Once you’re done ogling the sheer size of the 243T’s screen, you’ll notice it sits atop a telescoping/pivoting neck and is framed by a simple bezel (available in either black or silver) that’s unadorned save a row of buttons on its bottom edge that control the onscreen display. Unfortunately, when the LCD is connected via DVI, OSD adjustments are strictly limited to the brightness settings.

This nonetheless came in handy when we fired up DisplayMate to evaluate the screen’s qualities. We found that with the brightness tuned to about 50 percent, the screen was capable of producing a deep black level while still keeping the darkest shades of gray intact. The 243T was equally strong on the other end, reproducing the very lightest grays against white. What’s more, the screen excelled at everything in between, reproducing gray-scales of up to 256 steps with aplomb. Transitions in shades appeared fluid and flawless.

In real-world use, the 243T’s picture looks stunning. Watching DVDs full-screen on a monitor this size is impressive, to be sure, but you’ll want to keep a safe distance lest you become distracted with your source material’s every quality flaw (it makes a mighty compelling case for HD video!).

As for gaming, you’ll likely find that either your system or the given game won’t support the LCD’s 1920x1200 native resolution, but that needn’t be a deal breaker. We ran Need for Speed Underground 2 at 1024x768 (the highest resolution the game would play on this monitor), with a 4:3 aspect ratio interpolated to fill the screen. Still, we found the experience gratifying. With our field of vision filled from side to side, we felt totally immersed in the high-speed action and saw nary a smear nor ghosted image.
--Katherine Stevenson

+ LARGE SCREEN: Flawless performance and oodles of screen real estate.
- INFLAMED SPLEEN: Dell's Ultrasharp 2405FPW gives us comparable performance and more OSD adjustments at a much lower price.

Month Reviewed: September 2005
Verdict: 9
URL: www.samsung.com