Samsung 2343BW: 23'' and 2048 x 1152 pixels for just 250 euros?

A new breed of 23'' LCD monitors is on its way, sporting a high 2048 x 1152 pixel resolution at a very reasonable price.

This Samsung 2343BW, for instance, is available for around 250 euros (310 USD / 210 GBP) right now.

Its new high resolution, which gives as much screen real estate as two 1024 monitors pkaced side-by-side is designed to appeal to business users with a lot of information to display at once.

You can have a web browser open on one side of your screen, say, and a text document on the other--effectively bringing the functionality of dual-screen systems into just on epiece of hardware.

On the model in question, the TN panel promises a 5 ms response time and dark blacks with a dynamic contrast of 20 000:1.


It's a DVI and VGA port, but no HDMI.  Like all good hardware designed with professionals in mind, it's fulyl adjustable, with a sliding stand allowing it to sit at a comfortable height.

Public Opinion

A prototype version of the 2343BW was unveiled by Samsung at CeBIT last year, although back then the manufacturer said it had no plans for an immediate release and just wanted to guage the public reaction to their new offering.

It seems that the response was very favorable, because the screens are already rolling off the production line and are available for very reasonable prices in some German stores; a release elsewhere is likely to follow.

Too much choice?

We like this new screen, we really do: Samsung has created a reasonable prodcut and is selling it for a decent price.  Nothing to complain about there ...

What we don't like, though, is the seemingly endless multiplication of form factors for LCD monitors.

It's almost as if the manufacturers have taken a leaf out of the mobile phone companies' book: we're definitely heading for a market where there's way too much confusion ...