What is the Samsung S24D590PL?
This is Samsung's attempt at an affordable, all-round monitor with a little style. The S24D590PL costs £180 in this 24-inch guise (there's a 27-inch version for £250) and has an unusual stand design that's meant to catch the eye.
It isn't super cheap like the rather decent BenQ GL2450, but the S24D590PL has two HDMI inputs and uses one of Samsung's PLS panels that ought to deliver superior image quality. In most regards it does, too, but the thing that really swings things in the Samsung's favour is its excellent, low input lag that makes it ideal for gaming.
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Samsung S24D590PL: Design and Features
Let's start with that design... we're severely split by it. That stand is certainly eye-catching and in some respects quite cool to look at, but every time we do we can't help feeling we should pick it up and scrape ice off a car with it. We don't love it, but we don't hate it either: it's just different.
If anything our true concern is practicalities. The top the T-shape design is wider than typical monitor stands, which could be troublesome for people short on space. We don't imagine this will affect many people, but it might affect you. Likewise, the lack of VESA mounting is a small bugbear for a minority.
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But in most respects this is an attractive, classy design. It's all plastic, despite faux metal effects, but it's classy and nice to look at. The build quality isn't all that great, but it's not something that should bother you overly – you'll only notice the flexing panels at the rear if you go looking for them, and why would you do that?
On the connectivity side of things, we like the fact there are two HDMI ports. We prefer this to legacy ports like DVI as it means you can have a laptop/PC and a games console plugged in at once without faffing about with adapters. There's a D-SUB (VGA) port for older computers, too, and an audio jack for connecting headphones or speakers.
The other noteworthy feature of the Samsung S24D590PL is a dedicated Game Mode. The idea, it seems, is to enhance contrast and 'dark areas' to make them clearer with the result of giving you a competitive advantage. People can't hide in the shadows if there aren't any, right? We'll be looking into this a little later in the review.
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Samsung S24D590PL: Setup
Setting up and using the S24D590PL is a breeze. Given there's only a limited, but sufficient, amount of tilt adjustment available, the stand is very simple and easy to assemble.
We also really like the on-screen menus and controls. Instead of the usual assortment of buttons, Samsung employs a four-way control that's tucked away at the rear, bottom right corner. It makes navigating the various menus very easy, and you can quickly adjust things like volume, brightness, contrast and inputs without entering the full menu as well.
Delve a little deeper and you'll find the usual assortment of options, although a great many of them are of dubious providence. Under the MagicBright presets section, for example, are Custom, Standard, Cinema and Dynamic Contrast modes.
Custom lets you tweak things as you like; Standard provides a good basic setup that isn't too bright; Cinema mode is a horrid, over-sharpened mess best avoided; and Dynamic Contrast, in common with most such modes, is punctuated by irritating brightness shifts that make it unusable. All of this doesn't really matter, though. Leave the Samsung S24D590PL in Standard or Custom mode and it already looks pretty good before you do any tweaking.