Recently I decided to get two new 22" LCD monitors, just for the heck of it (cause I wanted to) and for the first time I went with Samnung instead of my usual Viewsonic, I got the Samsung Syncmaster 226BW and I wanted to use my monitors vertically butafter trying I find that I can't do that. I can rotate the screen on my stand and my Nvidia 8800 will take care of the visual aspect but its that I can't look at the screen. I have to site over to one side or the other to try and get it to "look right" but all I can see, from left to right, is the gradient of the monitor, and what it does to the pictures/anything I look at on screen, I can't stare straight ahead.

So is this typical with all LCD monitors? Or is there something I should have looked for when buying it to kow if it was possible to use them vertically?

Any Samsung "B" series monitor uses what's called a "TN" panel.

One major factor of TN panels is that they have noticably poorer viewing angle in one angle-- usually straight up or straight down under normal orientation. The colour distorts wildly.

Rotate it 90 degrees, and all of a sudden, you've got really bad horizontal viewing angles.

Note that this is not Samsung-specific; almost ALL 22" LCDs use TN panels-- the main exception being the Lenovo L220X, the lone 1920x1200 22".

Quote: Originally Posted by Hak Foo Any Samsung "B" series monitor uses what's called a "TN" panel. One major factor of TN panels is that they have noticably poorer viewing angle in one angle-- usually straight up or straight down under normal orientation. The colour distorts wildly. Rotate it 90 degrees, and all of a sudden, you've got really bad horizontal viewing angles. Note that this is not Samsung-specific; almost ALL 22" LCDs use TN panels-- the main exception being the Lenovo L220X, the lone 1920x1200 22".

thanks for the info! so should I look to getting larger monitors to be able to do what I want to do? if so what is the minimum threshold (screen size) I need to look at?

The trick is finding monitors with the right panel. You can get 20s and 21s with non-TN panels, the Lenovo 22 I mentioned, and some 24s.

Im sure there is software you can get that will let you use one monitor on top of another, and span your desktop vertically. For lack of any inspiration at this very second (its half 2am and im tired) try Ultramon. Its what I use for customizing my dual TFTs, it might have that feature.

Quote: Originally Posted by Dex Im sure there is software you can get that will let you use one monitor on top of another, and span your desktop vertically. For lack of any inspiration at this very second (its half 2am and im tired) try Ultramon. Its what I use for customizing my dual TFTs, it might have that feature.

uh, thanks for the information but that is really not what I was asking about at all.

Quote: Originally Posted by Hak Foo The trick is finding monitors with the right panel. You can get 20s and 21s with non-TN panels, the Lenovo 22 I mentioned, and some 24s.

ok, thanks. will it say so in the product description whether its a TN or not?

Damn, sorry I posted at all.

Quote: Originally Posted by Dex Damn, sorry I posted at all.

Nah, its ok! Its a good link/information.