Samsung SyncMaster XL30 LED Backlit LCD

Conclusion

First of all, we should probably concede that this awesome Samsung display is a little outside our remit here on bit-tech. Colour calibration to the nth degree is not an enormously important issue for gaming, multimedia or typical home and office usage patterns.

Certainly, the XL30 is tough to recommend as a gaming monitor. It's not enormously quick and doesn't offer enough advantages over other 30 inchers to justify the price premium. You'd be far better off saving the extra £1,750 or so for frequent graphics card upgrades, for instance. The single DVI input and lack of HDCP support isn't exactly the perfect recipe for an all round multimedia monitor, either.

But the increased accuracy the XL30 serves up does deliver real benefits that can be enjoyed by mere mortals. For digital photography enthusiasts and professionals, it's a monitor to die for. Likewise, for HD video fans with a fetish for ultra high quality video streams, the XL30 delivers some amazing picture quality, but our enjoyment of a select few high-motion video streams were marred by a hint of inverse ghosting, which makes us think twice about whether or not this monitor is suitable for HD video editing.


Ultimately, however, it's those professionals – graphic artists, publishers and the like – that stand to get most out of this wonderfully colour-accurate monitor. If sufficient budget is available, we doubt the XL30 will disappoint for those users. For everyone else, we recommend you plump for a more conventional and affordable 30-incher and if you want to spend a little bit more, it's still well-worth considering the LCD3090WQXi at around £1,500 (inc. VAT). But one word of advice: make sure you never set eyes on the XL30. That way you won't have to discover quite how much you are missing when it comes to colour accuracy.

• Features
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• 7/10

• Image Quality
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• 10/10

• Value
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• -
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• 6/10

• Overall
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• -
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• 8/10

What do these scores mean?