14 DAY TRIAL // I guess that lately you can say that about all Samsung's products. I was going to say "Samsung's LCDs", but then I remembered seeing some Samsung cell phones. Anyway, I definitely love Samsung for its exquisite taste but that does not always translate into maximum performance. Motive for which I've been waiting to see Samsung's 27-incher for a long time, and not because of its looks (which - as I've said - happens to be as good as always) but because of what it can do.
It's been more than a week since Dell's 27" panel photos leaked onto Dell's website and now Samsung announces its own 27" model with complete specs and photos. It's the SyncMaster 275T which comes into play and it seems that it has more in common with the 27-inch Dell model than the size.
For example, both displays use the same 8-bit widescreen S-PVA Samsung LTM270M1 panel. The panel coming from Samsung features a 1920x1200 resolution with 0.303 mm pixel pitch. We can safely assume that Dell's panel uses the same native resolution and pixel pitch. The digital processor that is being used in this particular panel is unknown, but we know that the LCD has interfaces for 15-pin D-sub, DVI-D CVBS, S-Video and even Component inputs.
The new SyncMaster has a 6ms G2G (gray-to-gray) response time, 500 cd/m^2 brightness and a 3000:1 contrast ratio. Samsung also said that the display has a 178/178 degree viewing angle and that's a very good number for a big display. At the moment, only Samsung produces 27" panels, motive for which we won't see any competitors on the market.
Samsung claims the SyncMaster 275T will have a price tag of only $999 when it will come out (February 2007) and the panel will have a three-year warranty. A decent 30" display is priced at around $1,200, meaning that you will get the 27-incher a little cheaper but that will be compensated by its size. Anyhow, it's good to have a choice in this segment and Samsung's move says a lot about how they see the LCD market.