Samsung 172T Reviewed + The Future of Samsung

Features

We expected a load of features from this monitor.  Fortunately, we were not disappointed.

The stand for the monitor is very different than others we have seen.  The most noticeable fact is that the cabling is all held inside the base of the unit.  This is the first LCD we have seen with the electrical connections attached to the base, rather than in the center of the monitor.  This seems like a great feature, and we would only expect a company like Samsung to pioneer it.  Further benefits of this approach to cable management are also apparent.  First of all, the monitor can be easily folded into a horizontal position without any hindrance of connections.  Like the Daewoo L520B, this feature is great for wall mounting, since the monitor can be tilted horizontally and then mounted directly to the wall without the need for any special equipment.  We actually saw a lot of booths at COMDEX that did just that. 

Simple and elegant connection

Another great feature was vertical adjustment on the monitor.  We have not seen many monitors that allow for vertical adjustment, so this was another welcomed design concept.  The LCD screen will sink all the way to the base of the bezel but can also be raised to about 2 inches above the bezel as well.  Its very important that good ergonomics be kept when working on the computer, and rather than designing your workspace around your monitor, this is one of the first true LCD implementations we have seen that allow the monitor to be adjusted around you.

The only dissatisfactions we had with the ergonomic adjustments on the monitor were that they all still had to be made with two hands.  The base of the 172T is not weighted, so making adjustments requires one hand to hold the base while another hand moves the screen.  Of course, had we mounted the LCD, this could be avoided.

Tilted on an arbitrary angle

The largest feature of the product has to be its DVI support.  Some people say the difference between and analog and DVI feed is not noticeable, but they could not be more wrong.  We are going to do things a little different in the benchmark section of this product to demonstrate both the DVI and analog features of the 172T, rather than just the DVI.

Tilted Flat