Samsung 27" ViewFinity S9 Series 5K Computer Monitor, Thunderbolt 4, DisplayPort, Matte Display, 4K Slimfit-Camera, Slim Metal Design, AirPlay, Smart-TV Apps, Gaming Hub, LS27C900PANXZA

I got this monitor to bolster my home office setup. I am running a MacBook Pro with a Sonnet Echo 20 docking station. I wanted a monitor that would support daisy chaining in the future however, so that meant thunderbolt compatibility or USB connectivity. I found this monitor with Thunderbolt 4 support and 5k resolution instead of "just" 4k. I've always had good experiences with Samsung displays, TV's and monitors. Anyway, the closest competition I could find really were the Apple displays themselves, which, while VERY nice are just hugely more expensive. I didn't want to spend that kind of $$ right now. The monitor arrived and literally took 5 minutes to fully assemble. I set it up and it went thru an initial configuration process that was easy and step by step. The included remote feels nice and not cheap as well. Bottome line, this display is fantastic. Everything is easy on the eyes and the picture is so sharp and detailed. I was also impressed with and surprised by the built in speakers the monitor has. I feed my computer audit through some Apple HomePod speakers so won't be using the built in speakers but during the initial setup, audit played thru those speakers and was nice and clear, with surprising range and bass for "built in" speakers on a monitor. Overall, I'm very happy with this monitor and if I do add the second monitor soon, I'm pretty much certain I'll be getting another of these to link up!

Overall, the monitor worked poorly with Mac. I had an M3 MacBook Pro, and M1 Mac mini that I connected it to. Neither of them worked well with the connections. It would wake up randomly and go to a count down screen for one minute that was very bright. Also, there is an issue with connecting devices with the USB-C in the back and I had to send it back for warranty. I should’ve just returned it. The warranty takes Forever with Samsung. I don’t think I’ll buy a Samsung again for any product line if I can help it. The money saved was not worth it. They’ve had it for a month, finally said they couldn’t fix it, and they were gonna procure a new one, and then after a few weeks they said they didn’t have one. I will never use Samsung warranty again. I did like how the monitor looked while I was actively using it so I thought I would try and go through the warranty. Big mistake. If you’re buying a 5K monitor, this one is really not worth the money that you save. It’s also filled with Samsung‘s bloatware that their smart TVs are filled with, so it makes no sense to the user that they would install that junk on a work oriented monitor. Switching inputs is difficult as well if you have multiple devices connected. Sometimes the other devices inputs disappear from the UI. So you have to completely power off and power on the monitor to switch devices sometimes. Overall, a big mistake ordering this, if you’re looking to save some money from the Apple studio monitor I would look at some of the other alternative such as Ben Q now has a 5K, or Asus has one as well.

I have an Apple Studio Display but wanted to use it from my Windows/Linux PC. My PC Video cards do not support thunderbolt out (do any?) so I had to use a separate monitor for them. I was excited about this monitor because it was similar to the Apple Studio Display in specs and also supported display port in which would allow me to use it with my PC. The Pros: * Displays seems comparable to the ASD in terms of brightness, contrast and pixel clarity * Display port allows me to easily share it between my PC and Mac (ASD cannot) * Can pivot to portrait mode (ASD cannot) * Cheaper if you want matte finish and height adjustable features (both $ upgrades on ASD) * Can be mounted on stand or with VESA mount (ASD only does one of those at a time and requires Apple to change the hardware costing $$) * Can display a remote screen over the network via AirPlay - this is an awesome feature! Cons: * The included camera does not handle changes in light as well as the ASD Camera. I have to close my blinds when using this camera, not with ASDs camera. Unclear if this can be fixed with a software update or not * The included camera is much wider than the ASD camera - too wide for my liking. * The built in speakers are poor compared to the ASD speakers * My MBP has kernel paniced 3 three times over the past 2 days. I think this is related to the latop going to sleep or being hot unplugged from the monitor. There is a CalDigit TS3 between laptop and monitor so not sure where the issue is, but probably in the monitor. I am hoping they can fix this via a software update in the future * Cannot adjust brightness or volume using apple keyboard. They include a remote to do this, but the experience is not as good as the ASD Conclusion: There is a lot to like about this monitor over the ASD. I am on my mac all day doing conference calls so the cons are very noticeable vs the ASD. I am likely going to return this monitor because of those which is too bad as I really wanted to love this monitor

