A 32” Monitor That Mimics A Samsung TV & Allows Access To Office 365

I work all day on a large screen monitor, sometimes two of them side by side and I am extremely fussy about quality especially as we are looking at high-res images and magazine layouts.

When I was told that Samsung had a new monitor that doubled as a TV, I was sceptical, the concept was neat but as for the execution of a premium work monitor to TV with all the Samsung smarts from their popular range of TV's built in, I really had to see it to get my head around the concept, now I have, and I am impressed.

This is not a top end monitor, but it gets dam close, and I suspect a lot of people would not recognise the difference between a $1,000 120Hz monitor and the recently launched $549 M7 from Samsung.

This is a 32″ PC monitor with 4K resolution, and the resolution is actually better that some of the 32" 4K TVs on sale in stores.

This is an affordable premium monitor that ticks the boxes and has some really neat tricks up its sleeve, such as being able boot up your Office 365, access your Outlook emails without the need for a notebook.

What you will need to do is plug in a Logitech dongle, so that you can connect a keyboard and mouse, or you can Bluetooth connect by going to setting, networking and Bluetooth connect to link with a Bluetooth mouse keyboard or Galaxy Buds for listening to Netflix or video streams.

You then access the built-in browser.

Another option is Samsung DEX, which mirrors the screen of Samsung's Galaxy smartphones, and allows you to use the phone as a mini-PC.

In the box is a full Samsung remote and what I suggest is that if you own a current model Samsung TV you pair the remote with the TV.

How you do this is by holding down the back button on the remote and the video forward button to the right of the back button, and this will sync the remote with the Bluetooth built into the TV.

When you unpack the TV all you have to do to access content is sync your TV to a Wi Fi network. Missing is a TV tuner so to access free to air TV programs you will have go to the app store to access Nine Now or Seven Plus or the ABC iView.

This will deliver immediate access to Samsung's Smart-universe streaming services with Netflix and Amazon Prime built into the remote. You also get Foxtel, Kayo and Apple TV.

AirPlay 2 for Apple devices is also available.

When it comes to design the 32 monitor is simple and smart, with the flat bottom metal base an ideal place for a dock that allows one to connect a smartphone or other home office device.

The monitor itself has built-in speakers and a menu system full of services, one expects to find on a modern TV. On the back you have two HDMI inputs, 3 USB inputs, plus a separate connection port for USB-C.

The screen can be tilted but has no height adjustment similar to past Samsung monitors which are significantly more expensive.

The display is very sharp and devoid of pixels at least to the naked eye. The panel refresh rate is limited to a maximum of 60 Hz which is not a problem for work productivity and TV viewing however it is limiting for gamers who want 120Hz.

A 4K movie for example is razor sharp and when I am doing video calls using a plugged in Logitech web cam the image is crystal clear.

For those who are concerned about eye strain Samsung has built in eye comfort mode that reduces the amount of blue light which is ideal for those long days on a monitor.

While the maximum brightness is limited to about 250 nits this is good enough for most business applications and for TV viewing.

The built-in speakers do a decent job of reproducing music and speech and if you want you could always buy a small USB soundbar that plugs into the back of the monitor for watching movies.

VERDICT

This is a $549 monitor that delivers crisp clear 4K resolution making it ideal for watching movies or streamed 4K content. Ideal for an office or spare room that is being used as an office during the day. If you want a premium top end monitor especially one that delivers 120Hz refresh rate this is not the monitor for you.

If you want a jack of all trades monitor that delivers on multiple front this Samsung M7 monitor gets the job done and is ideal as a good all-round home or office monitor.

I would have liked to have seen an option for a 120Hz version of this monitor, yes it would cost more but the benefits of having streaming and content built in makes it a viable option.

Rating 9