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Samsung S27A950D review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £415
inc VAT

Fantastic image quality, versatile 3D and an ultra-attractive design make this a Best Buy

Samsung’s products have long been the epitome of style, and the S27A950D is another exceptionally pretty product. Its 27in screen seems to flow in an arc from its massive base, which holds the power connector and video inputs. The base and rear are finished in brushed metal, while the fascia is all glossy black. It’s all plastic, but that’s why the price isn’t in Apple territory.

The S27A950D’s 3D requires active shutter glasses, but they aren’t the ones provided by Nvidia’s 3D Vision system. Samsung’s glasses are far lighter and use a small watch battery instead of a fixed rechargeable battery. The screen supports 120Hz refresh rates, however, so there’s nothing to stop you buying a 3D Vision kit separately if you already own an Nvidia graphics card. It’s worth noting, however, that replacement Samsung glasses cost about £85, whereas a 3D Vision kit with one pair of glasses costs around £130.

Samsung S27A950D

Samsung bundles a copy of the TriDef 3D software with the monitor, and you’ll need to set it up differently depending on which make of graphics card you use. The S27A950D’s installation software places a special shortcut on your desktop after you install the software that lets you choose which type of 3D to use. ATI card owners get the best deal here, because the S27A950D worked almost seamlessly with an AMD card fitted during our tests. Unfortunately, Nvidia card owners need to jump through a few extra hoops.

With an AMD card, you can use Windows’ own Direct3D standard to play games, and we found Crysis to be smooth and immersive thanks to its 120Hz refresh rate. With an Nvidia card, you have to set TriDef to side-by-side mode. You then have to switch on 3D manually using the monitor’s touch-sensitive controls, which are located beneath the screen. The glasses won’t even switch on until you do this. Contrary to intuition, the raw image actually changes from two side-by-side images to a single, albeit fuzzy image when you switch the monitor to side-by-side 3D mode.

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Basic Specifications

Rating*****

Physical

Viewable size27 in
Native resolution1,920×1,080
Contrast ratio1,000:1
Brightness300cd/m²
Horizontal viewing angle170°
Vertical viewing angle160°
Response time2ms
Response time typegrey-to-grey
Screen depth12mm
Base (WxD)516x185mm
Screen elevation129mm

Features

Portrait modeno
Wall mount optionno
Height adjustableno
Internal speakersnone
Detachable cablesyes
USB hubnone
Integrated power supplyno
Kensington lock lugyes
Display extras1x DisplayPort, headphone output, 120Hz
VGA inputno
DVI inputyes
S-video inputno
Component inputno
Composite inputno
HDCP supportyes
Audio inputsN/A

Environmental

Power consumption standby1W
Power consumption on39W

Buying Information

Price£415
Supplierhttp://www.ebuyer.com
Detailswww.samsung.com/uk
Warrantytwo years collect and return

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