Samsung M8 Smart Monitor review: the display ultimatum

Samsung M8 smart monitor

MSRP $700.00

“The Samsung M8 Smart Monitor is packed with features, but they all seem to live in different worlds.”

Avg

• It works as a smart TV or monitor

• Supports Samsung Gaming Hub

• Attractive design

• 65 W USB-C power supply

• Good SDR image quality

Against

• Limited HDR performance

• No VESA mount and limited stand adjustment

• Webcam features are not available on the computer

Samsung is on a mission. The mission is to redefine what makes the best monitors the best, and Samsung’s gambit is to blur the lines between TVs and monitors. That’s what the Samsung M8 is. It’s not just a monitor or a TV – it’s both.

It’s packed with features enhanced by Samsung’s TV operating system, including Samsung SmartThings, AirPlay and a magnetic webcam. It looks like a complete package, but for the most part, the M8 forces you to choose whether you want a monitor or a TV without much wiggle room to blur the line between the two.

Samsung M8 specifications

A touch of Samsung color

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Samsung has made a great looking monitor with the M8. It gives off heavy M1 iMac vibes, with a screen less than half an inch thick and super thin bezels. The biggest similarity comes in colors, with Samsung offering Warm White as well as muted Spring Green, Sunset Pink, and Daylight Blue options (the latter three come with a $30 surcharge). I tested Sunset Pink and the contrast between the soft pink and the textured white base looks fantastic.

You get a height-adjustable stand that matches the color of the monitor in the box, but it only has 130mm of height adjustment, no swivel adjustment, and a negligible 15 degrees of tilt. It’s usually not a big deal, but the M8 doesn’t have any VESA mounting holes. You can’t use it with a monitor without buying a 3D printed adapter on Etsy.

On the back of the monitor you have a mini HDMI port, a DisplayPort via USB-C and a USB-C port with 65 watts of power. Now we’re seeing 90W hubs, but you’ll still be able to connect something like a MacBook Air M2 to a Samsung M8 with a single cable.

TV or monitor? You decide

The M8 is both a TV and a monitor, but switching between those modes isn’t as easy as it could be. You get the Tizen operating system that’s available on Samsung TVs like the S95B OLED, so you can use all your media apps like Netflix, YouTube, Apple TV+ — the list goes on. And due to the fact that the M8 has a remote control and its own Wi-Fi connection, you can use all these applications without a computer.

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

That’s great, but the more exciting aspects of the M8 lie elsewhere in the software. It includes the Samsung Gaming Hub, which lets you use cloud gaming services like Xbox Game Pass, Google Stadia and Nvidia GeForce Now. Like regular applications, you can use them all separately from the computer, by connecting a keyboard and mouse or a controller via the monitor’s Bluetooth 4.2 connection.

It also supports Samsung Workspace, if you’re willing to mess with it. Workspace lets you connect to your computer remotely, use some Microsoft 365 programs (and only Microsoft 365 programs), and use Samsung DeX if you want to work from your phone.

DeX works, but remotely accessing a computer or using a Microsoft app is like trying to run Windows apps on a smart TV processor; in short, it’s not good. All the media and productivity apps are a big selling point of the M8, but I’d use desktop apps every day. The included apps are just a bonus.

This is not TV and monitor. It’s one or the other. Although you use Samsung Multi-View to see the built-in app and your computer at the same time, it’s not the best experience. Multi-View lags and transferring control between windows is a hassle. Multi-View works, but I wasn’t as inclined to use it on the M8 as I was on Samsung’s Odyssey Ark. Still, the M8 supports proper picture-in-picture if you don’t mind the cursor lagging a bit.

Taking control of the M8

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

The TV/monitor duality of the M8 has problems when it comes to changing settings. You can control the monitor with the included remote control, the four-way joystick on the back, or Bluetooth peripherals. Samsung has leaned on the TV side of the screen, though, so you don’t have the typical OSD or fine-grained control over picture settings like the Acer Predator X28 offers.

You can still adjust the image, with settings for brightness, contrast, sharpness, etc. My main question is how long it takes to access those settings. You have to move to the home screen, go down to settings, tab to picture settings and finally adjust what you need. A dedicated settings button would have helped a lot here, as it takes a good 30 seconds to even find the setting you want to adjust.

Great picture, but not for HDR

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

The M8 looks fantastic, considering you’re not dead for HDR. It’s better than budget monitors, but still a decent bit below the quality of high-end 4K displays like the Dell UltraSharp 32 4K. A big reason why is the color coverage. You get 100% of the sRGB spectrum based on my test results, as you’d expect from a $700 monitor, but 83% AdobeRGB and 89% DCI-P3.

