I don’t own a TV. That’s right, I’m a professional tech reviewer, and I’m still living like a millennial in my twenties. But a smart monitor—now, there’s something I could justify. A computer monitor is useless without a PC plugged into it, but that’s where smart monitors come in, offering a more versatile screen that is as much for work as it is for entertainment.
Not until now have these smart monitors felt like proper TV replacements in terms of quality. The latest model from Samsung, the Smart Monitor M9 M90SF, closes the gap by offering a 4K OLED panel with a 120-Hz refresh rate. It ain’t cheap, but for the first time, you won’t miss your TV.
Part Monitor, Part TV
Photograph: Luke Larsen
The M90SF is a gorgeous monitor. It doesn’t pretend to resemble a television physically like some other smart monitors cheekily do, but instead embraces its role as a monitor, first and foremost. That’s why the setup will be very familiar. The wide stand clicks into the back of the monitor with a standard VESA mount and then gets screwed into the base.
Unlike cheaper monitors in Samsung’s lineup, the M90SF has a wide, robust stand. It has a large base, a bit like an iMac, except that the stand can be removed from the screen so it can be VESA mounted. The monitor lacks swivel, so you can’t rotate it from left to right. Fortunately, it has full tilting capability, meaning it can be rotated fully into a vertical monitor. It also has a decent amount of height adjustment. That’s important for a screen that’s supposed to double as a TV.
Once you set it up, there are a few oddities about the M90SF, especially if you’ve never used a smart monitor before. First off, you’ll need to create a Samsung account if you don’t already have one. Annoyingly, this is required just to get into your streaming apps. The Tizen interface for accessing apps is convenient and easy to use, all controlled via the included Samsung Universal remote.