Samsung - A700 Series 32" LED 4K UHD Monitor with HDR - Black

The quality is disappointing for Samsung although it's probably ok for the pricing. The HDR looks washed out when viewing video output but that may be due to the bit depth. It's ok to use for gaming but the refresh rate is only 60.

In general, if you buy 4K monitor - 43" is a minimum. This one is not what I expect from Samsung. Quality control is awful, at the bottom of the screen you can see some pieces of fiber left behind the glass, and a dirty spot (under the glass) size more than 10 pixels

Right of the box, the edge of the screen is poorly made and looks like it was glued together. After a week or so of use, the part of the black frame comes off, and I can see the backlight bleed through the outer frame. As far as resolution quality it's pretty good... when it works. After connecting three different computers, swapping out different HDMI cables, the colors never look good, and is very difficult to calibrate the colors, even with color correction tools. The display also has a very small angle of view. Once you shift your head slightly, colors wash out. I had high hopes for the monitor and actually got a pretty good deal through Best Buy, but perhaps it was priced down because of poor manufacturing quality. If you're looking for a better monitor, look for the LG ones. There are a few out there with a similar price tag with a lot more features and better color output/gamut. [Photos] Screen on the right is LG compared with Samsung (Left)

It is interesting to me how big the monitor market has gotten over the past few years but it makes a lot of sense. For various reasons, must people stare at monitors for more hours a day than they do anything else in their life - so why not make it a great experience? This Samsung 32 inch A700 Series Monitor is a welcomed addition to my life and I think you will be impressed with it too. UNBOXING: - Of course my first impression was just how big it is! Not big in a bad way because its a very thin monitor with very thin bezels, but its a 32 inch monitor and taking it out of the box I was instantly impressed with it. - After unboxing, you have an optional stand to attach to it (which I did) and it was fairly simple. The mount is metal and feels really solid which I like. Of course it also has a space to attach it to a wall mount if you want to do that instead but that's sold separately. Still a nice addition to have! - Lastly, it comes with a power chord and HDMI chord so from there you just plug it in and you are ready to go! - The Monitor does not have speakers on it (which I don't need anyways) but does have a headphone jack. So it can take in audio and then output it through whatever is hooked into the headphone jack. SETUP - I think its important to note that when you are setting up any Monitor (or TV for that matter), its important to go both your Monitor and Computer's settings to ensure you have the right setup for you - The monitor has its own picture settings you will want to mess with a bit. I personally found that having "Game Mode" "Always On" resulting in the best picture for my preferences. - On top of that your Computer, Video game system, or streaming device all have their own picture setting. So make sure you go in there and turn on 4K, turn on HDR, and have the right tuning done within those settings. - To me, this isn't a big deal as literally every monitor or TV need to have some settings tweaked to get the perfect set up. But once you do the little bit of work needed, it will look fantastic! WHAT I LOVE ABOUT IT: - I can 100% confirm this is a 4K HDR monitor. I ran HDR on my computer hookup, ran HDR on my PS4 hookup, ran 4K HDR on my iPad Pro hookup, and ran 4K HDR when I connected a Google TV device. A little due diligence but I wanted to make sure it was the real deal and it is! - That being said, the screen is gorgeous! I know dual monitors is popular but having one large 32 inch screen is really fantastic. The colors are crisp and the definition is exceptional. - I have used this monitor for work mostly and its fantastic. I have no issues with using it all day long and having all this extra space is really beneficial to my work so I am very happy with that aspect! And with the 4K HDR aspect, running a PC or Mac with a Design or Editing software would be very impressive on this with the combination of its size and features. - As hinted at, watching movies on this is really a treat. You get to experience full 4K HDR on your monitor and I was impressed! The HDR looked really great and the definition was all there. You could seriously use this Monitor as a TV if you hooked a streaming device and soundbar up to it! - Even though it's not advertised as a gaming monitor, you can do some serious gaming on this! Yes it is only 60 HZ refresh, but that is fine for some PC games and console gaming. I have played my PS4 and Nintendo Switch on it and the refresh rate and colors look great on it! - Lastly, the Picture in Picture (PIP) feature is a game changer!! As you can see in my pictures, you are able to have two sources plugged in and displayed at the same time. And there are different options like selecting screen size, or location of the PIP, or which source the PIP is coming from. Its just a really useful feature in my eyes and I'm glad Samsung added it. WHAT NEEDS WORK: - I was not overly impressed with it's brightness. I felt the whites don't pop as much as they do on other screens but I also realize that Samsung is going for the "eyecare" thing with this monitor so they don't want the 32 inch to be so bright it ruins your eyes. But it's still something I wish popped more. - I wish there was one more connection port. They have 1 Display Port and 1 HDMI Port. Which works for me, but having a Lightening Port, or USB-C Port, or 2nd HDMI Port would be really helpful with the PIP ability. - The stand is pretty basic on this. It does some general tilting but can't be moved up and down for lower or higher viewing. It's not a big deal to me but its still something that would be nice. BOTTOM LINE: - If you are looking for a monitor that can perform at a high level in multiple areas, this one will be perfect for you. It is an immersive 32 inch monitor that can help you be very productive while giving you high end 4K HDR quality while working, streaming, or playing. The Picture in Picture feature adds a whole other level to multitasking while never having to leave the screen. So like I said earlier, you likely stare at a Monitor for hours on end so why not make it a fantastic experience while doing so??

