[ Background music ] >> Eric Franklin: Hi everyone this is Eric Franklin from CNET.com and I do love the smell of fresh plastic flowers in the morning. I really, really do and this thing let me talk about that. Anyway, today we're taking a first look at the Samsung LD220G. This 22 inch display has a glossy black bezel and an equally glossy screen. The foot stand located on the displays back is more of a prop holding the display upright. The stand includes small, thin wheels on its bottom allowing users to slide the stand smoothly thereby tilting the screen back up to 25 degrees. The monitor can be used as both a standalone display and as a companion monitor to a normal sized laptop. The display can be connected via VGA or using its embedded display link technology through USB. When uses a companion display it can easily be set in the extend or mirror mode through the display link toolbar. Depending on the size and design of the laptop you use the bottom of the screen may or may not line up perfectly. The onscreen display or OSD array located on the bottom right of the bezel remains hidden until touched and then it glows all cool like this, well kind of cool. Samsung uses a simple and limited OSD for the displays interface. There are no contrasts or color controls included and brightness is the only configuration option available. Movies on the Samsung look good in its movie preset with accurate colors but the displays relatively low brightness make for a dim screen that let color pop. Games look decent running at 1920x1080 and show no signs of ghosting however the performance of games while running through USB was extremely sluggish and choppy. While playing Unreal Tournament 3 there was very apparent input lag. None of this was a problem when going through VGA however. In power consumption the Samsung will cost you about $10 per year to run compared with the ASUS VH235H $14 per year and the AOCV22 Verfino [assumed spelling] $9 per year. For $230 the LD220G allows USB connectivity by-passing the video card connection. Unfortunately the display has lack luster configuration options, horrible games performance through USB, very apparent black light bleed through on dark screens. If you're looking for a general use companion monitor the Samsung's sleek design and simple USB connectivity make it a suitable choice, as long as you're not a gamer. If a standalone 22 incher is what you want we recommend either the AOCV22 Verifino or the Asus VH235H both have better performance, more features and can be found for the same price of less. Once again this is Eric Franklin this has been the first look at the Samsung LD220G.
