X-bit labs

Samsung SyncMaster 940UX: First USB-Monitor Reviewed! (page 3)

Category: Other

by Oleg Artamonov

[ 06/13/2007 | 10:39 AM ]

The monitor not only uses the USB connection for its own purposes, but has a dual-port USB 2.0 hub, too. Such USB hubs are usually used to connect flash drives and other peripherals, but you may find a very original application for it here: you can connect a second USB monitor to the first one’s port and so on until you run out of the port bandwidth.

A selection of controls typical of Samsung monitors can be found in the bottom right of the front panel. Quick access is provided to the MagicBright modes, to controlling the brightness setting, to the auto-adjustment feature, and to switching between the inputs.

There is a blue LED built into the Power button. It is not very bright and is not distracting at work, but it starts to blink when the monitor slips into sleep mode. And this can be rather irritating at home where the monitor is going to illuminate your room at night with a blinking blue light. Unfortunately, the LED cannot be disabled.

The onscreen menu does not differ from the menus of many other monitors from Samsung. It has a logical structure and is easy to use. Particularly, it remembers the last changed item and shows it the next time you enter the menu.

The monitor offers a set of MagicBright modes with preset contrast/brightness levels and an additional Dynamic Contrast mode available via the same button. In this mode the monitor is automatically adjusting the intensity of its backlight depending on the onscreen image.