Bought a new monitor at the supermarket

[ET3D]

It's late (12:30am) so I'll make it short and maybe add some details later, but tonight I went to buy some groceries and returned with a Samsung B2230. That was quite a surprise, both to myself and to my wife, but we previously agreed that she'll get me a monitor for my birthday (which is about three weeks away), so I'm safe.

It was a good price, the equivalent of about $170, close the the US price, which is surprising. It's cheaper than anything that I could find online (I searched just now, after I bought it).

[Blacksmith1]

that's not bad. let us know how the "magic" features perform. I found it over here on sale at one place for a bit less but not by much, online pretty much the same price you paid.

[Joshua_Mahr]

That's funny and sweet!

[ET3D]

I'm up just a few hours later (running nose due to allergies). Didn't have enough sleep, but I'll try to tell a coherent story. (By the way, I finished the post two hours later. It's morning already, but I only slept 4 hours. The one year old woke up an hour ago.)

A month or two ago I got a new work desk, at the insistence of my wife. One of the first things which occurred to me is that I finally have enough space for more than one monitor. I can sometimes have two remote desktops, a virtual machine and several browser windows open at once, so a little more desktop real estate than my 1600x1200 Samsung monitor could certainly help.

My criterion for a monitor is generally as small and as high resolution as possible. I looked at monitors at a good online store, and saw that 1080p and 21.5" is the sweet spot. Going to a higher resolution means several times the price, and a bigger size. There were a few ways I considered to go up from a basic monitor, such as a USB hub, HDMI, changing to portrait mode (useful for programming). Going for 3D or a higher quality panel would cost too much for me, I felt, but minor conveniences aren't bad to have.

A week ago or so my wife asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I said "a new CPU" and she said no. Luckily I managed to convince her that I have a rare opportunity to get a good CPU for cheap in the US, but she still didn't want that as a present because it's not something she can see. So I told her I wanted a second monitor and she agreed to that.

I didn't look at the monitors again since then, but yesterday when I went shopping for groceries (which I often do Thursday nights, after the kids go to sleep), and the Samsung monitor box was sitting at a pretty prominent place. There was a sale on all electronics but no price on that box, so I went to the display, saw that the price was decent even without the sale, far as I remembered from the last time I checked online, so with the sale it will be very good.

I called my wife, who said "who buys monitors at the supermarket?" and that I don't want to buy any cheap stuff I'll regret later. I told her that my previous two monitors were Samsung and I was quite pleased with them, as well as our TV, so I trust the brand. I knew I wouldn't get any frills with that monitor, but I'm always willing to make do with the bare necessities. When I came home I looked online to make sure I didn't make a big mistake (and figured I'll return it to the store if I did), but it looks like it's generally a good monitor apart from the annoying touch buttons.

So now I have a new monitor. Haven't opened the box yet, I'll probably do it later today or tomorrow. Hopefully after I get some more sleep.

By the way, I don't know how it is elsewhere, but here in Israel while the supermarket chains sell mostly food and other household consumables, their larger stores also carry some electronics, clothing and such (not a great variety of them). Luckily I go to one of these larger stores about once every too weeks, because the price is lower than at our local store.

[James86]

nice story I've never heard of a grocery store selling electronics

[Blacksmith1]

sounds like your version of a super walmart, except it's the other way here, hard goods at the normal stores, + groceries at the "super" stores. and now there's one in the neiborhood that's food & such only.
I think you'll be happy with it. I loved my samsung HDTV. it lasted 8 years or so. and it wasn't well cared for, lots of dust in it, lots of power spikes and brownouts.
I love samsung products. (mostly)

[ET3D]

I liked Samsung products, too. I already own a Samsung monitor and an HDTV, and owned a Samsung CRT before the LCD monitor. Only Samsung product I owned which I didn't like that much was my Windows Mobile phone, but that was more Microsoft's fault than Samsung's.

[Joshua_Mahr]

I liked Samsung products, too. I already own a Samsung monitor and an HDTV, and owned a Samsung CRT before the LCD monitor. Only Samsung product I owned which I didn't like that much was my Windows Mobile phone, but that was more Microsoft's fault than Samsung's.

I have to say I love Samsung stuff. Their LCD TV's are the best. Like my Samsung phone too.

[ET3D]

I assembled and connected the monitor. The first thing I noticed when I assembled the stand was that it's fixed. I'm using to be able to tilt the monitor, and this one feels to me like it's pointing down, even though it's perfectly perpendicular to the desk. The picture is bright and clear, and made me realise how dirty my old monitor is. The other good thing is that I can play blu-ray discs on it. I recently got a blu-ray drive, and tried the movies I had, and PowerDVD 8 (which came with the drive) refused to play them on my old monitor claiming it's lacking some DRM technology (whose name I don't remember right now). No such problem with the new screen (which is also 1080p so perfect for video).

A real down side though is that since I hooked the second monitor my PC freezes quite often. That's a serious problem and I will have to get to the bottom of this.

[Blacksmith1]

look at the samsung website for a driver. I need one for my viewsonic to solve a few odd problems when I got it.

[swmeek]

I have a 46"LED TV and a 24" LED monitor of theirs and I'm well pleased with both.
Yeah the monitor stands are kinda crap.