Samsung SyncMaster 226BW
July 16th, 2007 at 5:45 PM (17 years ago) by Matt Freedman
I got a new Monitor on Saturday! I got the Samsung SyncMaster 226BW. It’s about time I got rid of my old 17″ CRT Monitor (although, it still worked well). 😛
The Samsung SyncMaster 226BW is a 22 inch, LCD, Widescreen High Definition Monitor. It’s got a 2ms response time, HDCP, 16.7 Million colours and DVI (Digital) input. It’s high gloss black, with a silver “bezel”. It also has regular D-Sub (VGA) input; but who wants to use that? Not to mention that it’s Windows Vista Premium Certified (not quite sure what that means 😛 ).
This monitor is freaking awesome! The colours are perfect, it’s huge, no backlight bleeding (that I can see right now, at least) and it’s just… awesome! Brilliant, awesome, words hardly describe how great it is!
The colours on this Monitor are great. I’d recommend setting MagicBright to “Intelligent” for really vibrant colours. It’s also a nice clean, clear and crisp picture.
There’s actually quite a bit of “controversy” around this Monitor. Back when the Monitor originally came out, it was using a Samsung LCD Panel. Which is a great panel. Which all of the reviews from back then are based off of, the Samsung Panel. But, it was such a great Monitor that there started to be a shortage of them, and Samsung couldn’t keep up with demand. So, they decided to outsource some of the Panels to two different companies. One of them was AU Optronics and the other one was Chi Mei Optoelectronics. Thus, making the A, C and S panel. The A panel bring made by AU Optronics, the C by Chi Mei Optoelectronics and the S (the original Panel) by Samsung. Now, all these different Panels are not equal. Although, they were given specific instructions by Samsung. Both the A and C panels have different problems. The biggest ones are that the A has a noticeable Blue Dominance and that the C has bad backlight bleeding. The S is basically perfect. Now, they may have fixed these Problems by now, they’ve had 6 months.
I was lucky enough to get an S Panel. The first one we bought was a C, but we returned that and picked up another one, at another store, and got and S Panel.
The way to tell which panel is which, is that on the back of the Monitor (behind the plate that hides the inputs) there’s a sticker. That sticker has the model number, serial number, etc. Right after the model number (226BW), there’s a letter, either A, C or S. There’s your Panel type.
I didn’t think this Monitor would look this great. I mean, it looked good in the store, but once I got it home, and plugged it in, it looked awesome. Really good colour. I guess because of the lighting in the store and since I’m using DVI.
Overall, this is a great Monitor!
(yes, I did take that picture of it in the top-left 😛 )
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13 Responses to “Samsung SyncMaster 226BW”
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July 18th, 2007 at 2:32 PM | Quote Comment
[…] already got my presents on Saturday. A Samsung SyncMaster 226BW Monitor, Company of Heroes (I’ll write a post on this later) and, well, […]
February 20th, 2008 at 2:22 PM | Quote Comment
The syncmaster 226bw is awesome. I can’t seem to get a full page with my internet though. When I open the browser the page is displayed to the left hand side or centered very small. How do I fix this problem. Beside that, everything works well!!!
Jay
February 20th, 2008 at 7:42 PM | Quote Comment
Jay: Either move your mouse to the edge of your Browser’s window till you see the cursor change to a double-arrow and click and drag to resize, or click the little rectangle in the top-right of the window just to the left of the close (X) button.
March 9th, 2008 at 12:08 PM | Quote Comment
[…] 226BW or 226CW. Between those two, it’s hard to say… I’m not sure if the whole controversy with the 226BW is still going on, nor if all 226CW’s have Samsung panels in them. However, I would go with […]
March 18th, 2008 at 11:06 AM | Quote Comment
Well, I have read many forums, and I find a page, where u can compare some type of monitors.. I was unhappy, because the BW had better colors after calibration.. so the CW has only S-panels, but u can’t set the correct colors..
I don’t know what to do, shall I buy BW or CW?
David
March 18th, 2008 at 11:16 AM | Quote Comment
davids83: Have you read this post?
http://mattsblog.ca/2008/03/09/differences-between-the-samsung-syncmaster-226bw-226cw-and-226nw/
Technically speaking, the 226CW has a wider colour gamut and higher static contrast ratio, so it’d be better to go with that. However, I’ve only ever used the 226BW, so I can’t personally vouch for the CW. I would go with the 226CW, though, because it is technically better.
March 20th, 2008 at 2:23 PM | Quote Comment
Yes I have, but it’s OK!
I wrote an e-mail to Samsung, and they said, that the wide gamut doesn’t match with the color correction!
So I gave this link in the mail:
http://www.digitalversus.com/duels.php?ty=6&ma1=36&mo1=224&p1=2104&ma2=36&mo2=265&p2=2507&ph=1
Here is the option of “Colors after calibration”! It’s a bit strange!
So the answer was from Samsung: they don’t know in what kind of circumstances was made these tests, so they don’t say anything…
Well, I know about a webshop, they’ll do a 226CW test within some weeks, so I think I’m gonna wait with the purchase!
March 20th, 2008 at 7:49 PM | Quote Comment
That’s interesting. So, the 226CW doesn’t have any colour correction (I’m assuming you mean the colour stuff in the OSD menu)?
Interestingly, the 226CW is no longer listed on Samsung’s site, nor does the direct link to it work anymore:
http://www.samsung.com/ca/consumer/detail/features.do?group=computersaccessories&type=monitors&subtype=lcd&model_cd=LS22MEXSFV/XAA
I’ve sent them an email asking if it’s been discontinued.
Anyways, go with the 226BW, I own one, and it’s an awesome monitor. I have an S panel, for what it’s worth (not sure if the whole panel thing is still going on).
March 21st, 2008 at 6:39 PM | Quote Comment
Hm, really interesting.. Maybe they know now the color-calibraton problem!
Well, I live in Hungary, and on the hungarian site is still there:
http://www.samsung.com/hu/consumer/detail/detail.do?group=monitorsstoredevices&type=monitors&subtype=lcdmonitors&model_cd=LS22MEXSFV/EDC
I don’t know why?
My problem with 226BW is in Hungary noboby know the type of the panel.. so I’m not sure, that I receive it with S-panel..
March 21st, 2008 at 6:55 PM | Quote Comment
Well, just buy the 226BW from a retailer with a good return policy. 😛 If you’re happy with it (you’ll probably never know what panel it is, since Samsung has removed all signs of it, without physically taking it apart), keep it, if you’re not, return it, and try another retailer. 😛
March 26th, 2008 at 3:02 PM | Quote Comment
Hi there
I have just purchased one of these monitors and it was manufactured in September 2007. Can you tell me if it is an A, C or S? The “Model:” just says: “226BW” at the top and the “Type No.: is “GH22WS”
Thanks
Tony.
April 12th, 2008 at 9:02 PM | Quote Comment
[…] have a 22″ monitor with my resolution set to 1680×1050. My browser window is almost always maximized, which meant […]
October 24th, 2008 at 12:01 PM | Quote Comment
You’re in luck. the screen on your monitor was not outsourced.
there should not be any a c or s
cheers
mat