Reviews. Picture. Joint manufacturing with Sony. It was within compensation budget so cost nowt.
It is difficult to accept Samsung as a major player, but then, look at some of the car manufacturers who's products would definitely not have been cool to be seen in. Serious competition for the big names.
As it happens, I used Samsung for my AutoCAD command set monitors. They sat beside 2,600 quid Eizo or Sony kit, and while the name didn't carry any status, they just worked. Never, ever, had one fail.