Buy Now...

Firstly the dimensions and from these figures some will immediately see my problem 52x34x15cm the latter figure is the depth of the base the actual panel is no more than 5cm deep. A standard 17inch monitor has a screen of 32x27cm this unit from Samsung 37x22cm. Both would give the notional measurement of 17inches when measured diagonally, but the screen makeup and shape is very different.

So this leads me to the conclusion that this is a TV/monitor. The maximum supported resolution  was 1280x768 something that I use all the time on my 17inch monitor but a 17inch panel such as the Philips 170C5 supports more 1280x1024 looks excellent.

See also: Televisions

more

The text looks stretched -horizontally- and that is why I have spent so long using it just to see if it was my perception that was at fault, no, it still looks stretched. I tried other things one of which is a game that is made up of spheres and these became ovals.

As a TV it is excellent and because of this it comes with a remote control. Maybe because this was not a factory fresh unit when I saw it, initial tuning was a problem. I read that it should show a certain screen on start up that it did not for me, and, finding a way to get this required screen took me a lot of tuning and numerous retries. Once I got the screen everything was simple but more paper documentation would have helped. Trying to read .html documents on a screen while trying to use the unit in a different mode is not a simple task. I finally found how to force the correct screen by tuning the supplied FM radio, this works fine when in PC mode with the supplied aerial, and should you need to mute sound can it can be quickly done.

Even though I had to use two extensions on my coaxial lead the TV picture was excellent. Sound is provided through speakers built into the edges of the panel that are about 5cm each side of the screen surround. Sound output was perfectly acceptable. The whole reason for the strange screen shape is so that TV can support 16:9 full screen something that a standard monitor/panel can never do.

This unit supports both Analog and Digital inputs as well as having a range of other sockets and fittings that even include a SCART socket that would enable an external item such as a DVD or video player to be attached. Using it as a TV was a pleasure. Because it has a full TV tuner built in it also supports Teletext but for some reason only full screen. It supports picture in picture in any of the four corners and this can be used quite effectively while working on things in PC mode. I have seen other units that support Teletext in the picture in picture mode, and, I think this can be useful. The 40 button remote is ideal and works well but I still have more than a few doubts about the screen dimensions, could I even get used to working full time with the PC screen shape, I doubt it. To be fair fast moving pages of text such as emails or web pages scrolled better than the recently reviewed Philips breaking up less.

As a TV and occasional or emergency monitor this would be fine but if it was to be used as a full time monitor and an occasional TV I think not. This has a horribly long link so type www.samsung.co.uk and enter sm730mw in the search at the top of the home page this produces one item, click on it and see this 'business' unit. www.amazon.co.uk have it for £399.99 and offer free delivery.