Wolfshanze
I had a really hard time reviewing this monitor. I dont even know if I want to give this monitor a good review or a bad review, because theres a lot to love with this monitor, but it has its problems too... in the end, ill give it 3 stars, but for some you may give it 5, and others 1, based on this review. The Good: Its Samsung... and Ive always liked Samsung monitors for reliability and picture quality... the picture quality on this S27E330 does NOT disappoint... the screen is very bright, the colors are sharp, and as a gaming monitor, the GAME MODE absolutely makes the colors in your games just pop and look fantastic! I cant say enough nice things about the picture quality, I really love how the colors and brightness look. For a TN display panel, it has really good viewing angles. As a gaming monitor, it also has 1ms refresh, which is really good, and the price for under $200 is great. If thats all you care about, this monitor could be a 5-star monitor for you. I dont blame anyone for picking up this monitor and running with it. The Bad: No controls on front... not one... nothing... if aesthetics are important to you, maybe you cheer this factor, but for anyone else that likes convenience in controls, I hate how you control this monitor... it has one mini joystick to control EVERYTHING this monitor does on the BACK of the unit... youre supposed to put thumb on front, fingers around the back to control the joystick, and ive seen other monitors with this feature, but I think its just a terrible design. you press it in to select and move the joystick around to control, but since its on the back and unseen, it just always feels a bit awkward... whats worse, as a "Gaming Monitor", the GAME MODE is selected with this joystick, and it takes something around 4 or 5 movements and presses to turn the game mode on... and another 4 or 5 movements to turn the game mode off. The game mode looks fantastic in games and terrible out of them, so its really something that should have a quick toggle on the front... nope... no such luck... if you want to toggle game mode on or off, youre going to be fooling with that joystick in the back for awhile. This really bothered me, because I loved the game mode, and older Samsung monitors had a simple one-button push on the front to toggle it on and off... this joystick ruins the convenience of game mode, it really does. One final bad about the joystick... its also the only way to turn the monitor on or off aside from the computer putting it in sleep mode. If you want to turn the monitor on or off, its several moves with the joystick in the back... no one button on or off. The Ugly: Its a gaming monitor and its 60hz... why is any monitor targeted at gamers only 60hz in 2018? We have 144hz and 240hz monitors out there for gamers, and this thing is still at 60hz like its 2008, not 2018. Yes, I know its a cheap monitor, but I just bought my son a $68 monitor and its 75hz... if im spending nearly $200, at LEAST make a gaming monitor 75hz if not more. I knew it was 60hz when I bought it, but I pretty much had buyers remorse right away as I kept thinking I should have at least gotten 75hz or more for gaming in 2018... finally, as a brand new monitor, I just paid nearly $200 for... I immediately noticed a stuck red pixel... and no matter what I did to try and resolve and unstick it... there was nothing I could do to eliminate the stuck red pixel, and at 1080p on a 27" monitor, thats a pretty big red pixel... once seen it cannot be unseen (see picture). Now I know its bad luck to get such a monitor, and that certainly doesnt mean every Samsung monitor comes with a stuck red pixel as "a feature", so im not really downing it for a stuck red pixel... you may get one with no stuck or dead pixels... but for Samsung, I really didnt expect bad right out of the box, and reading other comments, I apparently am not the only one who got a bad pixel with this model, so im wondering if its more common than it should be, which is why I mentioned it. Conclusion: I did a lot of research before buying this monitor, and I obviously was trying to keep to a budget (its easy to spend a small fortune on a gaming monitor). My big draw was that it was a name brand I have always trusted over the years that has never let me down. The "GOOD" I mentioned above really, Really, REALLY is good... theres so much about this monitor that I loved... but the Bad and especially the Ugly eventually put me in the reluctant, but necessary "returned for Refund" mode. I might have kept this monitor and lived with the bad joystick control if not for the stuck pixel... that was just the deal killer for me... and the joystick control instead of one-button toggle for gaming mode and the 60hz factor on a gaming monitor just made me decide to not bother seeking an exchange. The colors are really great on this monitor, and if for you, the joystick or 60hz refresh is not an issue, and you can get one without bad pixels, this monitor is a steal, and I recommend you get it. But if the joystick or 60hz would bother you like it does me, and/or you dont want to risk what seems to be a repeating issue for some with bad pixels... you might want to consider looking elsewhere. I tried to be as fair as I could with this review... its not like I dropped it down the stairs and hit it with a baseball bat then gave it a one star rating and said "not durable", like ive seen some people do. Theres a lot to love about this monitor, but it has issues too. I can see people keeping this monitor and having a great time with it... but for me, the bad controls, 60hz and stuck pixel was just too much to keep it, and I ended up spending a little more and getting a Viewsonic XG2702 instead... it cost a little more, but it was a solution to all the problems I had with this monitor.
