Samsung 27A850D, 27” PLS Monitor Review Comment Thread

[SKYMTL]

Samsung's new 27A850D is a unique 27" 2560 x 1440 monitor that bridges the gap between high priced 30" products and the lower quality, less expensive 1080P panels that have cluttered the market. They have achieved a balance between price and image quality by using a proprietary PLS panel technology, something we haven't seen outside of tablets.

Article URL: Samsung SyncMaster 27A850D, 27” PLS Monitor Review

[aristhrottle]

Great review. I don't really know what PLS is, but this monitor seems to check out. I'm thinking of getting the 24" version.

[Jake_HT]

Nice! Hopefully they will implement this technology to more affordable monitors, although the 24" price isn't too bad for a high performance monitor (bonus points for 16:10). Great review

[Grampa]

Thanks for the nice review AkG.

I'm wondering if other manufacturers will use this type of panel in their future products? (I'm looking at Dell here)

By the way... AkG did you happen to get a measurement of the bezel?
I'm just curious how this would fair in a triple portrait mode setup I'm looking to configure.

Really liking how low the power consumption is as well for a 27" screen of this calibur!!!

[Arinoth]

I bought this monitor before the review done here, but on some great advice anyways, and what I have to say is that this monitor looks absolutely amazing. It puts everything else I've ever used to shame, even making my secondary acer monitor look like a piece of crap.

I know you had a little negative to say about the USB hub location, though I plugged three items I'll never be removing all the time into it (keyboard, mouse webcam) and I have no real complaints as I never plan on going back there and swapping devices. The lack of VGA doesn't surprise me as really this older technology needs to just be left out to the pastures, though with a cheap (and normally included) vga to dvi adapter I don't see the lack of VGA a real downside. The lack of HDMI was a slight surprise, but yet again you can get hdmi to dvi adapters and cables (which I own one) which rectifies this. The fact it has DP is very nice for those wanting to run eyefinity as you won't have to buy an active adapter for your third monitor to run (and enable eyefinity).

I can try to remember to measure the bezels for you grampa if you want to know it when I'm done work today.

AkG, do you have any calibration settings/recommendations that you use/prefer/loved when using this monitor?

[SKYMTL]

Calibration "eyeball" settings are on the second to last page.

As for people thinking of the 24", be aware that we have seen reports of serious backlight bleed issues.

[Arinoth]

Ah, thanks, for whatever reason I must have glossed over that part. Once again, its and absolutely amazing monitor and I'm glad at the price I got it at. NCIX sale + MemoryExpress PM = under 800$ before taxes with free shipping.

[krazyups]

I hate to be the sp/grammar police, but in the very first sentence, you spelled "contradicted" wrong. Great review as usual!

[ipaine]

Very nice looking monitor. Although somewhat minor, not having the inputs of HDMI or VGA is a major downer for me, well mainly the VGA. Believe it or not but I have a VGA cable hooked to my Dell 27" here at work. Why? because we still have lots of older notebooks and desktops that only have vga, so it is nice to be able to plug them into my monitor quickly when testing and such. So there is that issue, and then there is the issue with the location of the USB ports. While sure you could just connect things you want to stay connected, I know I use the ones on the side of my Dell all the time with my thumb drives. All in all though, really only nitpicking about it, it sure looks like it would be a very nice monitor to get.

Plus it gives us another option to give to people when they are talking about getting a new monitor.

[Grampa]

Originally Posted by Arinoth

I can try to remember to measure the bezels for you grampa if you want to know it when I'm done work today.

That would be fantastic if you could, and very much appreciated!

I've been searching around for the measurements, not that it is a determining factor of whether to purchase.
Just going by pictures, it seems like a smaller bezel than the U2711 (dell).

However all the glowing reviews, and owner input has really piqued my interest in these monitors.

Cant wait to see how they compare to the Dell side by side!

Thanks again!