The most noticeable thing about the monitor is just how slim and sexy it is. The monitor is only .65 inches thick and weighs less than 8 pounds. The crystal bezel outline and neck are very nice touches, and Samsung claims it gives the monitor a "floating" illusion, but I don't honestly see many people getting fooled into believing the monitor is really "floating". The bezel itself is glossy black, and the monitor looks very much like the little brother of Samsung's Luxia LED Television lineup. The touch of color is also incorporated into the monitor, which is simply touch sensitive buttons that control the monitor options. The touch buttons are fairly responsive and easy to use, unlike the touch sensitive buttons on some of LG's monitors.

The slim and sexy factors are important, but what about functionality? Luckily the Samsung XL2370 doesn't fail in this regard. Whites on the old Samsung P2370 would look either slightly yellow, or have a gray hue to them, but the whites on the XL2370 are pure snow white, and blacks are as close to true blacks as you can get. It's clear the ridiculous 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio is as impressive when viewing images on the monitor as it is on the specs sheet. The screen itself is matte, and no reflections are present even in highly lighted rooms. Text on the screen looks very sharp and legible, the contrast, matte screen, and high resolution help out greatly.

With a 2ms response time, I witnessed no blur when playing games with the monitor hooked up to a Playstation 3. Even better, blu-rays look absolutely stunning, with the color contrast again impressing.

There are a few minor drawbacks to the XL2370, most notably the lack of any real ergonomic features. The monitor only tilts +/- 15 degrees and has no swivel or pivot options, which is very disappointing. It would have also been nice to see a built in webcam and one or two usb ports, which would have made the XL2370 a very accurate comparison to Apple's 24 inch Cinema Display.

But at only $299, it's hard to find a better monitor for a cheaper price. The led-backlighting is a substantial upgrade over any traditional CCFL monitors. The colors really pop out, and the added contrast makes writing in Word or forming spreadsheets in Excel very comfortable for the eyes. The monitor performs wonderfully to watch movies or play games, and can be a very high performing media center for many consumers. LED monitors on the market right now are very expensive, with Apple's retailing for $899, Samsung's offering is a great alternative to Windows users, or those Apple users wanting to save a few dollars without sacrificing too much on performance.