Those are great results, but they fall short of providing the true wide range for impressive HDR. HDR on the M8 just doesn’t do much, similar to cheaper DisplayHDR 400 monitors like the HP Omena 27c. You have solid contrast with the VA panel used by the M8 (2,860:1 based on my testing), but the screen never managed to crack the 400 nit ceiling that Samsung advertises. I hit 396 nits with HDR on.

The screen doesn’t get bright enough to support HDR, and it doesn’t have local dimming (let alone full local dimming like the Sony InZone M9 offers).

HDR aside, the screen is solid. The darkest parts of the monitor were never washed out while watching YouTube videos and playing some destiny 2, suggesting a global dimming feature. Although the screen can get a little washed out at low brightness, the backlight is still bright enough to combat brightly lit rooms. I had no problems with glare even with direct sunlight coming into my office windows with the backlight turned on.

The thing is, you can get the same screen for less. The Dell UltraSharp U2720Q and LG 27UK850-W offer similar picture quality for about $150 less than the Samsung M8 (and are among the best 4K monitors you can buy). You get a lot of extras with the M8, of course, but you can get a monitor with the same raw image quality for less, or a monitor with better image quality for the same price. And this is especially true when it comes to gaming.

Color accuracy isn’t a concern, as the M8 achieves a Delta-E (difference from true color) of just over 1. That’s fine for video or photo editing, but a calibrated display like the Asus ProArt PA329CV offers a wider color range for roughly the same price.

Gaming on Samsung M8

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

The M8 isn’t a gaming monitor, but Samsung still includes a few gamer-friendly features: the Gaming Hub, a dedicated 21:9 ultrawide mode, and a low-latency game mode.

Gaming isn’t great on the M8 though. The obvious drawback is that the monitor is locked at 60Hz, so you can’t take advantage of the high refresh rate that most gaming monitors offer. Gaming in 4K at 60 frames per second (fps) is still demanding even for the best graphics cards. I played Fate 2 and part of the recently published Roller rink on the computer and I had no problems. While 60Hz isn’t ideal, it works for gaming on a 4K monitor.

Given how many ways you can use the M8, it’s disappointing that it doesn’t have a more robust selection of ports.

The real limitation comes in the choice of port. You have a choice between mini HDMI and USB-C, which greatly limits gaming options. You’ll need a USB-C connection on the GPU if you’re using a PC, and HDMI 2.0 if you’re using a current-gen console. Given how many ways you can use the M8, it’s disappointing that it doesn’t have a more robust selection of ports for connecting several devices and switching between them.

I also briefly tried the Gaming Hub with Xbox Game Pass, giving Outriders others go after he left it. The low-res stream doesn’t look great when scaled up on a 32-inch 4K screen, but the real problem is the Bluetooth connection. You’re tied to Bluetooth 4.2, which feels slow when combined with the latency that cloud gaming already imposes.

The intricate webcam of the M8 model

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Outside of all the bundled apps, the M8’s other killer feature is its magnetic webcam. You get one in the box, which plugs directly into the back of the monitor via a USB-C pogo connection. It’s also fully magnetic, so you can throw it on the back of your screen out of sight, as well as store the included metal privacy shield.

It has features like face tracking and auto framing, but they only work with Google Duo. In fact, the webcam is on only works with Google Duo if you connect directly to the monitor. PC-free video calling is a plus, but you have to detach the webcam from the screen and plug it into your computer if you want to use Microsoft Teams, Discord, or any other video chat app. And in that case, you can’t use face tracking or auto framing.

Quality is excellent in a well-lit room, although it tends to get grainy when you turn off some of the lights. It doesn’t make a huge difference – an external webcam is still the best for quality – but the usability hurdles are significant. A built-in webcam like the Dell P2418HZm offers so much more sense so you don’t have to change your connections to let Windows take control of the webcam.

Our opinion

The Samsung M8 will be exactly a monitor that a small group of people want. If you want a single screen that can do double duty as a monitor and TV, there’s nothing quite like what Samsung has to offer.

Most people are looking for a TV or monitor though. In that case, the M8 is either too expensive or a little lacking in quality, as the extra smart TV features make up about $100 of its price.

Are there alternatives?

There are several alternatives for the Samsung M8:

• $4,330 Samsung M7 — The M7 gets everything you get with the M8, including apps, 4K resolution, and a 60Hz screen, for $370 less. But the stand is much worse without any adjustments, and you don’t even have a magnetic webcam.
• $766 Asus ProArt PA329CV — It’s a bit more expensive than the M8, but offers much greater color coverage and accuracy for content creators. It also includes a 90W USB-C hub.

How long will it last?

Assuming that Samsung will continue to update its TV operating system, you can use the Samsung M8 for several years without any problems.

Should you buy it?

Yes, but only if you need the various features offered by the M8. As a monitor only, there are better options for less. The M7 is also a great alternative, assuming you don’t need a webcam and can raise the monitor.

Editor’s recommendations

Categories: GAMING
Source: newstars.edu.vn

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