I spent quite a bit of time deciding between this monitor and the Apple Studio Display. I knew going in that the S9 would require some compromises relative to the Studio Display, but I couldn't bring myself to spend so much more on the Studio Display while giving up the ability to adjust the stand. Unfortunately, I had to return the S9. Here are the reasons: 1. Dead pixels on delivery. I don't want to make too much this. It happens, and it's just luck of the draw. Still, it's indicative of a lack of focus on quality. 2. Brightness (or lack thereof). This monitor is HORRIBLY dark when it's put into HDR mode and HORRIBLY bright otherwise. Sure, there are some adjustments you can try to make (more on that below), but there's just something off with the brightness. 3. Text sharpness. I tried everything I could on the Mac side, but the text just isn't as crisp as it ought to be for a monitor at this price point and of this caliber. 4. The setup. Never in my life have I been so frustrated while setting up a piece of hardware. Remember the days when you would plug your monitor into the wall, connect it to your computer, turn it on, and then you were off to the races? Samsung seems to think that that made things WAY too easy. It took me probably ten minutes to get the monitor set up once it was turned on. Not calibrated or optimized, but just to get to a point where I could see the output from my Mac. I had to scan a QR code which directed me to download an app, which I then had to use to set up on account using a half-baked web-view interface before starting the QR code scanning process again, connecting my monitor to wifi, waiting while took its sweet time, starting for about 3 minutes at my phone telling me to continue on my monitor and my monitor telling me to continue on my phone, and then breathing a sigh of relief when my Mac's picture finally showed up. HORRIBLE experience. Personally, I think it's dumb to build in all of those "smart" features, but I'm sure the good folks at Samsung meant well. However, forcing people to go through that process just to get to the point where they can use their overpriced monitor as a monitor is not okay. It's a customer-hostile decision. It provides no upside. Close enough to zero people are going to use those features that it isn't worth making everybody go through the process. Give me ONE option, maybe - something like "Set up smart features now? Yes or no." - but don't force me into it. It improves nothing. All it does is add friction. Other than the dead pixels, the brightness issues, the poor text rendering, and the total pain it was to get set up - oh and the MASSIVE power brick - it was fine. I don't think it looks cheap. The colors were nice, I guess. I really wanted to like this monitor, but I was very disappointed.

I bought this on sale at Amazon for less than half the cost of the Apple Studio monitor. Some reviews say this isn't as good as the Apple monitor, but 'm not a graphic artist or a pro-level video/photo editor, so this has been great for me. At full 5K resolution (5120x2880), text is sharp and I can read it, but it's more comfortable at 3360x1890. The stand, while a bit cheap looking, is height-adjustable. It has a matte screen; that's an additional cost for the Apple monitor. I had no trouble connecting this with my Mac Mini. I haven't used the camera. It's not integrated with the monitor but attaches magnetically. It looks and feels a bit cheap. My only real complaint after using the monitor for a week is that I can't control brightness with the Mac keyboard, but that's a minor thing. Overall, I'm very pleased.

