The Samsung 226BW 22-Inch Widescreen LCD Monitor offers razor-sharp, widescreen image clarity and a host of innovative features. The image quality of the 22-inch widescreen offers wide viewing angles with bright colors for a very favorable viewing experience. With a wider viewing angle (160-degree vertical and horizontal viewing angle) Samsung makes sure you can see objects on your screen even when you're leaning over to grab a snack.

Keep in mind that this screen runs natively at 1650x1050. It's a rather high resolution for older video cards and if you have an old system then you may experience some stuttering. My 226BW is connected to an ATI Radeon X850XT video card with an AGP 8X interface. I can play Elder Scrolls: Oblivion with most settings maxed using the screen's native resolution and it looks and plays beautifully. Remember to install the monitor drivers. They are available for both Windows Vista and XP. You can use the included CD, download them directly from Samsung, or use Windows Update. (I used Windows Update since those drivers are signed.) The drivers aren't required, but it does make the monitor more compatible with the system.

The Samsung 226BW has HDCP support through its DVI cable connection which gives it more future compatibility. Soon all monitors will need HDCP support in order to play HD video content. I don't need it now, but it's nice to know it's there.

If you really want the best picture out of this display, be sure to use a DVI video cable. (A 3 foot DVI cable and 3 foot VGA cable is included with the display.) VGA is an old style analog connection which was best used with CRT (tube style) monitors. Since LCD are digital not analog, a digital signal is the best. If you use the VGA connection your video card has to convert the digital signal to analog, then transmit it to the display and the display has to reconvert it back to digital. That's two unneeded video conversions which can result in a washed out picture. With the DVI connection, it's a digital signal directly from the video card to the display with no video conversion, so you get the best picture.

I do have two very minor negatives. Both involve the stand. First, the stand does not pivot sideways for portrait style viewing. That's nothing I would use, but many monitors have this option. Second, a wall mounting bracket is not included even though the Samsung 226BW is wall mount stand. If you need to wall mount the display, the bracket needs to be purchased separately.