Rating: 
Summary: Wow - a great deal!
Review: When shopping for a new monitor, I resisted buying this Samsung because of my pre-conceived notions of the company: I remember when Samsung stood for flimsy electronics. No more. This 19 inch monitor has a sharp, flicker-free display that competes with the best - for an affordable price, too. The controls on the latest 955DF are no longer inside a flip open box on the console, but are in plain view. Some people might find the less-sleek look disappointing, but I appreciate the easy access. I also like how easy it is to swivel the screen from side to side to position it for better viewing. My last monitor was a 17 inch Sony Triniton. One week after its warranty expired, the screen turned blue, proving that price does not buy you longevity. I was not about to drop a bundle again for a piece of equipment that might not last long. Side by side, the Samsung, even with its bigger screen size, is much crisper, with an even flatter, distortion free display. (Obviously, I can't compare color reproduction.) Plus, it doesn't have the characteristic Triniton line on the screen. For Mac users like me, you can be assured that it is compatible, with no extra hardware needed to hook it up. Since I just bought this monitor, I can't attest to its long-range performance, but I could not be happier with right now. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: After the problems are solved....
Review: I purchased a 955DF 19" a year ago. About 6 months after the purchase the monitor started making the hissing noise (while still delivering on the quality). I called Samsung, they arranged for a refurbished model as a replacement. It went 1 month after I got it (the colors turned blue). I got another refurb from Samsung (they do not do brand new replacements, since I did not get it from the store -- bought mine on-line). Overall, it is an awesome monitor, though a bit bulky. I spend 12+ hours a day in front of the computer and it is definitely a nice one to look at. The warranty is for 3 years, so I figured I will keep on replacing it until I get it perfect :))
Rating:
Summary: A Good Monitor for the Price
Review: When I originally started looking for a new perfect-flat CRT monitor, I wanted a unit that would both deliver a quality image and not be overly expensive. After conducting research by reading reviews, articles and the like, I narrowed my search to the Samsung 955DF and the Viewsonic A90F. I chose the Samsung because it had slightly better specifications than the Viewsonic. For the price, the Samsung has met and passed all of the expectations I had for my monitor. The image quality is, for the most part, superb with a little distortion in the extreme corners. Many people complain about the brightness of the Samsung monitor but I have yet to notice any problems with the brightness on mine. However, if a part of the screen is too dark, the 955DF includes a nifty feature that can "highlight" a part of the screen, making it much brighter than the rest. This is great for watching dark movies or combating glare. Unlike the picture shown, the 955DF does not have the pop-out tray for the on-screen controls. Instead, it uses a similar interface on the front of the monitor. While this adds convenience and security (I was always afraid the tray was going to break off when I move it! :-) ), it no longer has that unique little feature that can be used for bragging points. Overall I feel that for an inexpensive 19" monitor, the Samsung 955DF provides a quality picture, great reliability and the looks of a [price] monitor without spending the [money] to get one.
Rating:
Summary: Price and quality are unbeatable
Review: Absolute surprise sums up my opinion of this monitor. Bright, crisp, clear and very flat. The range of controls for the display are great. The casing is attractive and the monitor has a very small footprint for its size. I've seen no problems in resolutions from 640x480 to 1600x1200. Small text is defined and easy to read, even at 1600x1200. I can even read 8-point text viewing the full page in MS-Word at 1600x1200 resolution. The only problem I've encountered is that when switching to full screen with the software running my TV-tuner card, I end up with about 1/2" excess space on the top and bottom. Pry something to do with refresh rates in switching resolution.
Rating: 
Summary: blur text drives me crazy.
Review: I bought this monitor April 2001 and now its blur text drive me crazy. Playing with the control doesn't help. I am disppointed and will dump it.
Rating: 
Summary: Do More Research
Review: I have found that if you do some very in-depth research and price watching for monitors, you can find a really good deal... and this is not one of them. I've owned this monitor for about 2 years now, and while it's better than a lot of monitors out there for the same price, I have since realized I could have done a little more research and gotten away with a much better monitor for just a few bucks more, if not less. As a graphic designer who works exclusively on Macs using OS X, I need a lot of screen real-estate. Even though OS X offers a great color calibration tool within itself, an additional third party color calibration tool would be nice, and Samsung neglects the Mac community in that respect. But the color is not my main complaint regarding this monitor... My main complaints regarding this monitor are resolution and blur. First of all, any 19" CRT monitor should be able to get to 1280x1024 at 85Hz. 1280x1024 at 75Hz leaves much to be desired in refresh rate. I can see significant flicker at that rate. I should be able to get to 1600 and maintain a 75Hz refresh rate.
