Home > Consumer Reviews > Samsung 2343BWX 23-Inch LCD Monitor

This has been one of the best LCD monitors I've owned. The incredibly high 2048 x 1152 resolution gives you a huge amount of screen real estate at a true 16:9 aspect ratio. It's possible to view two web pages simultaneously without having them overlap. The image quality is sharp and bright. The industrial design is clean, unembellished and professional looking.

The main drawbacks are the power LED indicator, pivot/stand and limited ports. In idle/sleep mode the bright blue flashing power LED can get irritating -- I'm tempted to put some black duct tape over it since it can light up a dark room when the computer is off. Though you can pivot the display stand, you can't raise it. There are only two ports (DVI and VGA), no HDMI or built-in USB hub. Video at such a high resolution can lose frames if your graphics card isn't fast enough. Finally, the configuration buttons on the front of the monitor (for adjusting brightness, input, etc.) aren't really buttons, but flat, touch-sensitive areas. While this makes the monitor look sleek, there's no tactile feedback, so it's hard to figure out what you're pressing if you don't look at the icon first.

Despite the drawbacks, for the cost of this display and its quality it's a superb deal. Most 24" displays have lower resolutions and the quality ones cost much more. Considering the reputable Samsung brand and the features, you really get a great deal with this display.

The Samsung 2343BWX has a 23-inch TN panel, and has the main weakness of TN: degradation when viewed off-center. You need to set this up such that your eyes are aimed directly at the middle of the screeen in your primary viewing position, or you will be disappointed. Viewing by multiple people will mean viewing off-center. You start to see the degradation just moving from one side of the screen to the other. It's worse from top to bottom.

The viewable area of the screen is only 11.3 inches high, and the monitor sits low on the desk. The stand rotates nicely, not too important for a one-person display. It tilts, but not enough to get the panel perpendicular to my eyes. (That would probably turn it into a dust-catcher, anyhow.) What this unit needs most is what it lacks: a height adjustment. People use books or reams of paper to address this, but then the keyboard won't slide back over the base. To address this issue, I looked at Ergotron LX Desk Mount Arm - mounting kit ( 45-179-195 ) and Ergotron 45-174-300 Neo-Flex LCD Arm-Extension Grommet Desk Mount, but why should I have to pay for that? Up in the attic, I found an old monitor stand with keyboard drawer I had for an old CRT - I'm now using that without the drawer. [Yes, there is a reason I keep all that old junk!]

Since I don't play action games, I also looked at S-PVA screens - Dell 2408WFP UltraSharp 24-inch Widescreen + High Definition Flat Panel Monitor seems best, cheaper from Dell direct - and IPS screens HP LP2475W 24in LCD Monitor 1920X1200 or Apple LED Cinema Display 24-Inch MB382LL/A seems best. Ominously, Amazon has withdrawn the HP from sales, only offering it through a partner, due to inventory, shipping, or description problems [my guess, users noted color shift problems, and started returning them]. The Apple costs almost $900.

Associates have the Dell at work, and it's fine, but not spectacular. I have used a single Dell 2001FP at work for years (with 8 Linux desktops, one dedicated to my Windows VM). My wife has a 2007FP at home for photo work - these 4:3 20-inch displays may be better quality than the 2408WFP.

The 2343BWX replaced a 1280x1024 Princeton from Costco that cost me $600 a number of years ago. I paid a premium at Costco for the new one, because of their 90-day return policy on electronics. I have had this unit 2.5 months. The Dell would definitely be better, but it would cost me about $200 more. I've pretty much talked myself into keeping the 2343BWX, which I rate at 3.5 stars.

The 2048x1152 16:9 aspect ratio on the 2343BWX is better for my use, which is working with many Windows XP windows open at a time. For side-by-side viewing, the extra width is more important than height. The total number of pixels is also slightly higher than a 1920x1200 16:10 resolution (e.g. the Dell and HP units above).

Quite a number of 1920x1080 16:9 units are out there - I cannot see any reason to buy one of them instead of the Samsung 2343BWX.

I have had this monitor for 5 weeks and it has performed well. I have the monitor attached to 2 computers - 1 via DVI and 1 via VGA. You can easily toggle between the 2 computers with the source button on the monitor. Pictures and video look great. The native resolution of the monitor is unique, but neither computer has had an issue with it. This screen is wider than most wide screen monitors and that extra real estate comes in handy when looking at 2 things side-by-side. I thought is would take a while to get used to the true 16:9 aspect ratio of this monitor, but it did not. The price for this monitor is less than some 22" monitors and considerably less than 24". Overall I believe this monitor is a good value.

I have this monitor side by side with a Apple Cinema 23-inch HD Flat-Panel Display for the purpose of using it to view more pictures at once with Apple Aperture 2.1.1. The high resolution of this monitor is perfect for viewing huge galleries, meanwhile I am using my Cinema Display as my second monitor for a reason: The color on the Samsung display is going to take a great deal of work to get anywhere matching. My point is that even though this monitor is a TN display, having as many pixels as possible will help me greatly with all sorts of work.

The controls do give me plenty of options such as multiple default profiles for gamma, brightness & contrast, and some sort of other color correction that makes colors more or less vivid, which is great if you're going to play a game or like to view the internet with bright colors. I was hoping that the color profile that Leopard used automatically and all of the "Magic" settings off would give me a more color accurate image, however I am going to have to change it in software to try to get it to match.

As far as brightness goes, it is no match for the Cinema Display HD. I will have to explore the 3 gamma profiles and possibly change them as needed since happily one of the settings made reading text better at the expense of changing colors greatly.

And yes I know the faults of comparing this display to one that costs far more, however this display did not disappoint me and has become part of my arsenal. The high resolution will be helpful everywhere: From editing audio with Logic Studio Retail or Ableton 83593 Live 8 - Windows And Mac or video with Final Cut Studio. I'll be able to see more and use my more expensive monitor to see everything the way I intend.

I run a single and a dual monitor system, with one monitor on an A/B switch to service both systems.

Back in mid-April, my primary 1280x1024 monitor started to have florescent tube problems, so I shopped around and bought a Samsung SyncMaster 2343BWX monitor to replace it. It's bright, sharp and most importantly, 2048x1152. The low price tag didn't hurt either.

Be warned that not all A/B switches will support such high resolutions. Finding an AGP2 card that will support 2048x1152 over dvi isn't easy either. (Finding a pci-e card that will support 2048x1152 is a piece-'o-cake...)

This new monitor put my other widescreen 1440x900 monitor to shame in both brightness and sharpness, so in early July, I ended up buying a second one. (This time less than $200 with rebate.)

So my dual monitor system essentially has 4096x1152 pixels over both monitors, excellent for programs that want a *lot* of real estate, like Premier Pro, spreadsheets, web development, etc. These monitors really aren't that much larger than my old monitors, and fit in the same physical deskspace.

I'm not a PC gamer, so I don't know how them look with really high frame-rate games, but they look great for normal work and video.

Overall, I'm impressed. No problems encountered yet, and I'd recommend this monitor to anyone who needs the real estate. This monitor represents a very good value.