6 HOURS ON THE PHONE OVER 2 DAYS AND PROVED IT HAS INTERMITTENT LINES ACROSS THE SCREEN AND THE BACK BUTTON REGULARLY FAILS TO WORK. THEY SAID THE TECH WILL CHARGE ME IF THEY DON'T SEE THE LINES, WHICH THEY MAY NOT BECAUSE IT'S INTERMITTENT. THEN THEY SAID I WOULD HAVE TO PAY A CHARGE AND THE WARRANTY WOULD BE IMMEDIATELY VOID FOR HAVING SENT IN FOR SERVICE. SAMSUNG IS RUNNING A CRIMINAL SCAM. I WILL NEVER BUY ANYTHING FROM THEM AGAIN. Update after 4 months. Wow, the latest firmware update killed the webcam so I can't use my new computer for that at all! It also seemed to reset all the monitor settings I had before and no matter how I set it now, there is like text ghosting when scrolling unless I have it in game mode, which makes the screen far too dim. The HDR implementation is a complete joke and unusable. It basically turns the brightness down dramatically when turned on and even at max brightness it's only good for a very dark room. It's stupid that I had to search for a way to keep the monitor from turning off so it would just wake up like every Mac for 30 years now by moving the mouse or tapping the keyboard. I'd just like to have back the version of this monitor I had a month ago before the firmware "upgrade" which ruined it all. Update 2: Now it's developing lines in the screen and randomly decides to refuse to sleep. Of course I immediately registered when I got it and Samsung's site refuses warranty service until I send proof of when it was delivered and Amazon refuses to give that information unless you put in a data request which only shows when it shipped. So much for the 12 month warranty! I'm in month 8. I WILL NEVER BUY ANYTHING FROM SAMSUNG EVER AGAIN! Two hours now dealing with support and zero progress. A line which comes and goes on the screen and they refuse to get it serviced until they can see it on a video call. The back menu button takes about 20 presses to work and they saw that on video because they mandate a video call. It won't stay asleep half the time anymore either. their supposrt hours are very limited so I may have an $800 brick under warranty which they refuse to service. It should have taken one click on their site with the info to set up the repair and now we're waiting for a call back from them for who knows what reason. THIS IS BY FAR THE WORST COMPANY I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH. SAMSUNG PROVIDES ZERO WARRANTY!

I was half expecting to have to return it after reading all the horror stories but went for it anyway due to the value of it being at least half as expensive as other 5k monitors. For people who are just using this as a computer monitor you will need to waste some time with the setup. When plugged into a mac the 'allow display' option pops up for a split second before disappearing. If you can quickly click enter it will pair. That took a good half hour to figure out. Once connected you'll want to calibrate the colors. This is very straightforward if you have a samsung phone (and the smartthings app). The screen looks much better after calibration. From there you can fiddle with the settings to have the monitor automatically wake when an input is plugged in and automatically detect the input. Once it's all setup it actually works flawlessly. All the people complaining about the difficult (or impossibility) of setup are the reason you get it at a steep discount. I have exactly one stuck pixel and that part is not ideal but it's only visible on an all black screen and I half expect / hope it will get unstuck with time. Considering the price, the screen is very nice. I have an Apple Studio as well and they are close enough in quality to call them comparable.

Host PC: MBP M3 Pro 12 core cpu, 18 core gpu, 18 gb ram (the problem was obviously not my laptop) Panel: The display itself is solid. All matte screens will dim and degrade image quality. You are likely a mac user looking for a display that scales macos right. This one will, but image quality won't be the same as your macbook. UI: Everything about the UI, and I MEAN EVERYTHING, is simply put the worst designed piece of tech I have ever owned. It took north of an hour to SET UP a monitor. That is insanity. Brightness control only through remote is annoying, but the nonsensical nature of the settings, how some are seemingly randomly disabled if a select mode is enabled or disabled is confounding and goodluck with samsung support, when I contacted them they guided me to factory reset.... through a series of menus that literally did not exist. As to say they told me to enter (x) menu and (x) was not a menu that existed. A monitor so needlessly complex for no gain. I would pay to remove every inch of "Smart" from this panel. Design: It's fine. Nothing special. When I tried to give the samsung connected apps a try to give the monitor a fair shake. They advertised calibration with iphones, tried everything and it would not work with my iphone 15 plus. When contacting samsung, they said "connect it to your smart phone not your iphone." They didn't understand that the iphone is a smart phone. That's the kind of thrilling support experience you're in store for and like me will probably end up filing for a return within 24 hours.