What a stunning monitor! I finally purchased a 24″ LCD, the Samsung T240, an upgrade from my previous 19″ Samsung 910T.
The quality of text, graphics and images are all so crisp. The colors are vibrant, rich and of beautiful quality; the monitor is bright and luminous. I love the sturdy, shiny plastic body of the monitor, it seems to be made with excellent materials. The red bezel on the bottom is beautiful too. I thought it might not tickle my fancy but I find it actually adds an artistic touch to the eye-catching aesthetic of this elegant monitor.
The pressure touch power button is sleek and incognito, while the remaining buttons are hidden on the side. The power button even gives off a little red-orange glow when turned on. The configuration of the monitor is simplified and easy, requiring only a couple brightness and contrast tweaks. I also set the gamma settings to Mode3, as it seems to be closest to 2.2 gamma. The removable back panel hides those ugly hookups and cables, making the monitor that much slicker! Did I mention the LCD came with no dead/stuck pixels? Samsung makes gorgeous quality monitors.
The only con would be a slight brightness issue, which does not really bother me. A Newegg customer said it best: “When you view the monitor from an angle other than straight on, the brightness dissipates. I personally don’t care (most probably won’t), but it is there.”
The Samsung SyncMaster T240 is huge! Using DVI, it has a 1920×1200 screen resolution. The viewable screen is 24″ from corner-corner, about 20.5″ from side-side, and 12.75″ top-bottom. The whopping 24″ of viewing pleasure @ 1920×1200 makes this monitor a wonderful step-up from my old 19″ LCD. You can see in the 8th picture where my dark Conky script ends (top of screen) – that extra space, to the right, is all the additional screen real estate I gained. The Samsung T240 puts my 15″ MacBook Pro to shame, though, the pictures don’t do the LCD justice, it is truly something to be seen.
Settings (Update)
As far as the settings go, I have the following setup:
- Brightness set to 85
- Contrast to 75
- MagicBright to Custom
- Color Tone to Normal
- Gamma to Mode 3
- Auto Source to Manual.
Those are all the settings I tweaked and they seem to be doing well for my eyes. I’ve experienced, on occassion, that durring a computer reboot the monitor will try to auto detect the input source and change between HDMI, AVI and DVI modes. This is rather annoying becuase it cycles through the video modes while the computer boots. I like to watch my PC boot so I set Auto Source to Manual.
I don’t use the Samsung’s provided MagicColor software though, because I am running Arch Linux. Also, There is a neat feature to turn the Powerbutton LED off… kind of cool but not essential by any means. Also, I find the monitor collects and shows dust rather noticibly on the glossy plastic bezel. This can be easily taken care of with a quick wide-down every week or so.
*Update*
This monitor works perfectly at 1920×1200 resolution with my Macbook Pro. There is no need for additional software, the resolution can be changed through the ‘Displays’ panel in the ‘System Preferences’ of OS X. Here are screenshots of the monitor hooked up to my MBP.
January 17th, 2009 @ 4:47 pm
Thanks for the pictures and quick overview. Think I will pick one of these up now.
January 18th, 2009 @ 2:04 am
Great, I know you won’t regret it, I sure don’t.
Designing on this monitor has been amazing too. Soo much screen space and the monitor has rich color reproduction.
Anyways, thanks for commenting Nick.
February 9th, 2009 @ 4:07 pm
Thanks for the settings info, good enough until I have time to play around with it. Picked mine up this weekend, I have to agree.. its a stunning monitor
and I am extremely pleased.
Take it easy man !
Skint
April 23rd, 2009 @ 7:19 am
Hi,
I read on an Amazon review that no support for a 1920 x 1200 res from a Mac with this display, and that person could get a picture using third party software but felt it was never that good. I see that you are using this with a Macbook pro.. I have the same 15″ Macbook Pro. Did you find a problem using it in the same way as this reviewer described?
Thx,
Kat
April 23rd, 2009 @ 12:29 pm
Hi Kat,
I have never had any problems connecting the T240 to my Macbook Pro. It has always worked flawlessly with native 1920×1200 screen resolution, no additional software required. The screen can be setup to your liking through the ‘Displays’ panel in the ‘System Preferences’. I have updated and attached two screenshots of the t240 connected to my MBP. The screenshots show the screen resolution of the T240 monitor as well as the laptop screen, while the T240 is connected. I hope that answers your question, and please feel free to ask more.
