Performance

First off, I'm a huge fan of Samsung when it comes down to displays.  In my honest opinion, I think they make some of, if not, the very best on the market and would never seriously consider another option.  Why?  Well, they have always managed to impress, both in terms of quality and performance.  This display is certainly no exception.

For one, mostly all LCD displays I've owned were from Samsung, including those from third-party companies such as DELL.  Not one of the displays had dead pixels and with that said, I would like to add that you have the peace of mind that you will likely experience the same, as their QC is top notch.  This display is yet another to add to the list, as it did not have a single dead/stuck pixel.

Contrast & Refresh Rates

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With a dynamic ratio of 20000:1, this display does impress.  Blacks are blacks and whites are whites.  You get true deep blacks with this display, especially when compared to much older models such as their very own 204B.  Folks, whether or not your own eyes can tell the difference, I will say that this particular feature is one of high importance and will significantly impact its display/playback quality.

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When it comes to entertainment use, I'm personally a fan of DLP displays.  In fact, I happen to own an upgraded Samsung model.  No matter what the refresh rate may be, I have been so used to DLP displays that I tend to instantly notice motion blur regardless of how low the specs state.  It honestly is the major drawback of owning an LCD display and there's just no way around it.  While the Samsung 2343BWX does have a super low 5ms response time and did perform better than any I have owned, the motion blur was still there when conducting many tests.  To some, this will not be an issue but to those who are as picky as I am and coming from other display technologies, you'll likely notice the difference.

Daily Computing

I'm one who has always been accustomed to a plain-old 4:3.  Despite many attempts to switch to widescreen, I always ended up going back.  That's important to note here because it is this display's unique high density resolution that seriously does make a difference.  Why?  Well, that impressive 2048x1152 resolution is not much different vertically than the more typical 1920x1200 displays.  You have more vertical space and significantly more horizontal space to play with.  I can't begin to tell you just how much better this really is for avid computer users, especially those who work with image editing programs such as Photoshop.  This display was primarily tested on a Windows 7 system, which was the perfect OS, as it sports some small but neat features targeted at widescreen displays.  As an example, you can easily load two full browsers side-by-side on this display. 

Video Playback

I focus back on the horrible consumer reviews for a minute here because it is once again important.  Some claim that due to its higher resolution, it is not a 1080 display and therefore, videos or movies will not play in full screen.  This is so wrong and so amateur in nature, it was actually amusing to read them.

You can play Blu-ray Movies in full screen without a single issue, provided you have a decent vid card.  Due to the high contrast, discs are quite impressive and a pleasure to watch on this display.

I threw all kinds of high-def videos at it, all of which were impressive to watch.  This included custom Full HD videos at 30fps from my camera and even some hacked straight rips from Comcast at 720p.  At full screen, the level of clarity and detail was very impressive.  Vibrant colors and excellent contrast.

Gaming

I'm only a casual gamer, but did have to try out some games with this display.  GTA IV at its high native resolution is just amazing.  However, you better be sure you have a decent video card capable of running games at this resolution.  My card was able to run it at 2048x1152, but I ran into occasional lag from time-to-time and had to bring it down a notch to 1080.  Regardless, it is an excellent display for gamers and it truly makes games more enjoyable on every level.

Next: Conclusions