8ms 19" LCDs: Speed for Gaming, but at What Cost?

Samsung SyncMaster 913N: Samsung According To Samsung

If Samsung supplies their principal competitor with LCD panels, they're obviously going to use them in their own monitors too. And why not? Since the 710 T/N, Samsung has been dominating comparisons of LCD displays thanks to their 13ms panel, which offers an excellent compromise between responsiveness and comfort. So naturally we tested the 913N to see whether Samsung would be able to pull off a no-fault performance.

Design

The design of the SyncMaster 913N is fairly close to that of the 710T/N. The shell around the panel has the same built-in buttons and discreet LED pilot. The gray and black plastics are of good quality, as is the assembly. The 913N is a carefully designed and built monitor.

Ergonomics

Unlike the 710T, the 913N has minimal adjustments. The panel's tilt is changeable, and that's about all. The only positive point is that the adjustment range is wide enough to find the optimum position despite the very reduced viewing angles of this type of panel. If the adjustment you get with the buttons doesn't satisfy you, you can use the bundled Magic-Tune software. No Linux version is available, however - too bad for us penguins.

Features

It's the strict minimum: this is the only monitor with no DVI connector. It's true that the DVI input didn't do anything to improve quality on the preceding two monitors, but we'd still have liked to have the choice.