Phil
June 4th, 2009 @ 1:48 am
I recently checked out the Samsung t240 and echo evey thing you said about it. However I cannot seem to make up my mind between that one and the Samsung 2443bwx. Cosmetics seem to be the most significant difference. I hate to opt for the prettier one (t240), and find out later that the other offers more value. So tell me, do you know which offers a better value spec-wise features-wise?
June 11th, 2009 @ 2:07 am
Dear Phil,
Thanks for the feedback on the Macbook, I was about to buy the 24inch apple monitor along with a new 17inch macbook. Now having a re-think. What is your view on the picutre quality through freeview? one review said it was poor, but Iwant to use it as a TV for watching sport when the rest of the family are watching stuff on the main TV….. let me know your thoughts… many thanks in advance…..
david
June 11th, 2009 @ 1:53 pm
David,
I would be lying if I said I’ve used the freeview tuner to watch TV. Since the monitor has an HDMI input, and not a cable input, I have not had the chance to use the HDMI feature, and thus do not know the quality of the freeview tuner. I wish i could test it for you right now, but I do not have an HDMI cable nor even a cable box. I can’t imaging the picture quality being *that* bad, as the signal is coming from an HDMI cable and thus can output that HD signal. It may not be the finest of finest HD tv’s (speculation based on “poor ” review), but I can’t imagine the quality being worse than your standard digital cable on an LCD tv.
June 11th, 2009 @ 2:14 pm
Rick,
If you plan on using the freeview tuner via the HDMI connection, i’d say go with the T240. Otherwise, i think its a tough decision. I bought the T240 because its beautiful design and the possibility of being used as a television, as well as the price i bought it for. I think either would be a great choice, as they are very similar. The 2443bwx seems to have a slightly better horizontal viewing angle (170° vs 160°), but if your sitting directly in front of your monitor, you probably won’t notice a difference. Best of luck with your purchase!
July 29th, 2009 @ 3:36 pm
Hey dude,
I also bought this monitor not long ago and I was wondering if you have any idea how it would handle a direct hdmi hook-up to a TV-box? I’m not sure what they’re called, but it’s fiberoptic internet/TV on a 20/20mbit line. I figure it should simply display … don’t you think?
I’m thinking it must be stupid question because not even Samsung’s own documentation has been any help in answering me.
Thanks.
August 16th, 2009 @ 2:45 pm
What cable do you use to connect the Macbook Pro to the T240 ?
August 19th, 2009 @ 5:17 pm
You can either use a DVI or an Analog cable. A DVI cable will provide a higher video quality. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface
August 22nd, 2009 @ 1:18 am
Hi there, I just got the T240. I used it for tv/ps3, but for some reason the t240 tv kept turning it self off for some reasons. Did you ever had a problem like that? Thanks
August 25th, 2009 @ 11:05 am
The monitor will go to sleep after a period of inactivity. I’ve never experienced it shutting off. You can identify that it’s in sleep mode because the red power button will slowly blink.
Another option is that when you reach a period of inactivity it may be cycling to the other video options. You can change the settings of the monitor so it doesn’t do this. Otherwise, maybe the monitor isn’t functioning properly?
November 29th, 2009 @ 10:57 am
Re: Samsung 2494 monitor connection to my 15″ MacBook Pro. I know this dialog hs been about the T240 but maybe someone here has an answer for me. Why is this so complicated?? I bought the 2494 monitor recently on line. They sent the wrong connector. Now I am told I need an Apple store and need either 549 8019 connector or 549 8029. I did a local Apple store on- line product search and don’t see any similar numbers. ?? Advice? Stacey
November 29th, 2009 @ 12:49 pm
Stacey, which version of the MacBook Pro do you have? Early 2008; Early 2009; etc? Click Here for help Identifiying your macbook pro.
March 30th, 2010 @ 7:05 pm
Hey Phil!
Awesome review. I have a new MacBook Pro (Snow Leopard) and I’m having some trouble connecting it to the T240M. The screen becomes unstable at the maximum resolution, which does not happens on the lower resolutions.
Any ideas?
Cheers