Vertical and Horizontal Viewing Angles
The ideal situation would have you staring directly at the screen and this is how most panels are designed to work. That makes sense, because you’re likely to move the monitor to a place where it is most comfortable for you. However, the vertical and horizontal viewing angles are also very important, especially if you are going to be sharing something with the people around you.
For the vertical viewing angle from above, it seems that while you can still see most of the content on the screen, it can get washed out too. I suspect part of this has to do with the LED backlighting. The washing out only became obvious at more extreme angles, so even if you’re 30 degrees above the horizon, you should be fine.
Since you’re not looking directly down into the backlighting, the washing out issue is not at all present when viewing the screen from a wider horizontal angle. I wouldn’t recommend playing NHL 10 from way off on the side, but the image remained clear and crisp even from way off on an extreme horizontal angle.
Final Thoughts
The Samsung SyncMaster XL2370 is easily one of the better LCD monitors that I have used in recent memory. The remarkably slim profile is attractive if not particularly valuable to most people. The “Touch of Color” design for the frame is aesthetically pleasing as always, as are the MagicTouch “hidden” touch-sensitive controls.
I really appreciated not only the inclusion of an HDMI input, but also the availability of 3.5mm stereo and digital (optical) audio output. This is almost better than having a pair of cheap internal speakers, though I wouldn’t have minded some additional functionality in the form of a webcam or USB hub. But that’s just me.
In the end, the XL2370 did everything that I wanted it to do. The LED backlighting makes for a very bright screen and the improved contrast ratio makes for a very crisp display. If you’re in the market for something skinny and beautiful, this could be it.
Pros
- Very bright LED backlighting
- Great contrast and color saturation
- Optical audio out jack is a big plus
- One good-looking monitor
Cons
- LED backlighting seems to wash out extreme viewing angles
- No built-in extras (USB hub, speakers, webcam, etc.)
- Minimal tilt adjustment
Overall Rating: 8.5 / 10.0
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