1080p vs 900p

Has anyone seen the 1920x1080 (60Hz) screen next to the 1600x900 screen? I'm torn between the two... I have an XPS M1530 with a screen DPI of around 110 and it feels just about right. I'm worried that things will be uncomfortably small at the 1080p resolution. The DPI of the 1080p (on the 17.3" screen) would be about 127 DPI while the 900p screen would be around 106 - closer to what I'm used to.

Are the two screens of equal quality aside from the resolution? I do NOT plan on watching Blu-ray discs on the laptop, so native 1080p for video purposes isn't a huge priority.

I haven't used Windows 7 on a laptop enough to know if the DPI scaling works well enough to be useful (certainly XP wasn't very good at that).

Thoughts? Worth the $150 if primary purpose is gaming, not video?

 

Unless you are out of budget or short-sighted, always go for the higher resolution.

Be nice to your eyes, please !

 

i have to disagree. if the screen quality is equal for everything but pixel count then 150 is not worth it

 

Agreed, if you don't want to view blu-ray then forget going 1200p. Just get the 900p screen so you can watch 720p at least. Personally I like the 1200p's sharp image, the 900p screen (the one from Fry's) was a little blurry and the desktop icons had jaggies LOL.

 

Honestly not really sure why people bring this up so frequently

Theres is a big difference in gaming if you aren't using and external monitor. You can see farther, see more particles, and detail all over the place. And you will physically see the difference because a 17" at 3' away is going to have 1080 visibility.

IF your doing it for graphic design or video... also something you need the pixel density!

In the end its still your choice... but if you want more rez... you will either have to hook it up to your TV or buy a monitor thats more then 150.

 

There's conflict in your post

I mean, the display is one of the most important part of a laptop... more difficult to upgrade compare to the other parts... and you will LOOK AT it all the time.
- Sharpness: a pleasure for your eyes
- More space for Office stuffs like Word/Excel so you can open 2 windows, for Web surfing (larger view), etc...

You spend 2k on a laptop, why not spend just $150 more for the display?

Just my .02

 

I don't know, just like throwing out choices. Sometimes people complain that with 1200p the letters are too small or their games don't run as smoothly etc etc. I agree that the extra screen real estate is great and the picture is sharp but if you're not going to use it then don't buy it. $150 IS $150 after all.

 

You can turn down the resolution in games...

 

Can you play games at 1600x900 resolution with the 1920x1080 screen?

 

After going from 1024x768 to 1920x1200 for gaming about 4 years ago, I could never go back to gaming on anything lower than 1920x1080 for an extended period of time. I once had the 1920x1200 LCD fail on my previous notebook, requiring me to use a 1280x1024 for 3 days & it was like playing through a magnifying glass.

The more screen real estate (resolution) I have, the better to see what is going on around my toon, resulting in better efficiency while gaming.

 

Yeah but things get blurry at full screen (720p for example on a 1200p screen) and if you play in windowed mode, CF doesn't work...

 

The best thing to note is that the higher the resolution image the more round and natural lines look. I find it very important and my eyes seem to wander less because its not able to catch up with some of the pixels on the screen. Sounds weird but its true. However its more about money and if your hardware can support 1080 p in games.

 

Thanks for the replies so far. The reason I asked in the first place wasn't because I don't recognize the benefits of increased resolution. I do. But with increased pixel density it's a trade-off between more screen real-estate and viewing comfort as everything becomes smaller.
Does anyone have a 17" screen and feels things are too small?
Perhaps I need to go to BestBuy or somewhere and try to find a 17" 1080p screen to look at...

 

1.how is the r3 1080p screen vs r2 1200p?
2.how is the r3 1080p screen vs 1200p macbook pro screen?
3.or should i just ask, how is r3 1080p vs r2 1200p vs mbp 1200p screen in terms of gaming, photo/video editing, etc. (not capability of laptop, but just visually by screen)?

thanks.

 

cswinton,

I have an M1530 like you, and I have the 1680x1050 screen. I recently purchased a 17" computer for my wife with a 1600x900 screen (1080p wasn't available) and I can really tell the difference. It doesn't look bad, but I really notice the difference in the size of the pixels. Get the higher resolution screen, and if you find the icons/text to be too small, Windows 7 allows you to increase the size of everything very easily and it still looks awesome due to the pixel density. I've done this several times for (much) older friends who have high-resolution screens but can't read that small text.

Get the 1080p, you won't be sorry.

 

Thanks all - I went with the 1080p. Order is still in processing stage so it's just the waiting game now...