Samsung 30 inch and LED monitor review

SyncMaster XL20

The SyncMaster XL20 is the second of Samsung's new innovative monitors, albeit in a different manner. The XL20 is a regular 4:3 monitor with a 20 inch panel and 1600x1200 pixels at its disposal. So far so good, and it even looks like a regular 20 inch monitor, apart from a tiny label that mentions that the monitor uses an LED backlight unit. Normal LCD monitors use a Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (CCFL) to light the display from behind. These thin bars of light are very similar to the regular fluorescent lamp tubes, and provide the actual brightness of the screen. The panels themselves do not actually produce any light. CCFL lighting does have a few drawbacks. First of all the brightness slowly deteriorates throughout the screen's life cycle, and so the screen will become less bright through the years. A CCFL also has a certain colour temperature that can not be adjusted and besides that only covers part of the spectrum.

The Samsung XL20, one of the first monitors with LED-technology.

Manufacturers of monitors have therefore been looking for quite a while to replace CCFL lighting, and LED technology seems to provide the answers. Instead of the CCFL light bars, LED monitors are lit by a large amount of red, green and blue LEDs that are placed behind a diffusion filter. The filter mixes the three colours of the LEDs, creating a white panel. By changing the intensity of the individual colours, different colour temperatures can be be achieved by LED monitors, without having to resort to artificial measures. Another advantage of LEDs is their lifespan: they last for thousands of hours, and barely lose intensity. The most important advantage of LED technology is that with this form of backlighting it suddenly becomes possible to display a larger range of colours than with CCFLs. Samsung's SyncMaster XL20 does produce more intense reds, greens and blues than we've ever seen in a TFT monitor. The colours really jump from the screen and make a regular monitor seem rather flat.

This extra range of colour should be welcomed by designers and foto enthousiasts, seeing as the images are more natural. Because Samsung has targetted this part of the market with the XL20, a Gretagmecbeth Color Calibrator and the relevant software are included in the package. This allows for optimal adjustment of the monitor, as well as the creation of an ICC profile designed specifically for your unique monitor. Samsung also provides a light hood with its monitor, which can be placed around the screen to minimise the influence of external light sources. The screen performs outstandingly. The transition of colours is almost perfect and the spread of brightness is very uniform across the screen. The reaction time is measured as 18 ms, good for normal use but not ideal for gaming. The brightness is fine at 212 cd/m2. It's worth noting that the screen reaches its full brightness almost immediately. Normal CCFL monitors take up to half an hour to warm up and reach full brightness, which is clearly not the case with LEDs.

Conclusion

Both monitors show that Samsung has to be taken seriously as a manufacturer of monitors, something that we have known for a while now. The SyncMaster 305T places Samsung in the company of Dell and Apple in the select group of manufacturers that offer 30 inch monitors. Samsung's S-PVA panelled variation on the theme performs very well and offers oceans of space. The recommended retail price is 1999 euros, putting it in the same range as Dell and slightly below Apple.

The SyncMaster XL20 is Samsung's way of letting us peak into the near future of LCD monitors. The XL20 uses LED lighting that allows for a greater range of displayed colours and a longer guaranteed brightness level. The price of the XL20 is still unknown, but seeing as we're talking about a professional monitor with an accompanying colour calibrator, no discounts are to be expected.