service. So my advice to you is avoid Samsung at all costs.
Yvo @ Oct 17th 2007 7:32PM
It is possible you just had one single bad experience. Javing dealt with a bad Dell monitor before and a bad NEC monitor, Samsung's support still sounds like it is better (when it goes right) then either Dell or NEC. Here they at least allow you to use the broken monitor (I haven't had a monitor not function completely on me before). With both Dell and NEC I had to send the monitor on my dime back where as here they do it on their dime. Furthermore NEC required me to ship my monitor first before they sent out a new one.
Spyvie @ Oct 17th 2007 7:45PM
Actually I'd say your story has a pretty good ending. It's not Samsung's fault that UPS screwed up... stuff happens, get over it.
No trouble whatsoever with my 216bw, and I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Samsung.
docca @ Oct 17th 2007 7:46PM
You're not alone on your horror story. Mine was worse, but with LG.
A few months ago I got a 22" LG monitor (L226BW). Fine looks, decent price. Well, the darn thing wasn't able to show a simple gray-scale bar. It uses a horrible dithering algorithm to make it "faster". The result is terrible: gray-scales are tainted with RED LINES, the white and green are BLINDING, and red is err, PURPLE. Watching a DIVX movie is like watching something re-encoded with 16 colors... I've tried everything I could think of: custom ICC profiles, hours of tweaking color values, even a colorimeter. Also, the build quality wasn't that great: tilt adjustment was hard as bending a steel bar, the "piano black" finish could be scratched by just breathing near it.
LG support in Brazil was non-existent to say the least. Their answer was basically "I don't know what you're talking about, our monitors are PERFECT, even so BETTER than all our competitors". The support e-mail from the international site seems to be a black hole that nobody reads.
Returning this beast (to a large web-only store) was a huge pain. After a month of nothing but trouble, I managed to get a replacement: the Samsung 226BW. (Almost) perfect colors, RTA can be turned off manually, top notch build quality... so far I consider it the best in the market.
oh, and the monitor on the post has been on sale here in Brazil for quite some time too (at least an year). Engadget, you get -1 point for sleeping on the wheel :)
John Henry @ Oct 17th 2007 5:32PM
I bought five of these last Black Friday at Best Buy to sell. Perhaps you could avoid, for once, a title that conveys something only true in a limited and farily insignificant context (its not like Japan doesn't have any 19 inch widescreen LCDs other than this one).
JDizzle @ Oct 17th 2007 6:20PM
(okay, so we're suckers for that silver accent), unless it's on a Centro.
kris @ Oct 17th 2007 6:39PM
Are you people above sure it's the 931BW? I have the 19" 906BW - hmmm but I'm not sure what the difference is.
pyro @ Oct 17th 2007 7:43PM
ew, TN pannel
Kevin @ Oct 18th 2007 12:14AM
i agree...no one likes PVA anymore?
Zachary Williamson @ Oct 17th 2007 9:21PM
So let me get this straight, how is this monitor any different than the one I'm using right now? (SyncMaster 906BW)2ms response time. DVI, VGA, 2000:1 contrast ratio, 160 degree viewable, 300 cd/m2 brightness, 16:10. not quite sure what the major difference exactly is. anyone?
Michael @ Oct 17th 2007 9:30PM
After their fiasco with the different panels (everyone reviewed the high quality panel and then Samsung started putting lower quality panels in them) I don't think I can trust Samsung again when it comes to computer monitors.
Jared @ Oct 17th 2007 10:30PM
What was the point of telling us that there will be a new (not really, I got this last November on BF)19" monitor? Is this what engadget has come to?
TheIcemanCometh @ Oct 17th 2007 10:39PM
I bought this exact monitor LAST Thanksgiving during Best Buy's Black Friday sale.
jonathan @ Oct 18th 2007 2:01AM
well i think the difference the one that we got wich is the 906bw is not hdCP compliant and this one is
Paul Hung @ Oct 18th 2007 3:47AM
I got this monitor at black friday last year for $130 and sold it for $150 a week ago.
anon @ Oct 18th 2007 12:22PM
I've used this very monitor (931bw, with the same stated specs) since May. It has problems with motion blurring in some situations caused by its setting called RTA. I have videos on Youtube you can look up.
mercthree @ Oct 19th 2007 8:38AM
anyone know how to rack mount this? it has about 1/4" to spare on the sides of going inside a standard 19" rack and has a vesa mount on the back. I was surprised to find a complete absence of universal vesa-to-rackmount kits.