This might be useful in cases where you need the exact numerical values and time stamps of a PV. While the 'Marker' facility of the Plot Window can provide this information for a few samples on the plot, a tabular view is sometimes more useful.
You can also use the Export View to save such a list of samples to a file.
Note that the Sample View will not automatically refresh whenever new samples arrive from an ongoing archive request or as 'live' data from the control system, because the necessary table redraws would be too costly. Instead, you need to manually trigger a refresh via the corresponding "Refresh" button.