The controls are one of the areas that could use some improvement on the Samsung SyncMaster 172X. The control buttons are located on the very base of the LCD panel display and are quite small. There are a total of seven buttons, greater than the average display. The text and symbols for the various controls are written in very small text and hidden in shadow by the edge of the bezel making them useless.
The seven buttons moving from left to right are: auto adjust, exit, menu, power, minus, plus, and preset selection. Auto adjust is used when the computer is first hooked up to the monitor to set the base settings. The exit button has two functions, it will step back out of the on-screen menus or will switch between the analog and digital connectors. Menu will bring up the on-screen menu or select an item. The plus and minus will adjust the screen brightness when not in the menus or move and adjust items in the menu. Finally, the preset button allows you to quickly switch between three base configurations from Samsung and one user selected setting.
This is where the MagicTune and NaturalColor software come into play. It is not necessary to use the controls when these programs are used. They interface with the LCD panel and make they settings from the computer display. They can also set the one user preset and store it in the monitor.