So I am a serious pc gamer. When I am not working or at the gym, I’m typically playing PC. Mainly warzone plus a few other titles. So I wanted a second monitor with a 4K resolution at 32 inches. To play high fidelity vs high refresh rate. So I got this one hoping it to be as beautiful as my 27 inch ips that I have as well. And being that this monitor is VA the colors suffer a a tad bit. The viewing angles are actually very good. But the panel does not “pop” as I hoped. That’s why I gave 4 stars. Now 4 stars is a definite recommend. But Samsung makes great panels. And I know this is not a Qled so it’s understandable. The other minor issue is the hdr. HDR is great especially paired with ray tracing. But since this panel has a lower nit brightness it suffers a little bit. I still use the hdr either way. But I wish it was brighter. While gaming the response time is rated at 5ms I believe and it feels that way. Very smooth at the faster setting. No issues there. Screen is big so that makes up for those minor issues. Menu buttons are very easy to use and sit right in the middle under the screen. The stand can’t be adjusted but it sits at a perfect height. And is a flat stand design which I prefer. I can rest my little Bluetooth speaker on it. Simple but clean design over all. Great overall picture quality, great size and a fair price for what this monitor offers.

Being a 2160p monitor, text is sharp and clear, but that's about the only good thing I have to say about this monitor. Color saturation in poor, leaving the picture looking dull and lifeless. It uses a VA panel, but it looks more like a cheap TN panel. When you're at Best Buy, compare the picture on this monitor to the others on display. The panel in the monitor I bought has major uniformity issues. The right one-third of the screen has a grayish-green tint, and is quite noticeably less bright than the rest of the screen. And, on the bottom right edge, the is a very bright area. There are far better options, including the 28" Samsung U28R55, which Best Buy sells for less than this monitor. It is a bit smaller, but it uses a good quality IPS panel, and is better than this monitor in every way. There is also a 27" LG for $350 that is far superior to this monitor.

Before submitting this review, I wanted to give this at least one full work week of using it. I was using a very old Vizio 32” TV that was given to me as a secondary monitor and this Samsung is replacing it. One thing that I want to mention is that I’m not a PC gamer, so I won’t review this monitor based on gaming. This monitor was tested out on two Windows 10 laptops (one work, one personal) and a 2017 MacBook Pro (Intel processor). My primary use for this is working from home. Features – this is a simple monitor with regards to functions and inputs. It only has two inputs: a Display Port and HDMI. I don’t need a crazy number of inputs, and this suits my needs well. The power and menu buttons are underneath the middle of the monitor, which allows the thin bezel and a cleaner look. This is the first time I’ve used a monitor this thin, but I like it. Getting used to the buttons underneath took a little bit of time, but not too long. The monitor has some cool features like power saving and modes to prevent eye strain. Hardware setup – this monitor is extremely easy to setup and comes with an HDMI cable. If you’re installing the monitor base by yourself, you’ll want to keep the shipping foam and protective cover handy, this makes it easier to put it together by yourself. The base attaches by two screws and feels sturdy. The base does not adjust up and down, so if this is something you need, you might want to look for another monitor. You can also attach this monitor to a mount if you prefer to use it this way. Software setup Windows 10 – I tried to use Windows 10 Device Manager to go out to the internet for an updated driver. This didn’t work for me, so I hopped on the Samsung website and found a driver for Windows 10 (.exe only, no .dmg for Mac users). Since I’m using Microsoft Edge, I had to clear bypass the security settings to keep the install. When I opened the install, the first prompt was all in Japanese. It’s easy to navigate past this and I still got the driver installed. I didn’t notice much of a difference after it installed, except that Windows has a dedicate color profile for the monitor. Instructions also state that you can download an Easy Setting Box software, which I downloaded and installed, but didn’t mess around with too much. Looks like you can split your screen into different sections, which is cool, but I am kind of set in my ways with how my apps are setup on this monitor for work. When I first got the monitor, the device driver didn’t show up on the Samsung website, but I eventually found it. This was a tad clunky, because I did select the right options and only saw the manual and quick start guide. Mac OS Big Sur – There is no dedicated driver for Mac OS Big Sur, so I just plugged it in and used the System Preferences > Display settings to change resolutions and color. Resolution – Compared to the TV I was using; this display is so much better. I am using the default max resolution of 3840 x 2160 and don’t have any issues. Both Windows and MacOS set the resolution to the highest by default. Text appears to be crisp, clear, and the colors on it look very nice. This monitor is also easy on my eyes, so I don’t feel as much strain when I’m done with my workday. It doesn’t appear that I have a powerful enough built-in graphics card on my Windows 10 laptop to support HDR, but it still looks good. My MacBook Pro resolution still looks great as well. Overall, I would recommend this monitor. Again, I am not a PC gamer, so I am not reviewing that aspect of the monitor. This suits my work needs and the resolution makes it much easier on my eyes. This monitor does what I need and looks great! My only gripe is that it took me a little while to find the driver, even though plug and play worked just fine with no issues.

