Having recently received an upgrade on my work laptop I was also given a new Samsung SyncMaster 740B LCD Display to which my laptop can connect via a docking station when I am at my desk. We never used to have monitors, and the recent investment in this technology has been driven largely by health and safety issues as staring down at a laptop screen for hours on end does not do anybody any good.

The SyncMaster is a very nice 17″ display which sits on a solid swivel base, which can also lower or raise the level of the monitor. I noticed that there were 2 colours on offer, with some people having the model in black and others in silver. Mine is silver, and I actually prefer the colour to black.

I have to admit that I am very impressed with the monitor, and feel that it has made a real difference to the quality of my working environment. I also think it could possibly be the brightest monitor that I have ever looked at! This is further improved by the quality of colours and very high resolution (1280 x 1024). It really is a very sharp screen.

Being a flat screen LCD monitor, the SyncMaster is also very economical with space and I have not had to move many things about on the surface of my desk in order to accommodate it. It is also very lightweight, which makes it easy to move about if need be.

In terms of functionality I find that SyncMaster is very easy to use. I had no problems setting it up: it plugs into my docking station and I have not required any drivers for it to function in-sync with my laptop. The controls are all located at the front of the monitor and enable me to easily adjust basic settings such as contrast and brightness.

I have not yet found any negatives with the SyncMaster and am very pleased with it. If I was going to be picky I would say that it is not a widescreen monitor a function found on many of the high-spec monitors out there. But in fairness I do not need the feature and would perhaps find this a bit of an inconvenience if it was a home PC monitor on which I would probably watch DVDs and play games.

That said I have given this monitor a score of 9 out of 10. It is a high-quality monitor with a real sharpness in colour and resolution and very bright. Like my laptop I am not aware of the cost but would suspect that it offers great value for money.

Rating: 9