WSXGA+ too high for you? (re: Z71V)

I've just gone on at length in the Fujitsu forum about how I'm going to get an n3510. Okay, maybe not. The Z71V is just about everything I'm looking for, but contrary to most people here, the WSXGA+ resolution is the one thing that's making me hesitate.

I used to use an IBM T23 Thinkpad with a 14" screen at SXGA+ resolution at work, so when I was looking for my own notebook, I thought that I could handle just about any resolution. NOT. Getting old sucks.

Anyone here find that WSXGA+ on a 15.4" screen too high? I'm guessing (hoping) that as long as the screen is sharp and fairly bright, it should be okay. I'm really trying to see one in person in the Toronto area. Any suggestions on where to go see one?

Thanks

P.S. I'm also thinking of omitting the optical drive and simply going for two hard drives which is something that I find much more useful. Can I boot from an external USB CD-ROM (so I can install the OS)?

 

The S5 can do it..... I don't know if the support was just built into the bios or what.... but technically the first option in the bios of every system we have is "removable storage device"... which is for usb drives.. whether cd, floppy, hard drive, whatever.... So, I don't see a problem with it.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

For me a 15" SXGA+, 1400x1050 (13611 pixels per square inch) is the perfect size. For widescreen I wish they had made 1440x900 (12160 pixels per square inch) the 'standard' resolution on a 15.4". While WXGA, 1200x800 (9696 pixels per square inch) is better than XGA (7282 pixels per square inch) I'd still prefer a SXGA+. 1680x1050 (16554 pixels per square inch) is just a bit too small for me.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Can I boot from an external USB CD-ROM (so I can install the OS)?<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>
Nope! Not with WindowsXP Pro SP2 at least. I tried every single combination. It's impossible. When booting, windows reloads the USB drivers temporarly losing connection to the USB drive (even with native support) and Windows doesn't like that and goes blue screen with a 0x0000009c (bad boot device) error.

Maybe longhorn...

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<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>The S5 can do it..<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

Trust me Justin, NOTHING can do it. My M3N also boots from CDROM drives AND hard drives. You could also quite possibly install linux if you could disable the USB driver for the set of ports you have connected to the hard drive (and I've heard rumors of people booting linux with a USB hard drive). But I assure you, you cannot boot WindowsXP off a USB hard drive with any hardware. Perhaps if someone came up with a clevor pre-run driver during the boot sequence to fool WindowsXP, it would work, but no native hardware boots native WindowsXP.

I thought I could do it. And hours later, after wasting time doing EVERY SINGLE POSSIBILITY (including norton ghosting my drive; installing windowsXp freshly on the drive) and then looking up practically every source with every keyword with google, i came to the conclution that you can't do it.

Give it a try though if you don't believe me.

Asus M3NP 1.5GHz Centrino (Dothan /w 2mb L2)
1GB PC2700 DDR
100gb 5400rpm 8mb Cache Seagate Hard Drive /w 5 Year Warranty
Intel 2200BG 802.11g Wireless

 

well I mean.. the S5 does it...... period.. it has to. There is no internal drive and it's the only way to load the OS. I've done it a thousand times and just using that as an example.....

First of all...... you have this guy all wrong..... he wants to boot from an external cd drive to load the OS, so he can just run two hard drives (which is not a bad idea I guess, but not one we get a lot)......

He doesn't want to boot an OS from another hard drive....... now that, I know doesn't work.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

smilepak said this in his review thread:

"I found a resolution that works well for me and not blurry!!!!!
1360 x 768!!!!! I am using it now as I am typing!! Woot!
Also, the sparkle is less apparent in it as well!!!"

I think he means that 1360x768 is more comfortable for his eyes than the native resolution (larger fonts, etc.), but is not distorted or anything. Is that right, smilepak?

 

hi Stimp - I had a 15.4" screen on a Dell 6000 w/WSXGA and went nuts with the small fonts ...serious eye strain, couldn't even see properly for a bit after leaving the computer tried all fixes I could find on the forums, did get it larger for some applications, but the pages would often be out of proportion and/or the type size really inconsistent. I finally sent it back and reordered an XGA which should arrive any day.

 

Initially I found the WSXGA+ resolution on my Z71V too small. Now after a few days I've gotten used to it. To describe the size of the fonts, I would say that they are comparable to newspaper or novel fonts. Right now I'm about 2 feet away from the screen as I type this, and everything is perfectly readable.

Oh and one thing I really like is being able to have multiple windows displayed at the same time. The only annoying thing is having to keep resizing the windows, especially using the touchpad...I really need to get a notebook mouse.

 

I find the fonts on the Z71v to be perfectly readable. I had the same concern when I bought it, but it works fine for me, and I wear glasses!

 

I got use to it too...

but 1200 x 900 resolution works too, a tad soft on the fonts, but works...

Otherwise, the native resolution is fine. I got use to it. Turned out it is better cause I have more room to do my photoshop in heeheh

Laptop: Asus Z71V From www.proportable.com
* Intel® Pentium® M 750 - 1.86GHz
* 2GB DDR2-533 Corsair
* Hitachi Travelstar 60GB 7200 RPM w/ 8MB Buffer
FAQ Most asked about laptops: http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=61505

 

As long as I have my glass's on then the WSXGA is perfect, wouldn't want any smaller though, I think its a nice sweet spot. But without my glass's (getting old as well), I can't see anything, but then I have trouble seeing anything no matter the resolution.
a


ASUS M6Ne 15.4" WSXGA 1.7 PM ATI9700 80Gb HDD 1Gb RAM

 

Thanks for all the replies. I guess there's just no way to tell if the resolution is too high until I see one in person. The problem that I can foresee is that while the resolution might seem fine in a store for a few minutes, I might not be able to handle it over extended periods of time. Oh, well...

As for booting up from an external drive, as Justin said, I only want to be able to install Windows off it, not everytime I start the computer (although that would be pretty cool if you could do it).

 

You're trying to boot off the external cd drive though... use it for that and to install your programs or whatever..... then never use it again... I wish I could do that more often.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

You can:
Boot from a USB DVD/CDROM disc like if it was internal
Boot from a USB hard drive into DOS like it was internal (i.e. even DOS would boot. Just nothing that reinitializes the USB temporarly disabling legacy support)

You can't:
Boot WindowsXP from a USB hard drive

Asus M3NP 1.5GHz Centrino (Dothan /w 2mb L2)
1GB PC2700 DDR
100gb 5400rpm 8mb Cache Seagate Hard Drive /w 5 Year Warranty
Intel 2200BG 802.11g Wireless