Why You Can Trust CNET Samsung SyncMaster 2333SW 23-inch LCD Monitor review: Samsung SyncMaster 2333SW 23-inch LCD Monitor
Samsung's attractive "cream" monitor has a lot of upside, once you get the annoying base unit snapped on.
Samsung SyncMaster 2333SW 23-inch LCD Monitor
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
Design
The SyncMaster 2333SW is part of Samsung's "cream" series of LCD monitors. It's the top of the range 23-inch model, joined by the slightly cheaper AU$449 21.5-inch 2233SW and AU$399 20-inch 2033SW models. They're designed to look rather like little TVs, with piano black finishes augmented with a clear plastic trim that runs along the lower side. The monitor sits on top of a solid plastic base — which we'll come back to shortly — and features control and power keys that run down the lower right-hand side of the monitor. Unlike a number of larger monitors, the bezel isn't too prominent, which has the nice benefit of keeping your eyes focused on the screen itself.
Features
The 23-inch panel at the heart of the 2333SW is a 16:9 panel with a top resolution of 1920x1080, which makes it 1080p compliant, although you'll have to deliver that content via DVI, as it lacks an HDMI port, something we're seeing more of across premium LCD monitors these days. D-Sub is also supported for older monitors. Samsung rates the 2333SW with a dynamic contrast ratio of 20,000:1 and a slightly more realistic average ratio of 1000:1, response time of 5ms and brightness of 300cd/m².
Performance
Setting up the 2333SW proved to be something of a challenge. Like many monitors, the base and screen come as separate parts, and you've got to pop the two together, unless you wish to either wall mount or lay the 2333SW flat on your desk. We've seen plenty of ways to attach bases, from slot-style chunks of plastic to heavy metal screws, but the 2333SW takes a different tack, with a chunky ball on the base of the monitor that pops past a rubber seal on the base. As we found, getting the ball to push past the seal — even at the angle the instructions told us to — was no easy task. Once it's in, it should certainly stay in for a good long time, but be prepared to sweat (and possibly swear).
While we're in the groove of looking at things that don't work all that easily, the side mounted buttons all have the same shape and very little to let you know which button to use. The 2333SW has nice logical menu layouts, but they're somewhat undone by the unclear buttons.
We found the 2333SW to have excellent display characteristics, whether it was in the more rigid DisplayMate tests, or simply by running games, video and photography past it. However, our only caveat is that it's well worth toning the brightness down just a touch. We found that at full brightness there was a slight tendency for washed out images and a bit of backlight leaking through on the edges of the monitor.