Vertical and Horizontal Viewing Angles
What about the overall performance of this LCD monitor? As I do with all of my LCD reviews these days, I ran the Samsung SyncMaster LD190 through its paces in DisplayMate for Windows Multimedia Edition 2.12. This program has a series of test patterns for benchmarking and fine-tuning purposes as well as evaluating the quality of the picture on a monitor.
For the vertical viewing angle, the LD190 does an admirable job. With several other (cheaper) LCD monitors that I have tried, the display either becomes unreadable or the color starts to shift when you look at the screen from an extreme vertical angle. Such is not the case with the LD190. I don’t see why you’d ever look at the screen from such an extreme angle, but it’s good to see that it would still be reasonably usable, even if you’re looking straight down on it. You will notice that the screen gets a little washed out with the brightness, but that’s better than a color distortion and lack of legibility.
The horizontal viewing angle is even more impressive. To my naked and untrained eye, I experience no color or brightness distortion. The horizontal angle, to me, is much more important than the vertical, since it’s quite possible that you’ll have your screen on an angle. No complaints in this department.
Benchmarks, Contrast, Brightness…
Continuing with the DisplayMate benchmarks, I ran through a series of test patterns to see if anything caught my eye. The color saturation is very rich with this monitor. The red is really red and the blues are really blue. The slightly less impressive contrast ratio became apparent in some test patterns that were looking to differentiate between different levels of grey, so this may become a bit of a concern for gamers and other people concerned with subtle differences.
It’s quite notable that the screen is also very bright on its default settings and, if you adjust these down a notch or three, the contrast can improve significantly. For more shots of the test patterns, check out the gallery on the next page.
Final Thoughts
Laptop users are getting some much needed attention from the different computer and computer accessory companies these days. No longer are we only offered a variety of bags, mice, and webcams. These companies are recognizing that notebooks are oftentimes used like desktops and, as such, need desktop-like peripherals. The LapFit line from Samsung is a great push in this direction, making it so much easier and more convenient for notebook users to do dual displays with an external monitor.
The images line up very well and the performance of the LD190 is pretty well on par with equivalent non-LapFit monitors. The contrast ratio is far from perfect and the lack of extra features is a bit of a downer, but this is still a good monitor and it’ll suit most consumers just fine. Clearly an innovative product just a few tweaks away from being great.
Pros
- Innovative photo frame-like configuration
- Brilliant and rich colors
- USB connection for video input
- Quality Samsung LCD panel
Cons
- Less than admirable resolution
- No DVI connection option or added features (webcam, mic, USB hub, speakers, etc.)
- Contrast ratio could be improved
Overall Rating: 8.0/10
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