A few weeks ago we partnered with Samsung to test drive their SE790C Curved Monitor. Now as I’ve said many times before I’m not very tech savvy and I prefer any technology that I use to fit seamlessly into my life without requiring me to go on a short training course to get to grips with it. I really don’t have the time in my life to study manuals and learn too many functions so unless the technology is super user-friendly and intuitive it’s unlikely I’ll enjoy using it or benefiting from it. So I was a bit apprehensive when I received the monitor but I tried to approach it with an open mind. I also asked Ruth to give it a test drive as she obviously uses her computer for very different tasks than I do. She does a lot of creative design work and picture editing so I thought it only fair that we check out how the monitor fairs on these sort of tasks. I mainly use my computer for more administrative tasks such as emailing, social media updates, research and writing so between us we gave it a pretty good test drive.
First off I have to say that once the box arrived I was really taken aback by the sheer size of the monitor. Whilst I knew that it was a 34″ monitor I don’t think I had fully grasped just how big that actually is. I’m used to doing the majority of my blogging tasks on my laptop so this was a huge step up in size. But I was definitely impressed with the sleek and stylish appearance of the monitor. The metallic frame is elevated by a curved T-shaped stand which is not only height adjustable, but you can also vary the angle of the screen allowing you to achieve the most comfortable viewing position for you personally. You can see the monitor above in Ruth’s home office and one of the things that she liked about the curve of the screen is that it allowed her to position the monitor further back into the corner. As you can see it’s quite a small space so you’d imagine it would create problems trying to fit such a large screen comfortably onto the desk. So this was certainly an unexpected bonus as it actually freed up more of the valuable desk space.
The curve of the screen serves as more than a simple style statement. Samsung’s latest curved monitors have an ergonomic design that aims to provide a more natural and uniform viewing distance compared to traditional flat screen monitors. They also provide a more comfortable and immersive viewing experience. This is because curved screens tend to match the natural curvature of the human eye. Apparently, experts in cognitive research have found that people perceive curves as more visually comforting than hard lines and angles and therefore viewing curves often triggers relief in the brain. I’m sure that many of you, like me and Ruth, spend a huge amount of time sat in front of a screen of some kind most days, whether that be for work or pleasure. Screen time is such a major part of our modern lifestyles but it does come with some unwanted drawbacks, particularly eye strain and fatigue. But this can apparently be reduced by viewing a curved screen. I think it will take a little more time and use to tell if the curved screen makes a significant difference to my levels of eye strain but I can already say that my eyes don’t seem to feel quite so dry and sore after extended periods of screen time so that has to be a bonus. One feature that further helps here is the eye saver mode which reduces the blue light that is emitted from the monitor. Blue light is proven to have a more stimulating effect on the retina therefore causing eye fatigue. The screen is also flicker free which makes viewing far more comfortable. This was immediately apparent and made me realise just how bad the flickering is on my screen at work. No wonder I often get headaches!
The screen also allows for a more immersive panoramic viewing experience due to the sheer curvature, which delivers a wider and more deeply enhanced 3D-like effect. This makes it a real joy to look at when viewing movies or TV on your computer for example. You get a great viewing experience no matter what angle you look at the screen from and the picture quality is really vibrant in comparison to other monitors. In addition, the WFHD – which is apparently a step up from Full HD – provides 2560 x 1080 resolution which means you can view content on a broader scale. So it’s not just in the entertainment stakes that the panoramic curvature offers great benefits, it’s also really helpful when working as it enables a greater degree of multi-tasking. Unlike regular monitors, the Samsung SE790C is wide enough to manage all your windows simultaneously on the same display. For example, you can easily open two usable windows side-by-side and this is a wonderful bonus. For me it means being able to keep an eye on my emails, whilst I write a blog post. Or I can have an internet window open and my blog editor, without having to flick between tabs. This really helps to boost my productivity as it saves so much time flicking back and forth and makes blog post writing far quicker and a far less laborious procedure.
There are a couple of features that I didn’t fully explore, as it’s a bit beyond me if i’m honest. One is the ability to watch videos while you multi-task, which would be far too distracting for me while I work but may be ideal for others. Picture-in-Picture 2.0. allows you resize the second picture to cover up to 25% of the screen and position it anywhere you please. So you can get down to work without having to miss that all important video you’ve been wanting to catch. The second feature is called Picture-by-Picture and lets you view two different input sources on one screen. So I guess you can connect your tablet, games console or phone to the monitor which I imagine would be very useful for some people. To enable this there is a variety of connectivity options as the monitor has two HDMI ports, one display port, and four USB 3.0 ports. But again this is something I wouldn’t see myself using as it’s technically a bit too advanced for me. After all there’s multi-tasking and there’s multi-tasking!
One of final things that Ruth really likes about the monitor was the cable management system that features on the height adjustable stand. This allows the cables to be neatly hidden away inside the stand keeping them out of the way and reducing that unsightly cable clutter we all hate. So there you have it. In a nut shell, both Ruth and I were really happy with the design and aesthetics of this monitor and how seamlessly it fitted into our homes. But most importantly we were impressed with the functionality of it and how it enabled us to work more productively and efficiently. For bloggers and creatives this is certainly a monitor worth considering.
Disclosure: This post has been written in partnership with Samsung who provided the product for us to test and review. However, all the opinions in this review are our own and we stress that we only collaborate with brands and companies that we genuinely like and believe that our readers will like too.