Before you begin, this is not a typical review, its my own expressed, hard to please opinion which I am happy to share. I wont be covering some points which you can get from other reviews as this is a comparison review. Also sorry for the length!!
Background : recently i bought a samsung 226bw which turned out to be an A panel - horrible. After some reading i bought a LG L226WTQ which was had terrible color issues which i posted pictures of in someone elses thread, see them here:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=154437
Yes i am picky but spending that kind of money only to be met with poor quality is not exactly pleasing .... So still looking for a 22" widescreen and googling for all its worth i found 2 possible solutions: The Samsung 226CW and the HP w2207. Both of these are 6 bit TN panels. My first choice would be a Samsung 215TW as they use a superior 8bit panel, but they arent available anymore.
A few sites voted in favour of the HP over the 226CW. I scoured some home user reviews as they often reveal hidden gremlins & the HP came up trumps again. You can find more using google but check these for an example:
http://reviews.cnet.com/lcd-monitors...7&cval=2447317
http://www.monitorsrc.com/22/samsung...-w2207-review/
Not overly convinced by other peoples opinions, mainly because I am pickier than most but then again several reviews inspired me to buy the samsung & then the LG. There was only one solution - I bought the two! I got the HP from one store and the Samsung from another, both offering a 14 day money back guarrantee.
I connected both & cloned the desktop. I went through some pictures, checkmon, a movie and 2 games (dark and light maps). The HP is slightly better at the whole color range with some being much better than others, otherwise there is little difference unless your talking gaming or pictures. The HP has this magnificant gloss like effect hard coating which clearly gives it the advantage / wow factor. The downside is this shows up fingerprints very easily and you can see yourself reflected in it when there is a light source in the room. It really is nice to look at. Checkmon revealed that where the HP bettered the 226CW in one test, the Samsung bettered it in another, overall the margins were minor but i got the impression the HP did it ever so slightly better.
I didnt get any halo around lettering as some reviews stated with the HP but I did install the drivers & ICC profiles immediately. The samsung seemed good just out of the box but I installed the drivers anyway.
Some websites say the samsung is worse but i felt both suffered backlight bleed equally. Both also suffer on color change, top to bottom or side to side on very minor angle changes but the HP was slightly better, again i feel this is down to the gloss. You have to be looking at the screens spot on for the best picture as with all TN panels, not something I like.
The HP's adjustments is far superior and will go as far as to say the asthetics are better too, but this is a personal preference so it doesnt count in my opinion. However the lack of adjustments on the samsung compared to the HP are deffinately worth mentioning.
I tried one monitor at a time and repeated all the steps but when using the Samsung I could just tell it wasnt as good as the HP. If i hadnt of used the HP I would imagine I would just be impressed. After close scrutiny neither monitor showed ghosting (HP 5ms / 226CW 2ms). It was hard to choose on performance but because of the color the HP had over the 226cw I ended up returning the 226cw. Where's the pictures? Read on ...
Intervention! On ebay was a new Samsung 215TW. An 8 bit true color 16.7 million color panel. TN panels are 6bit 16.2million with dithering - something clearly visible. Being my original choice I had to bid ... and won. Its an inch shorter than the HP and any man will tell you an extra inch will put a bigger smile on your face.
Here's a typical review of the 215tw, any other review they do compares it to the 215tw as its their choice monitor.
http://www.trustedreviews.com/displa...1in-Monitor/p1
I have pictures of the 215TW & HP but not the HP % 226cw. Why? Well when i copied the new pictures from the camera of the 215tw over i actually clicked YES to overwritting the other ones, how noobish is that? Abuse welcome! So I only got half the photo's sorry.
I have repeated all the above tests and here's the pictures. First 2 are with and without flash to show you the gloss the HP has.
Here's where the 8 bit panel shines over the 6 bit with dithering.
Despite the 215tw doing better job on color range, the gloss on the HP makes yellows & greens appear better, but only slightly. Its hard to see the differences 90% of the time but with dark colors the dithering doesnt do a great job. This is more evident in games with dark maps such as Fear, CS:S and Half Life 2. The 215tw doesnt suffer any ghosting either which I expected with it being 8ms.
The 215tw has many more adjustments than the 226cw, give the impression they cut corners on it, but the 215tw adjustments is not as good as the HP. Somethig else i didnt realise is that the 215tw has S-video, composite & RGB connections which may come in handy for some users.
Here's the difference on color you get with a TN panel under slight angle changes, there's plenty of gripe about it on the web with all 22" screens. The 215tw doesnt suffer at all unless the angle is extreme.
Here's 2 more pics where the HP gloss can be really annoying.
I chose the HP w2207 over the Samsung 226CW because of the color and wow factor. I really like the HP & dont want to lose it but the Samsung 215tw does shine above it in many aspects.
Here's the bad points from comparison
Samsung 215tw
-some colors arent quite good as the HP
-plastics not quite as good as the HP
-doesnt have that smile enducing experience the HP does
HP w2207
-only 1 year warranty - you tight fisted bar stewards, 215tw has 3years
-gloss improves some colors & gives a wow factor
-the gloss reflects if a light source is behind you & is quite distracting sometimes
-fingerprints & smudges show up very easily on the screen & surround (pet hate of mine)
-gaming revealed it didnt do as good as job as the samsung
My findings are pretty much the same as others with the HP but I really like the gloss effect, but it is equally annoying as I am always looking at myself in the daytime with a dark screen or if i have a light on at night. Realistcally the advantages the HP has over the 215tw (apart from adjustment) is the gloss screen.
I like love both but decided on the 215tw because of panel technology, better colors in games & that it doesnt suffer color change when you slightly change angle. Also I think the reflecting gloss of the HP will eventually pi55 me off so that was the final decider. At the moment I have just the 215tw on the desk and I already miss the wow factor of the HP (but not the reflections).
Sorry for the length (my wrists are aching as bad as when I was single), comments & questions welcome but for the sake of others scrolling please dont use the quote!
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