SyncMaster 15GLi: An affordable monitor for all of us
By Zatni Arbi
JAKARTA (JP): Few monitor makers manage to keep their products on the list of Editor's Choice year after year. Perhaps the only player that successfully holds on to the title is Nanao, now with the new name EIZO Nanao. The others, while still producing high- quality display monitors for computer users, generally take turns in being the leader of the pack.
In the recent past, when recommending a 15" monitor to friends or clients, I used to stick to Sony's 15sf II. This boasts bright colors, crisp text, and ample state-of-the-art controls. However, as the future of its service support center in Jakarta is becoming somewhat uncertain, I thought I had to find an alternative for a client who wanted a monitor of this size. So I went to Glodok and looked around to see what else was available.
The first alternative that came to mind was, of course, NEC. Since I happened to know the people in charge of the service center for NEC monitors personally, I figured I wouldn't have any difficulty getting help should problems occur. But I was a little taken aback by the price that the NEC dealer offered me. Their low end 15" costs Rp 1,320,000. That was ten percent higher than what a better-quality Sony 15sf II would cost. In addition, the demo unit that they had in their showroom in Computer City completely turned me off. The quality of the display was so bad I couldn't believe I was staring at an NEC monitor. They told me I should go to IndoComtech to see their other demo units, which were supposed to provide better display. I didn't have the time to do so.
NEC has been one of the stronger players in the monitor industry, although many reviewers in computer magazines have admitted that its monitors are no longer the best in terms of sharpness and brightness. This fact, coupled with both the quoted price and the shock I got from the less-than-perfect demo unit made me more than hesitant to choose this one. I walked around and talked with some other people in Computer City. Finally, I made the decision: Let's give Samsung's SyncMaster 15GLi a try.
As it turned out, this was a good decision. The monitor, which has been around for more than a year, has won a couple of awards from computer magazines. In my test, it was really up to scratch. At a little over Rp 1 million, it was certainly good value for money.
Features
The 15" monitor comes in beige with some streaks of grayish blue, making it look very up-to-date. All the control buttons are placed inside a drawer panel. On pushing the drawer in, it comes out and exposes the buttons.
As you can see in the accompanying picture, there are six beige buttons and four blue ones. To position the screen in the center of the tube, for example, press the first beige button on the left and then a diagram will appear on the screen. Using any of the blue buttons the display can be moved up, down, to the left, or to the right. When done, pressing the beige button once again makes the on-screen diagram disappear. The monitor will automatically store the new adjustment.
The maximum display resolution is 1280 by 1024 at 60 Hz. For any 15" size monitors, however, I would say that the normal resolution should be 800 by 600. The monitor's dot pitch is .28, which is still acceptable. The tube face is also fairly flat and square. The monitor can handle horizontal frequencies between 30 and 65 KHz and vertical frequencies from 50 to an ultra-high 120 Hz. We can specify up to 11 different settings. In addition, there are 11 factory-preset display settings.
No matter what control button is pressed, one can immediately find out the horizontal and vertical scan frequency currently in effect. On my test, for instance, the vertical frequency was 57.2 KHz while the horizontal was 90 Hz.
To find out more about the characteristics of the monitor, one can press the left-most beige button twice and hit the bottom- most blue button to scroll down the list. The display will describe what the monitor's maximum scan rates are.
This monitor displays very sharp lines, making it suitable for desktop-publishing and CAD jobs. Those who work with images may not find it very attractive though because the colors do not really pop out. But the very high refresh rate capability really helps make the monitor very pleasant to work with.
What I like
What I like the most about this monitor is its video signal cable. Unlike most other monitors I've seen, the connector can be unplugged from the monitor. It is a feature that I wish every monitor would have. Most of the others have their signal cable permanently fixed, and replacing it is not only costly, you also have to take apart the monitor cabinet. In SyncMaster's 15GLi, if you happen to damage the signal cable, you can easily go to Glodok and ask them to cut one for you to replace it. The connector on both sides use the same D type plug.
The on-screen menus are also very well-thought out. We don't have to decipher the diagrams, as they tell us immediately what function is active. For instance, when one presses the button to adjust the pincushioning, the diagram will show a picture of a rectangle with the vertical sides bowing inside. These diagrams are so easy to understand.
The color warmth can also be changed. So, for instance, if we want the white of Winword to look really white, we choose Channel 1. If we work with colorful images, we may want to choose Channel 2. The monitor is plug-and-play; it works seamlessly with Windows 95. The power management system also works fine. I was able to turn off the monitor after three minutes of idle time just by setting Windows 95's screen saver.
The downside
SyncMaster 15GLi is not equipped with any control to tilt the screen image. The unit I got had the screen tilted very slightly to the right, and there was no way I could correct it. It's a glaringly obvious missing feature, as even the cheaper 14" GTC Digital model has a knob at the back that to rotate the screen display to the left or to the right.
The brightness and contrast setting are adjusted by turning their respective dial buttons located on the right underside of the front panel. Not only do most new monitors come with digital controls for these two settings, the dial control buttons on this monitor don't have the middle-position indicator, which is usually useful is adjusting these display settings.
Nonetheless, for its price, this monitor really eliminates many of the reasons you could think of still buying 14" monitors. The strange thing is that the prices of the monitors have been stable for a long time. As more and more monitor makers make 15" and larger monitors, we do hope they will start dropping.