Review: Samsung Syncmaster 225BW TFT monitor

Samsung's new Syncmaster 225BW has a neat matt silver finish with a pleasingly thin bezel. It's based on a 1,680x1,050 resolution widescreen TN-based panel with a gamer-friendly 5ms response time. The display offers good colour and readability, and the rarely-seen inclusion of HDCP support means it’ll support playback of the latest content-protected HD formats.

The monitor’s ergonomic stand has tilt, swivel and height adjustments, although there's no provision for cable management, leaving your PC and power connections to hang below the monitor bezel.

Six control buttons offer access to a nice-looking on-screen menu, which is very clear and easy to navigate. The Enter button doubles as an input selector to enable switching quickly between VGA and DVI connections.

Speakers for the SM225BW are an optional extra (around £16). A slim-line unit which clips onto the bottom of the display adds a pair of stereo speakers, a volume control, headphone and microphone sockets.

Costing a little more than most budget 22in TFTs, the SM225BW has a few more features on offer. A touch of the Down navigation button brings up a quick access menu from which you can choose from a selection of brightness presets. These let you switch easily between configurations for comfortable close-up screen work and bright DVD viewing from across the room, for example.

A Samsung software CD includes a monitor driver, but also a pair of utilities. Natural Color calibration software ensures optimum display setup and basic colour-matching capabilities, which is ideal for those working with digital photos. By taking you through monitor set-up step by step, Magic Tune ensures your monitor is displaying the optimum image quality without the need to navigate or understand the on-screen menu system.

Magic Tune also allows you to save your preferred monitor settings in a profile which can be re-loaded on demand; this allows different users of the PC can save their own monitor settings.
The SynMaster 225BW is a good choice for anyone planning on using Windows Vista or who wants to get the best image quality from their display.

Also consider:
Iiyama Prolite E2200WS
Iiyama’s latest widescreen TFT is low on frills but also low on cost

Viewsonic VG2230wm
An affordable 22in widescreen TFT, ideal for work or home use

Hyundai N91W
A good quality monitor, but there’s little to differentiate this Hyundai from other models

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