Monitor hunting, written out loud

Unfortunatly I’ve found myself hunting for a new monitor. The old one decided to no longer function. I had pretty much already decided on a 19” CRT (suits my needs just fine and is affordable), and I had been recommended a Samsung.

A quick look at a danish hardware price index gave me the name of one that fit my price range, the SyncMaster 959NF. The price might be right, but I wanted some more details, in particular what refresh rates it could display 1280×1024 in.

And where would it be better to look than at Samsungs website website. Or so I thought…

For some reason (previously lousy experiences with sites like that), I decided to write down my thoughts and actions in regards to finding this info. I basically conducted a “Writing out loud user test” with myself as subject.

Samsung, this is my gift to you: A free user test of your website, performed by an actual user with an actual goal.

My notes.

1. Went to samsung.com. I am looking for a product ::click Products in the top menu::
2. ::Click monitors on that page::
3. Hm, 959NF isn’t mentioned in their product list. Oh, there’s a models dropdown list, it might be in that.
4. Hm, no, those models there are exactly the same as in the other list.
5. Perhaps “More Models on the Global Site” is a link (funny, I thought I was on the global site…)? Nope, not a link, even though the color might suggest it.
6. Ah, there’s a “Product finder” box in the left side, looks like a search box with an arrow and everything. Hm, no, it was a link. ::Click::
7. Oops, that gave me a popup window. An empty one, odd ::close window::
8. Nothing in the leftside menu looks interesting, neither in the top menu.
9. Perhaps the model is special for Denmark, let’s check the danish site in the “See products for your country” listing. Hm, no “Denmark” in that listing.
10. Oops, what happened there, some other site loaded when I closed the dropdown list.
11. Err, I am now on samsung.se, funny. I am still looking at monitors though. Might as well look here, that previous site didn’t have my info.
12. Alright, here’s another “Chose model/V�lj modell” dropdown. Let’s see… Hey, there it is! ::Select, and click “Go/G�”::
13. “SyncMaster 959NF” - Hey, this looks right.

I found it, easy, wasn’t it?

PS: I’d like to link to the actual product page on Samsungs website, but they seemingly don’t want me to share product details with you…

Comments and Trackbacks

I have a SyncMaster 959NF and it's the best thing I ever bought!

It simply rocks :-)

Cheers.

I ended up going for the Syncmaster 957MB instead, and so far I have no regrets. The low dot pitch (0.2) by far makes up for the relatively low refresh rates and gives a great, almost LCD like image.

I dunno, I found the Samsung site fairly easy to navigate. I found the monitor info fairly quick. I love their site! Its the bestest one I've ever visited! :P

So you actually found the Syncmaster 957NF on www.samsung.com? Care to share the URL, I still can't find it.

It's the top secret experimental version of Samsung monitors. We can't get them in the U.S. :P