To help us provide you with free impartial advice, we may earn a commission if you buy through links on our site. Learn more
We’ve seen USB displays before, but the C23A550U takes advantage of USB3’s extra bandwidth to transfer more than just a picture. Not only can you drive the display via USB, but you can also route your network connection and audio through the monitor, turning it into a docking station with a built-in display.
Once you’ve installed the monitor’s USB drivers, the C23A550U is a useful dock. You can plug a mouse and keyboard into the two USB2 ports, your network cable into the 10/100 Ethernet port and use the USB3 ports to connect devices that need extra speed such as external hard disks.
USB3 support on your laptop or PC isn’t required, but it’s highly recommended. Connected via USB2, we saw average speeds of 30MB/s when transferring files from an attached external disk to our test PC; when we connected via USB3 the speed went up to 86MB/s. The network connection is only 10/100 rather than gigabit, though.
When the monitor was connected over USB3 we could watch a Blu-ray rip of Casino Royale , but if we transferred a large file across the network connection at the same time we started to notice dropped frames and sound stuttering.
The C23A550U’s stand adjusts vertically, and Samsung claims it goes high enough to be visible above your laptop’s screen, but it didn’t go high enough to clear our laptop’s 15.6in display. It just about goes high enough so you can use a netbook below the monitor, though.
The C23A550U may have a number of useful features, but its image quality is less impressive. It has a bright and even LED backlight but while the matte coating reduces reflections, it robs colours of much of their impact, leaving them flat and dull. The screen’s poor viewing angles don’t help, either.
Samsung has attempted to make up for this with its Magic settings, which include presets for Movies and Games, but we’d avoid the Sharpness control, which just added graininess to the image. Choosing a Magic preset disables all other controls, so you have to select the Custom option if you want to tweak the image to your preference.
The C23A550U’s USB dock connection may appeal to laptop owners who want to reduce clutter, but for £150 less you could buy the superior ViewSonic VA2448-LED and spend the savings on a dedicated dock.
