What comes inside each box? They both have pretty much exactly the same things, except the Westinghouse comes with an audio cable, and the Samsung comes with a DVI cable. Yes, it comes with a DVI cable. That was something that impressed me about the Samsung. Most DVI-capable monitors come with the DSUB (normal monitor connection) cable, but you have to purchase the DVI cable separately, which is another $20 to $60, depending on where you get it and what brand.

The Samsung doesn’t have speakers built into it, while the Westinghouse does. Some might appreciate this, but I personally do not, simply because I have a separate speaker system. I have no need for the built-in speakers. The monitor without the speakers would probably be less bulky, and have a skinnier bezel, which I prefer. The Samsung has a thin bezel, therefore I prefer it aesthetically over the Westinghouse. This is purely a matter of taste and whether you need speakers in it or not. As far as looks go, I prefer the Samsung to the Westinghouse, but not hands-down. I like them both, I just like how the Samsung looks a little bit more than the Westinghouse.

The Westinghouse monitor has built-in inputs. I really like the inputs, because it allows me to use the monitor as a TV without needing a tuner card and RF modulator. This isn’t a common monitor trait, though, so it really is kind of specialized. I’d say that the Westinghouse is more suited for a college student, or someone who just plain lacks space, while the Samsung is suited for the office environment.

The Samsung is a bit more adjustable than the Westinghouse. Neither of the monitors can pivot, but they both tilt back and forth. The 225BW features a vertical adjustment system, which makes it really easy to adjust up or down to accommodate to different people, while the LCM-22W2 can’t move up and down at all. In its defense, the Westinghouse sits up higher than the Samsung does at its lowest setting, and seems to be a pretty good height. I really do like the height adjustment on the Samsung, though.

As far as everything else goes, they’re pretty much exactly the same. The Westinghouse has a SLIGHTLY better viewing angle than the Samsung. They’re almost exactly the same in all the OSD (On-Screen Display) features, while the Samsung is easiest (most intuitive) to navigate. The Samsung has a “MagiColor” setting that the Westinghouse does not, but it’s not a big-deal, it just makes colors slightly brighter. They both have Auto-Adjust features that set the screen up for you automagically.

The use of these two monitors is almost identical. They have exactly the same brightness capability, have exactly the same contrast ratio, and have exactly the same pixel size. Neither of the monitors came with dead pixels, so I can’t make a claim as to which one is of higher quality. Overall, the quality of both units is substantial, as they’re both really well-made.

Something that is surprisingly better on the Westinghouse than on the Samsung is the backlighting. The Samsung monitor features pretty heavy backlighting bleeding, which is relatively common among bigger LCD monitors. What’s surprising is that the Westinghouse has virtually NONE. I took a picture of both the Samsung and Westinghouse with a black screen and the lights turned out. The Samsung has substantial backlighting issues, but you can’t even see the backlighting on the Westinghouse.

Let’s draw some conclusions and figure out which monitor we should buy.

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