Secondly, there's a lot of blur with this monitor. When I get on other monitors of the same size (and nearly the same price) from the likes of Sony or NEC, everything is SIGNIFICANTLY sharper. I get on my 955DF and try to fix the blur, only to find that once it looks crisp and sharp in the center of the screen, the edges and corners are so blurry I can hardly read text... and vice versa. The blur is really my main gripe. It has gotten to the point where it drives me crazy now everytime I look at it. And no, it's not defective and I don't have any magnetic objects near the monitor. I've tried everything to no avail. Really... you get what you pay for and this is a perfect example. If you want to just surf the web and check email, this is the monitor for you. The color is quite good, and the flat screen is great... But if you're in design at all, or make videos or fix photos, or want to play games or watch movies, seriously consider investing in a better monitor. There's a lot of numbers to concentrate on when researching, but it pays off. Paying $50 more for a monitor will put you into a new realm of displays that are well worth the extra cost... believe me.
Rating:
Summary: Price/Performance Ration Can't Be Beat
Review: The Samsung 955DF is a flat screen 19" monitor that has good overall performance. Keep in mind; however, that you'll get what you pay for. It will not offer good performance at all above 1280x1024 as the refresh rate is to low for most. I, as well as the people I gave this monitor to, run it at 1024x768 with 100Hz refresh rate. For office use this will keep your eyes happy all day long. Despite this, at less than $300 it is an awesome value for those that do not work will a lot of graphics or multimedia viewing/editing. I have personally bought three of them, as the price/performance ration can't be beat. Also, it should be noted that Samsung has released two revisions of the 955DF with the same model number. The one in the amazon.com photo as of today (2001.12.01) is of the first revision. To the best of my knowledge Samsung is no longer producing this version so the one you receive may look slightly different. The biggest change is that the James Bondish pop-out control buttons have been replaced with standard digital buttons directly below the screen. I'm not sure why they did this because most people loved the James Bond style controls. The footprint is also slightly smaller and the colors are slightly brighter.
Rating:
Summary: Not too great
Review: The main problem with this monitor is that almost all of the resolution and frequency combinations cause the screen to dance and wave. In other words, they are unusable unless you want to get a headache after using your computer for a few minutes. Only a few of the combinations work. For some reason, 60Hz and 1600*1200 works just fine. I'd choose a lower resolution so that everything on my screen wouldn't be really small, but the lower resolutions don't work, so I guess I'm stuck with this setting. Strange, in a bad way. This monitor was bought as a replacement for a Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 900u, which was also a 19". It gave me five good years before it decided it was time to go to monitor heaven. It was a great monitor while I had it. CRT monitors are so cheap now; I can't imagine there aren't some good cheap CRT's. Check out what other customers say about other models. I guess I can't expect to get the same quality from a $200 monitor as I got from the $900 Mitsubishi. In any case, consider spending a bit more money on a better monitor. You are going to have to use it and look at it hour after hour. Get something else.
Rating:
Summary: An Incredible Monitor
Review: I purchased this monitor about 3 years ago. It has the buttons on the front of the monitor (people in previous reviews have stated that this is the newer, more defective version).
I use the computer, on average, about 5-6 hours a day which includes gaming, mp3 playing, web surfing, and watching dvd's (hell, you can see the pores on peoples faces). This monitor has never failed me once! It's clarity at high resolutions is incredible and it's color is very robust (which is helped by the GeForce4's color enhancing).
I am building myself another pc in the next month because this computer is 3 years old. I am using all top of the line parts and this monitor will be the only hardware (except mouse and keyboard) that I am keeping to use with the new PC. It has been that good to me. I'm sorry that some have had problems with this monitor, but i've used the newer model for 3 years and have had absolutely NO problems with it.
It's 3 years old and after checking online hardware sellers to see if I needed to purchase a new monitor, I found out that this monitor was still better than most newer CRT's for it's viewing range and especially it's dot pitch (even after looking at higher priced monitors).
The only gripe I have is that it has low refresh rates for ultra-high (1280x1024 and bigger) resolutions, but no monitor can be that perfect and most monitors have lower refresh rates for higher resolutions.
Overall, this monitor has been excellent and more that I had expected.
Rating:
Summary: This is a good monitor
Review: I have had this monitor for 2 years now. Not a single problem. Matched with a high-end GeForce video card, this has been the best monitor I have owned. Absolutely no problems, extremely clear screen, and excellent high-res graphics. I also like the faceplate. It doesn't have any annoying buttons or logos or other items to distract your view. Well worth the purchase.
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