Benchmark Reviews has released a new article on the Samsung 22-inch Widescreen LCD Monitor 2220WM-HAS. Its wide screen has a resolution of 1680x1050. Though this is not capable of "full HD" and cannot be used to watch 1080p video at full resolution, it's still large enough to watch 720p video and shouldn't disappoint any but the most videophilic users. Despite being a TN (Twisted Nematic) screen, its viewing angle of 160 degrees maintains a bright and clear image at all but the most unwatchable angles. The monitor features a bright screen, a 5ms response time, a reported 1000:1 contrast ratio, RGB/VGA and DVI connectors, speakers and a base with adjustable height and tilt.

The monitor performed like a champ, providing crisp imagery with no bleed or ghosting occurring. Dead pixels were non-existent in this monitor, but also appear to be occurring less and less in general among LCD panels. The adjustable brightness, contrast and color levels give the user of the monitor total control over the monitor, like in most monitors. Plus, the MagicBright presets were very helpful for picking the appropriate color level, which helps those users who have no desire to endlessly tweak the colors of their LCD monitor.

The speakers were a major letdown coupled with the clunky volume interface. The slightly askew base was another sour point of this monitor, but both are more of a slight annoyance than any real problem. While the speakers are nothing more than a bell and whistle (and a poor sounding bell and whistle to boot) the base prevents this monitor from attaining a perfect score in the functionality category. The inability to display 720x400 @ 70hz correctly is also a problem that should be resolved in this stage of the monitor game. It's especially contentious considering older 17" LCD monitors have no problem displaying such a resolution.

Despite these misgivings, the Samsung 2220WM-HAS has shown itself to perform where it really counts. An inability to display a smaller resolution may be a problem, but its ability to display its native resolution with gusto is what really matters with these monitors.