Monitor or HDTV…or both?
When it comes to computers, I’m somewhat of a power user. I’m also a big fan of certain TV shows and sometimes, I just want to watch TV in the comfort of my office; I’m in front of the computer half the time anyway. Or say you’ve been spending hours upon hours in your home office working on that document and you need a break right around the same time that new episode of Family Guy comes on. Maybe the only way to get a little privacey is to lock your self in the office, but you don’t want to just spend time on your computer – you’d rather be playing games on your Xbox, or watching a movie or watching TV. Whatever your case, I have stumbled upon a VERY nice product.
I recently obtained a Samsung Touch of Color T260HD 26-Inch LCD HDTV Monitor. That’s right, a 26″ LCD monitor with a TV tuner…and for less than $500. “Well, David, that can’t be! If such a product exists the quality and features must be poor and limited.” Ah, ye of little faith…Believe it or not, this thing is a monster!
See, I have an office in my bedroom. I spend most of my time in here networking with people, building websites, recording music, and researching new software and technologies to write about here at FunkyTower.Com. The problem is, I run several applications at a time, and it is so difficult to manage them all on a 17″ monitor only capable of reaching a 1440 x 900 resolution! I needed something much bigger. Also, I really wanted to snag a TV. I didn’t have one in my room like I used to, and I really really wanted one. I thought to myself “Why not just get a HDTV with a VGA or DVI PC input in the back?” Sure, one can choose this, but should I choose a screen size of say, 24 inches or more as I desired, I would be confined to a maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080. I did some research and decided to look for a monitor with an HDTV tuner.
Most of them ran for over $1,000 for a decent size. This was a bit more than I could afford. Soon, I stumbled across the Samsung Touch of Color T260HD – a 26″ LCD HDTV monitor. It has 2 HDMI inputs, 1 Component Video input, 1 L/R audio input, VGA input, 1 DVI input, 1 SPDIF output, 1 COAX input, and a headphone jack. It has a wonderful resolution of 1920 x 1200 – slightly more efficient than an regular HDTV – and a beautiful 10000:1 contrast ratio. I was amazed at the quality of the picture when I plugged this baby in. It was so easy to set up, and it’s making my life as a computer geek much more efficient.
I’ve watched a DVD and DirecTV digital through this and the picture is pretty nice. I plan to install my DirectTV HD box tomorrow morning; I’ve also purchased a video card and will run this dual with my HP w17e (the old 17 incher.)
And for $450 on Amazon, what more could you ask for? The power butten is even touch-screen, and a beautiful red glow emits below it when the monitor is powered on. Such an amazing product. It comes with the DVI and VGA cables and a nice little remote to control everything with.
Click Here to see some photos of it.
So if you’re unsure about buying a TV and using it for a monitor – don’t. Buy THIS monitor and use it as a TV. The video quality is amazing for an LCD and you may save your self a couple hundred dollars. And if 26 inches is too big, don’t worry; they have the T240HD for 24″ monitors, T22HD for 22″ monitors, and the T200HD for 20″ monitors.
What Do You Think?
What Do you think of this monitor? Do you have it? Do you have a similar monitor to recommend? What ever the case, I want to hear about it. You can leave a comment below, or e-mail me personally at david@funkytower.com
I look forward to hearing from you!
Take it easy,
David
