Samsung S27A950D review

Its glossy screen is very reflective, and even the slightest reflection can disturb the 3D effect, so it’s best to turn the lights off. With both cards, reflections on water created patches of shimmering shadow that were as distracting as they were ugly. Gun crosshairs are also a problem: you can turn off the in-game crosshair and turn on TriDef’s 3D laser sight using a keyboard shortcut, but it’s not ideal as some guns have a separate laser sight.

Blu-ray 3D movies were also enjoyable on the S27A950D. In Ice Age 3, the animals’ furry coats were especially impressive, and distant objects seemed distant without the use of blur, which breaks the 3D effect when you look at it.

Most of these problems are common to all 3D monitors. The S27A950D’s basic image quality is surprisingly good. It’s a TN panel that could almost pass for an IPS panel because of its rich colours, and it’s even got good viewing angles. If anything, the monitor is far too bright, as shown by the fact that when we ran our calibration software, it darkened the image considerably.

Our initial reaction when seeing the S27A950D’s design was that its image quality could never match it, but we were wrong. It’s a fantastic screen, and the best part is that the price, while high for a 27in monitor, is actually great value if you factor in the fantastic design, the multiple inputs and the versatile 3D. Even if you think 3D is a gimmick, you’d be hard pressed to find such an attractive monitor with these features, plus fantastic image quality, at this price. It wins our Best Buy award.