I’ve been using a Samsung monitor that I bought a couple of years ago, and by coincidence it’s The same model (only older) as this new monitor, so I am very familiar with it, I was using a 28 inch Samsung 4K monitor, So when Samsung sent me their newest entry level 32 inch A700 series 4k Monitor to review, I was very excited. Very Important for whoever is reading my review and is having trouble making your monitor look its best when playing with a game console, Go to the menu and under System, go over to PC/AV mode. The monitor is under PC mode by default, if you’re having problems because your game doesn’t look quite right, switch over to AV instead of PC and that helped me a lot. So as far as entry level monitors go, this 4K monitor manages to have some good features. Other high-end monitors can cost hundreds more if not thousands. So overall you’re getting a good 4K monitor for the price. 4k Resolution: as everyone knows, 4K resolution is king right now, sure there’s other more expensive monitors that offer 8K resolution for example, but at the moment a lot of that resolution is wasted because there’s not many things that can output 8K. 4K has that sweet balance of high resolution, high contrast ratios, vibrant colors, and of course more pixels than the 1080p resolution of yesteryear, while still having devices that output said resolution such as a 4K Blu-ray player,a PlayStation 5 or an Xbox series X. HDR: we’ve all heard of this term when looking at TVs or monitors... but what does that mean exactly? Well I’m not an expert in this field but all I can tell you is that that HDR is always on in this monitor, you’re able to turn it off or adjusted through the Xbox menus (i’m Guesssing a PlayStation 5 or a 4K Blu-ray player has this option as well) I don’t know exactly what HDR is supposed to do but I can tell you what it does on this monitor, just imagine playing your favorite video game and your character puts sun a pair of sunglasses, The image just becomes a little darker, and the colors are a little easier to see, for example let’s picture a sunset, with HDR off, you would just see yellow around the sun, but with HDR on, the sun becomes a little darker, a little more orange, and you’re able to somewhat see the round shape of the sun. Grass gets a little darker green, shadows around rocks become a little darker etc. At least in my opinion that’s what I see. I personally don’t like HDR as it makes my games look a little different than what I’m used to, I’m also a beliver that it’s going to slow down the game by a few FPS because of the extra load it’s taking up, but that’s just personal preference. Game Mode: what game mode is, it’s a feature that it’s supposed make the monitor have the highest refresh rate possible, I don’t know exactly how much faster it makes it, but it does change the appearance of the screen slightly, when it is on it seems to make the screen a little brighter and a little more “washed” out, just a very slight difference... I’ve also noticed that when you have HDR on, the game mode is disabled. I find myself constantly tweaking my monitor finding the best image for me. You WILL have to do some tinkering out of the box. Personal tip... if you have HDR on, the game appears darker especially in dark areas like inside of a cave for example.. i’ve found that going to the games actual menus (not the monitor menus) and putting up the brightness really helps. You’re going to have to do this to every game you play. This monitor only supports up to 60Hz, or in other words the refresh rate (in this case this monitor refreshes 60 times a second) this is true with many entry-level monitors, the good news is that a lot of the big video game titles only support up to 60Hz for multiplayer games (at least for now) such as Warzone. this wasn’t a big deal to me. The more “Hz” The smoother the gameplay. No sound is available as this monitor (and pretty much all monitors) does not have any speakers. Also no remote is included as this is not a TV to switch the channel etc. At first I was very unhappy with the picture image of this monitor, but after spending some time in the menus, I found a way to clean up the image. Still, There’s something about this monitor that I’m not 100% happy with, its either too dark or too bright and the colors are just a little bit off to me. hope this review helps.