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[FT] Samsung 204b - a 20 inch LCD monitor

grazzhoppa

New Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2005
Messages
219 (0.03/day)
Processor Core 2 Duo E6750 @ 3.3GHz
Motherboard Abit IP35 Pro
Cooling Scythe Ninja, two 600RPM 12CM fans
Memory 4GB DDR2 @ 832MHz, 4-4-4-12 2T
Video Card(s) NVIDIA 8800GT @ 715/980 passively cooled
Storage 1TB WD10EARS, 500GB WD5000AAKS, 250GB HM250JI
Display(s) Samsung 204b LCD
Case Ultra Wizard
Audio Device(s) Onboard Realtek ALC888
Power Supply Seasonic S12-II 380 watt
Software Windows 7 Pro. (x64)
It has zero dead/malfunctioning pixels.
Other than a paint scuff on the back of the stand (from being pushed against a white wall), the cosmetic condition is perfect.
Its functionality is perfect - there's nothing defective with it.

I'm interested if anyone is willing to trade an equivalent monitor because this monitor has a design flaw that bugs me. More on the flaw later.

Specs: 1600x1200 native resolution, .255 pixel pitch, 20.1" LCD, 5ms rated response time, 800:1 rated contrast ratio, 300 cd/m2 maximum brightness.

It can be rotated 90 degrees to have a "portrait" style monitor - 1200x1600 resolution.
Samsung has software where you can change the monitor's settings (brightness, sharpness, gamma, etc...) from within Windows. It's called MagicTune, and eats up 15MB of ram constantly. It's nice to fiddle with the settings.

The stand has height adjustment - you can literally use your pinky finger to move the screen higher and lower - it's very easy to adjust
It can tilt the screen downward and upward - it favors tilting upward about 10 degrees more than it can downward.
The base of the stand can swivel left and right a bit.


I bought it from Best Buy (a very large electronics-store chain in the US) in late August 2006. I needed a 1600x1200 monitor on short notice, and couldn't shop around or wait for shipping from an internet store, so I went with this monitor because it was the best deal on a 1600x1200 monitor the store had.

The design flaw:
The top third of the monitor is not as bright as the rest of the monitor. This is not a defect in the manufacturing or quality control - it's a design flaw common to the 204b models.
It just bugs me. My friends and family have told me they don't see it. The "Geek Squad" (the store's computer repair service) at Best Buy has told me they don't see this effect either.



I have tried emulating the effect with an altered screen shot by making the top third of the screen shot slightly darker. The orange is supposed to be all the same color:
http://img.techpowerup.org/070510/lighting_uniformity_204b.png
This is unnoticeable in games or any other application where the screen is filled with many different colors.

I only have an old webcam to take pics of the physical monitor:


Both the VGA and DVI connections are verified to work.

I prefer to converse via private messages.
I am look for a fair trade and will consider splitting the shipping costs with you. Maybe you have a 20" 1600x1200 LCD that isn't great for gaming, but excels in color and lighting-uniformity? The 204b is very nice for gaming - not nice for design work - and slightly annoying for desktop reading/office type stuff because of the non-uniform lighting.

Here's my heatware.com profile, but it's a bit useless because I just made it. I'm located on the east coast of the United States.
 
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