Samsung SyncMaster 570V

Samsung's latest TFT offering gives good images, for a price.

In the world of monitors, it's widely believed that the slim and sexy TFT display will eventually supplant the big and boxy CRT, but when this will happen is anyone's guess. The problem is price - a 15in TFT monitor costs as much as two high-quality 17in CRT ones. Still, prices are coming down, albeit slowly.

At £449, the SyncMaster 570V isn't exactly cheap, but a similar monitor would have set you back around £700 a year ago. As TFT monitors go, the 570V is a touch on the dull side, but at least the casing around the screen is narrow and the controls along the bottom edge add a curvy flourish.

The monitor has a standard VGA socket on the back, so you can connect any monitor lead to it, should you manage to break the one supplied. There's also a power socket to which the brick-like mains adapter connects.

The 15in screen on the 570V offers roughly the same viewing area as a 17in CRT monitor but in a considerably smaller and lighter package. The difference is that TFT monitors are designed to display one specific resolution - 1024 x 768, in this case. So if you've cranked up your 17in CRT to a resolution of 1280 x 960 to get some extra on-screen elbow room, you might feel claustrophobic with so much displayed with the 570V.

While it can't display higher resolutions, the 570V can display lower ones; but as with all TFTs, this doesn't look great.

The 570V's crisp, bright screen makes using it a pleasure, with even fewer electromagnetic rays to worry about than with a CRT monitor. The screen can be tilted, raised and lowered and niftily rotated through 90 degrees.

Software is supplied to rotate the image, giving you a portrait-mode PC.

Contact
Samsung: 0800 521652 www.samsungelectronics.co.uk

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Reviewed in Computeractive, Issue 89