Samsung SyncMaster 970P

The Samsung SyncMaster 970P has a striking design, but it's the fine image quality that makes this 19in. display worth considering.

Samsung must have been influenced by Apple when it designed this monitor. The plastic body, the white-and-silver colour scheme and the rounded edges remind us of the original iPod. Similarly, the base's circular swivel mechanism reminds us of the iPod's Click Wheel. The base, which measures 24cm square, is surprisingly stable considering the monitor's high degree of flexibility. The amazingly acrobatic 970P swivels 180 degrees from left to right, and the neck offers nearly 15cm of height adjustment; however, the panel is too heavy for the hinge and kept slipping downward in our tests. The top hinge gives the panel a whopping 185 degrees of backward tilt and about 10 degrees of forward tilt. You can also rotate the panel from landscape to portrait orientation and beyond -- a full 270 degrees. The average user probably wouldn't find this extreme flexibility useful, but we can see how it might come in handy, making it easy to share your screen with a collaborator or a customer.

The SyncMaster 970P's svelte cabinet style does not leave room for a power supply, nor does the bezel contain any power or signal ports. Instead, a tail-like cord extends from the 970P's base to a white-and-silver plastic signal box about the size of a chubby mobile phone. This design makes the ports easier to access and keeps cables out of sight. The signal box has a single digital port (a digital-to-analogue cord is included) and a power input for the power cable.

Setting up the 970P is simple, but it took us a few minutes of searching to find the power button (it's disguised as a light on the base). You may also wonder how to adjust this monitor, given that it has no buttons. To access the on-screen menu (OSM) or make any adjustments, you must first install Samsung's MagicTune software. MagicTune offers a full range of image-control settings, including brightness, contrast and colour, plus six MagicBright and four MagicColor presets.

The 970P turned in an excellent performance in our DisplayMate image-quality tests. Text looked sharp and sufficiently bold. Both serif and sans-serif text were legible, even at small font sizes. The 970P's greyscales were smooth, consistent, and free of colour-tracking errors, save for tiny flushes of pink. The 970P's colours were bright and consistent and changed hues uniformly. DVD-playback performance was slightly below average; we saw overly red flesh tones, areas of overexposure and lots of noise. Gaming performance was much better, with crisp backgrounds and vibrant colours.

The SyncMaster 970P comes with an industry-standard three-year warranty that covers parts, labour and the backlight. Samsung provides toll-free phone technical support for the life of the warranty.

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