G1S resolution concerns

I don't know if anyone else has this problem but resolution/DPI is very important to my eyes becasue I can't seem to be comfortable looking at a screen where everything is too small.

*Acceptable*
Desktop 19" Widescreen 1400x900 (Perfect for a desktop)
Desktop 19" 1280x1024
Laptop 15" 1400x1050 (Barely acceptable)
Laptop 14" 1280x800
Laptop 13" 1280x800 (Barely acceptable)

*Unacceptable*
Desktop 20.1" Widescreen 1680 x 1050
Thinkpad T43 14" 1400x1050
Thinkpad X31 12" 1024x768

All of the above resolutions were with XP. I don't know if Vista has larger icons/fonts or whatnot.

Sadly I think I've already answered my own question, but do you think I'll have issues with a 15" 1680x1050 resolution on a G1S?

 

If you think 1680x1050 on a 20.1" monitor is too small, you'll HATE 1680x1050 on a 15.4" screen. The 20.1" pixel pitch is about 0.255mm, and the 15.4" is ~0.197mm. Much smaller...

Either try to get something like an external 1680x1050 22" monitor, or get 1280x800 15.4" notebook LCD if possible.

 

But I think you can choose to scale both the fonts and the Icons on Windows...

 

True, but websites would still be small text.

Good point. Yes a 14" or 15.4" with 1280x800 is probably what I'll end up defaulting with. I'm just waiting for a 8600GT with this configuration or else a 14" Thinkpad with a Quadro is in the future.

 

You can, but it isn't perfect and many other things do not scale correctly.

 

you can scale web-text too. ctrl - "+" key. Also ctrl and mousewheel scales webfont.

 

That is why I use Opera and set it to 150% zoom. Many website only cover half the screen and the zoom helps it fit nicely. It makes my 1400x1024 screen fit websites designed for 1024x768 without wasting space.

 

Even though native res is 1680 x 1050, why not just set it to 1280 x 800?

 

From my vantage point the difference between native and non-native resolutions are night and day; everything will look blurry.

 

Mozilla firefox and opera can have the sites increases in size, also internet explore 9 alos has the option to zoom (theres a magnifing glass in the bottom right hand corner)

 

All the browsers allow for zooming in on the text. E.g., for Firefox there is a tiny extension that zoom in by default on each new open tab or window. So no problem there. The problem is that images do not scale (I believe they used to in Opera 6 I don't know if they do in current versions; in Firefox which I use they don't).

Increasing DPI will take care of most of the Windows and application fonts. There will be some that do not scale, unfortunately, but they are rare.

So I think you can make a good compromise by scaling the fonts using DPI, tweaks for the browser to zoom in, setting larger fonts for applications etc. But it will indeed be a tradeoff...

I wouldn't advise lower than native resolution on an LCD everything looks blurred.

 

I have the same problem. My eyesight isn't too good (I got glasses for at work/college/driving) but I rarely use them at home in front of my computer. I now run 1680X1050 on a 22" widescreen and I really don't think I'll like the same res on a 15,4" screen. This is another reason I'm looking towards the Acer 5920 which has 1280x800 on a 15,4" screen.

 

As long as there are two equally desirable notebooks for you, with only the resolution being different, by all means choose the notebook with the preferred resolution.

But I wouldn't give up an otherwise good notebook just for this. As I've explained, it's not difficult to fix most instances of too small fonts.

 

Actually i dont really understand.
But I know my G1s is the best notebook. ^_^(For me...)



ASUS G1s A1
C2D 7500 2.20 SANTA ROSA
2.00 GB RAM
160 GB HDD Seagate Momentus 7200.2, 7200 rpm SATA 300
Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT

 

I think an A8J laptop with a decent gpu and 14" 1280x800 screen would suit you well.

 

I'd suggest that you don't think too much about the screen. I personally like high res screens, since text and images look so much sharper. And it's not due to my above average eyesight- I wear specs with -5 diopters in both lenses. IMO, good screens scale well, so a lower resolution would not be too blurry.

 

Unfortunately I believe LCD screens never scale really well unless the pixel size is a multiple of the native pixel size... So the image will always be blurry to some extent... Maybe less blurry for some, but still blurry.

 

Uninstall Asus Splendid and go to zero gamma, 50% brightness, and 50% contrast in nVidia CPnl if you want a GREAT IMPROVEMENT in clarity of text, being able to see fill-in boxes on webpages, and color saturation. That leaves nVidia CPnl, Power Mgmt, and Mobility Ctr as controlling the screen. With Splendid (published by Macrovision, so it's an add-on), my screen lost settings even in a simple launch of Splendid.... without touching settings... so I uninstalled it and PRESTO, text is sharp and easy to read, looks like a Vaio notebook screen now.