Samsung SyncMaster 174v Review - Exterior of the 174v
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The SyncMaster 174v is a very clean looking LCD that fits and looks great on basically any desk. I'm a fan of black, and so this flat panel is right up my alley.
The 174v features a thin bezel Samsung monitors are known to have. The bezel is approximately 2cm thick around the left, top, and right edges of the monitor, and 2-1/2cm thick at the bottom. The screen, though I'm not sure what material it is made of, attracts very little dust, and even then is very easy to clean.
The base of the monitor is oval shaped, and bridges to the panel with a thin piece of plastic. The power and input connectors are on the back of the panel...
...and the cables are routed through the base and covered with another piece to hide everything like so:
Here's what it looks like without the cover:
A major feature of the SyncMaster 174v is the "built-in power brick." What that means is that there is no external power supply for the LCD; the power cable between the LCD and outlet is just one thin cable, and nothing else.
The display rises off whatever surface it is placed on by about 6cm (depends on the angle of the screen). It has a large tilting range for better viewing, and can also be wall mounted (VESA standard). The controls for the display consist of five buttons located beneath the bottom bezel.
From left to right: auto/exit, menu, power, minus, plus. When the auto/exit button is pressed, the LCD automatically adjusts settings for respective resolutions and refresh rates. The menu button obviously starts the on-screen display (OSD), and a press of the auto/exit button exits the menu. When not in the OSD, the minus and plus buttons adjust the brightness. Otherwise, they are used to navigate the OSD. And yes, the power button turns the LCD on and off.
Continuing with the exterior of the monitor, you can see the 174v is pretty darn compact. There are ventilation slots on the top and bottom edges where the panel slopes inwards. And here is a final shot of the back of the monitor.
Next: The SymcMaster's Performance >>
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