Quick look: SyncMaster speeds up

There was a time not very long ago when the major knock on flat-panel LCDs was their slow response time. With pixel refreshes taking more than 20 milliseconds, LCDs were not a good choice for those needing instant video and animations.

But not anymore. The top LCD manufacturers got response times down to 12 milliseconds a couple of years ago. And now, with the new 19-inch SyncMaster 915N, Samsung officials have introduced a flat-panel LCD with a response time of only 8 milliseconds.

The SyncMaster 915N’s display not only refreshes rapidly, it is bright and crisp. And we like the unit’s clean lines. The matte black unit offers a thin, half-inch bezel, making it effective for tiling. And the thin panel of buttons on the front provides quick access to Samsung’s well-designed control utilities.

In addition to an auto-adjust feature, the 915N offers Samsung’s MagicBright display control utility. You can even save configuration profiles for quick loading under different environmental conditions.

We have two problems with the 915N. The unit only offers a standard VGA connection; Digital Visualization Interface is not supported. And the labels on the buttons on the front of the unit are virtually impossible to see.

Otherwise, the SyncMaster 915N is a stylish, fast monitor with a surprisingly low street price of less than $500.