Review: Samsung Ultra HD 4K UD590 28 inch monitor

3840x2160 Desktop

Having been spoiled by 2, large $1,000 each 32” Dell 2560×1600 resolution monitors with my work-from-home job over the last 3 years, when I switched jobs with a new company, I was left monitor-less after I returned the company owned hardware.  I opted for a one monitor, but higher res, and cheaper solution.  I first ordered a Dell 4K monitor, which was a disaster.

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imageWhile I was waiting for that monitor to arrive from Amazon during my 1 week vacation between jobs, I went to the local BestBuy to buy another to tied me over until the Dell arrived.  I bought the Samsung 4K UD590 28 inch monitor.  I ended up keeping the Samsung monitor and returning the Dell because the Dell monitor (see link above for why I ditched the Dell).

What I like

  • Picture Quality
    • Compared to the Dell monitor, the picture is brighter, has more vibrant colors, and a higher contrast.
  • Screen resolution
    • The screen resolution is a whopping 3840×2160 pixels.

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      • See that screen shot at the top of the article?  That’s my desktop at the full resolution.  Those two little windows in the middle and lower left are 1024×768 desktops in 2 separate virtual machines.  One is running Mac OSX, the other is running Windows XP.  That should give you a sense of the huge desktop real estate you get with all those pixels.
    • Response time
      • 1ms response time means the mouse is not delayed.  Video is not delayed.  Audio from your speakers is not ahead, in time, from the video displaying on the monitor.  This is HUGELY important.
    • Simplicity
      • 1 DisplayPort, 2 HDMI ports.
    • Screen Size
      • 28 inches large.  This provides a lot of screen real estate for your high-end computing needs such as software development, CAD, Graphics, etc…
    • PIP (Picture in picture)

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What I don’t like

  • Price
    • While ~$600 is lower than it was when it first came out and lower than the $1,000 Dell monitors with lower resolutions that I had before, it’s still a painful pill to swallow.
  • Ghost effects
    • I honestly don’t know if this is a problem with the monitor or the video card I bought, but it’s annoying as hell.  Here’s what I’m talking about:  When I move the mouse or scroll a window with a light background and dark text, there’s a ghost image left behind for a few milliseconds of where the mouse used to be or where the dark text used to be that is BRIGHTER than the white background.  It’s a poor user experience.
  • Lack of DVI and VGA ports
    • While I listed the 3 simple ports as a positive, it’s also a huge negative as it meant I couldn’t use my existing video card.  It was a high end card a few years ago, but lacks DisplayPort and HDMI.  It (my old video card) does, however, have 2 DVI ports and a VGA port and supports multiple monitors.  So, that meant I had to go buy a new video card.  I opted for the EVGA GeForce GTX 760 with 4GB of RAM.  Sadly, after I plugged that into my motherboard, I discovered that my power supply lacked the appropriate plugs to power this new video card, so I had to go purchase a new 600w power supply too…. all this just to run a new monitor!
  • Screen Size
    • Yes, I’m putting screen size in as both a positive and a negative.  While I’m used to a 32” screen, this one is a 28” screen.  I obviously do NOT blame Samsung for that.  It’s a 28” monitor… PERIOD!  But, when running the monitor at full resolution, the icons and text are so incredibly tiny, it’s ridiculous.  You really need a physically larger screen to run your desktop that this native resolution.  As a fix, I up’d the Windows DPI 150%.  That’s a feature that Windows has had for more than 20 years and this is the first time I’ve actually needed it.  This brought almost everything up to a large enough size that I can actually see it.  It also makes the text really crisp.  Think of it like a high-res display on your tablet… how it improves the text quality.  Same thing there.  If you want to run your desktop at 100% DPI with the full, native resolution of 4K, I strongly recommend getting a larger size than 28”.  I’d say 32” would be the bare minimum.  BUT, just crank up the DPI in your OS and you should be good to go.  MOST things scale up properly these days.  In the past, playing with DPI just hosed many apps.  Not true today.
  • Tilt
    • This monitor lacks usable tilt features.  You CANNOT tilt it forward.  So, if you place this monitor a little high, then you CANNOT tilt it down.  You CAN, however, tilt it UP, a little bit.  My computer desk has a shelf about 6 or 7 inches above the desk where I place my monitor.  The monitor stand holds the monitor about another 4 or 5 inches above that.  I’d prefer to have the monitor tilt down a little, but I can’t do that, so I have a cable running underneath the back edge of the monitor stand to tilt the whole thing forward just a little.
  • Raise/Lower
    • You CANNOT raise or lower the height of the monitor.  It is what it is as far as height goes.

Conclusion

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For the most part, I’m satisfied and happy with this monitor, but the ghosting and tilting are problems I’ll have to live with.

Have you had any experience with any 4K monitors yet?  Tell us about it in the comments below.

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Don’t spend $100 on an HDMI 3D cable

If you go to an electronics store like BestBuy or HHGregg for a cable to play 3D content, they’ll try to sell you a high end HDMI cable for a ridiculously high price.

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They’ll tell you you HAVE to have it to watch 3D content because HD 3D content uses too much bandwidth for the cheap HDMI cables to handle.  3D HDMI cables are rated at 10.2Gb/s (10.2 billion bits per seconds).

IT’S NOT TRUE!

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At least, not for the cheap ones that claim they can do 3D… or more specifically, these low cost 3D HDMI cables DO work.  I just verified it with my own 3D equipment.  The picture below is an affiliate hyperlink directly to the product on Amazon.

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I ordered 6 or so of these and they work on all of my HDMI equipment, including the 3D DVD player connected to my 3D TV.  The work on all of my HDMI equipment, including the following:  all links are affiliate links to Amazon.com

image Sharp 70″ 1080p 3D LED Smart TV with FREE 3D Glasses
image Roku 2 XS 1080p Streaming Player
image LG 42CS560 42-Inch 1080p 60Hz LCD HDTV
image Samsung BD-E5900 3D WiFi Blu-ray Disc Player (Black)
image NEW VIP 722K Dual Tuner HD DVR Dish Network
image Toshiba DR430 1080p Upconversion Progressive Scan DVD±RW Recorder w/USB & HDMI (Black)

See these images?

imageimage

You’ll find an actual working versions of them at the top and bottom of this article. Please click the appropriate buttons in it to let your friends know about this article.

Check back later for updates too!

Click here to follow me on Google+.

Follow me on Twitter @CSharpner.