When comparing Planar Helium PCT2785 vs Samsung U28E590D, the Slant community recommends Samsung U28E590D for most people. In the question“What are the best monitors?” Samsung U28E590D is ranked 22nd while Planar Helium PCT2785 is ranked 30th. The most important reason people chose Samsung U28E590D is:
The Samsung uses a 10-bit color display panel, resulting fantastic picture quality. It can reproduce more than a billion colors, compared to the 16 million colors of 8-bit panels. The color saturation and accuracy easily compete with more expensive screens, although they are not precise enough for photo-centric work. Contrast levels are average, but the monitor is brighter than other monitors in its price group.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Decent black levels, good contrast ratio
The black levels are respectively low at 0.16cd/m², which helps the contrast ratio achieve 1100:1 which is much lower than the advertised 5000:1, but still quite good.
Pro Pretty fast response times make the system feel quick
The response time is 12ms, which isn't lightning fast, but it's still quick enough to make the system feel more responsive than cheaper monitors. While not fast enough for high-level gaming, this monitor won't make your system feel slow or unresponsive.
Pro 'Massive tablet' design is unique, and versitile
It really does look like a massive tablet with a kickstand - but that's not a bad thing. There's no stand visible, leaving the front looking very clean. The stand can angle anywhere from 15-70 degrees which allows for flexible use, or it can be folded in and used flat on the desk or even mounted using the VESA mounting holes.
Pro Built-in speakers, webcam, and mic
This monitor has many peripherals built-in, and unless you use them heavily they will do the job just fine. Unless you feel the need for dedicated hardware, the built-in stereo speakers work well enough, and the webcam and mic are acceptable quality for occasional recreational use (for business calls or other uses where quality is important, you'll want to upgrade to dedicated hardware).
Pro Great picture quality
The Samsung uses a 10-bit color display panel, resulting fantastic picture quality. It can reproduce more than a billion colors, compared to the 16 million colors of 8-bit panels. The color saturation and accuracy easily compete with more expensive screens, although they are not precise enough for photo-centric work. Contrast levels are average, but the monitor is brighter than other monitors in its price group.
Pro Suitable for watching in bright setting
The brightness measures up to 300 nits after calibration and the matte screen reduces glare, making it easy to view the screen in bright conditions
Pro Good contrast ratio
It delivers a standard contrast ratio of 1:1000, although when properly calibrated, the contrast ratio goes down slightly.
Pro Excellent response time for gamers
This screen offers an excellent response time of only 1 ms, compared to the 5 ms (or more) of other monitors in this price range. Input lag measures at 15 ms, which is second only to dedicated gaming monitors with 10 ms response times.
Pro Multiple inputs (and the option to watch them simultaneously)
This screen's connectivity consists of two HDMI 2.0 ports and one DisplayPort 1.2., which is enough for most users. Samsung offers picture-in-picture and picture-by-picture modes. Meaning that you can view two inputs side by side or one can be scaled down to a small window that you can place on one of the corners.
Pro Good colors
The screen’s 10-bit panel covers 97% of the sRGB color spectrum which is a respectable result for a budget monitor. For professional use, you will have to look for something more accurate. Color saturation and accuracy is excellent and can compete with higher priced models.
Pro Compact, stable and aesthetically pleasing stand
The stand takes little place and has a metallic finish and is quite stable, even if at first this doesn’t seem to be the case
Pro Comfortable on eyes even after prolonged use
This monitor offers a flicker-free backlight, which reduces strain on your eyes. It also includes a setting that reduces the amount of blue light in the screen, making the picture look softer and facilitates nighttime use.
Pro Elegant and minimal look
This monitor is finished in a black plastic with metallic look borders and looks elegant and minimal.
Cons
Con Disappointing color accuracy
The MVA panel (multi-domain vertical alignment: in-between of TN and IPS technologies) doesn't reproduce colors very accurately. It scores just 82% of the sRGB color gamut, while other panels offer high 80s and even above 90%. This display's weakest points are with the green and cyan shades, while reds and blues appeared just fine.
Con Dim display
The display doesn't get very bright - at just 172cd/m² this panel is very dim. Many monitors can achieve 300cd/m² or higher brightnesses.
Con Takes much more power than similar monitors
Without using the ECO mode, this monitor requires about 50 watts to power it. This is double than other monitors. There are different levels of ECO modes, however these dim the display and barely get down to the power level of other monitors when they are all enabled.
Con Extremely limited Freesync range (54-64hz)
The Freesync feature is almost useless as the range is actually 54-64hz instead of at least 40-60hz.
And no, even using CRU won't help, as any modification to the freesync range will result into the monitor turning complete white (stuck) eventually after awhile.
Con Poor viewing angles
It uses a TN panel which generally has terrible viewing angles. Color shifting occurs at 40 degrees. And even though Samsung’s proprietary “MagicAngle” helps to improve it, there are plenty of other monitors offering better viewing angles.
Con Limited flexibility
The monitor does not offer much flexibility options as it only can be slightly tilted, but you cannot change the height or swivel it at any direction. There is a Vesa mount in the back so you can attach it to a more flexible stand or wall mount.
Con No USB ports
There are no USB ports found on this screen, so there is no possibility to watch media from external storage directly or use the screen as an USB hub.
Con Accessible navigation joystick
Navigation is done with a joystick in the left bottom side of the screen and is easily accessible.
Con Cheap plastic on the back
The plastic on the back of the screen feels a bit cheap.
Con Very limited screen position control
The monitor can only be tilted by 20 degrees, and no swivel or height changing is available, so is very limited regarding screen position control.