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Bahrain, Manama
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Review on SAMSUNG Ultrawide Adjustable LS49A950UINXZA Charcoal 5120X1440P HDR USB Hub Ultrawide Screen Adaptive Sync ‎S95UA by George Walkes

Revainrating 2 out of 5

Better on paper in my opinion.

I've been looking for a good performance monitor in dual QHD format for a long time. I bought it on Prime Day because the specs looked pretty good, but I was a little hesitant because there was only 1 Revain review at the time and it was about the lack of FreeSync support, which didn't apply to my main productivity use case. So I dared. When it arrived I spent all day testing it for various tests. Pros: * Monitor was packaged well. * Screen arrived intact with no dead pixels. It's easy to have an IDE in the middle and Teams or Slack on one side and a browser or email on the other. I had no problems with that. I really wonder if I wish the more aggressive 1000R curve was better, which could mean even less head turning. MacBook Pro goes to sleep, the display briefly goes to sleep and wakes up when a key is pressed on the built-in or attached external keyboard.* All USB-A ports transmit data to my MacBook Pro when connected via USB C is connected. * Both HDMI ports worked. * Built-in KVM support works, which is nice but could be a lot better * The case is slim but not too flashy. It goes with my mostly black or gray accessories. * The stand is hefty, but I wouldn't want to use it because it takes up too much desk space. Cons: * There is noticeable anti-aliasing of the text. Not a big deal, but for the price I would have expected better. But I was also spoiled by the built-in Retina and OLED displays. My previous monitor was a 2011 Apple Thunderbolt Display. It's a different technology (IPS) but the anti-aliasing is still lower and 9 years old.* Dark planes aren't dark. Again, I was somewhat spoiled by OLED TVs and IPS panels, but found them too bright in dark mode. Turning the brightness down doesn't help, it just sacrifices clarity. A backlight is also visible around the edges when displaying dark content.* My 2016 MacBook Pro did not automatically set the maximum resolution to 5120x1440. I had to manually set this in the display settings.* I was only able to get a 60Hz refresh rate over USB-C. Apparently you can only get 120Hz over DisplayPort. That's very frustrating as it's advertised as a 120Hz display and tries to offer USB-C as a single-connection dock. But you can't do both. I feel like this is misleading advertising.* Like the other reviewer, I couldn't get the USB-C (PC) port to work at all. It does not offer data transfer or charging when the laptop is connected to a different USB-C port. Based on the specs I assumed I could connect another hub to this, but I can't. There seems to be a feature to map this port to another PC via the DisplayPort or HDMI ports, but I couldn't get it to work. * The ethernet port works, but slows down my connection speed significantly when connected via USB. C. I got about 300 Mbps through the display. But when plugged directly into the same cable I get 980Mbps. This is unacceptable for a monitor/dock that advertises a gigabit connection. * AC adapter charging works, but will not charge when the monitor is in standby mode. * Although the screen size is large, I would prefer 2 x 16:10. not 16:9. * The speakers are really bad, but that's to be expected. * The display menu knob is finicky and frustrating to use. I have often accidentally made the wrong choice. It was just uncomfortable.* The display doesn't turn on automatically when a device is connected. You have to turn on the monitor manually every time you connect. Seems minor, but I've gotten used to my Thunderbolt display automatically waking up as soon as I plug it in, which was a nice touch. * Mac volume and brightness controls have no effect. This is to be expected from a non-Apple monitor, but always a bummer. Especially when I have to use that clunky pen. Verdict: On paper, this display looked exactly how I wanted it to. It was advertised as a 120Hz power form factor with a single docking connection and plenty of PD charging. Unfortunately, the dock's functionality is severely hampered by the lack of a 120Hz refresh rate, not using another USB-C port, greatly reduced Ethernet speeds, and not always PD charging. To solve these issues, I could invest in a good Thunderbolt dock to take care of charging and connectivity, and then hook up the DisplayPort to that monitor. But that eliminates the big advantage of this monitor. If I did that, I would choose a monitor with a better screen, like the Odyssey Neo G9. So unfortunately it will come back.

img 1 attached to SAMSUNG Ultrawide Adjustable LS49A950UINXZA Charcoal 5120X1440P HDR USB Hub Ultrawide Screen Adaptive Sync ‎S95UA review by George Walkes



Pros
  • SAMSUNG
Cons
  • Limited Customer Support

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