Difference between 1440x900 & 1920x1200

Hello
I am contemplating purchasing my first notebook pc. I will be using it for school(part time bussiness student) and home photo and video editing, My wife will be using it foe school(she is a teacher). I am trying to understand the difference between the 2 screen resolutions listed. Any opinion either way or a better ecplanition than the dell site would be appreciated. Secondly I was planning on the 8400MGS video and opinion here would be appreciatted as well.

 

1440x900 will make things show up larger on your screen. You will have less "real estate" available. For example, on a 1400x900 you will be able to see less of a website (if it scrolls up and down) than on a 1920x1200. You will be able to have applications opened side-by-side and you will be able to see more of them in the 1920x1200. The plus side to the 1440x900 is the lower price and if you want less dots per inch (everything larger -- like text) you can go with the 1440x900. And again, 1920x1200 will be crisper and you will have more real estate.

 

Simply put, the 1920x1200 screen will be able to have more on screen than the 1440x900.

However, this isn't always a good thing. For screens lower than 17", 1440x900 is basically better than something larger because everything is so small otherwise.

An easy way to picture this is like this:

Imagine your AIM or MSN buddy list on a 1920x1200 and 1440x900. Basically if you duplicate them and place them side by side across the screen....more of them will fit in the 1920x1200 screen than the 1440x900 screen.

 

1920x1200 is almost 50% more pixels.

 

Thanks for the relplys thus far. The model we are looking at is the 1720. I saw the 1705 & 1505 side by side at the Dell kiosk. I wanted the 1720 for the full keyboard with number pad(studing accounting). It did not look much bigger that the 15 and I am not worried about walking across campuses, I will be just carrying it frm the parking lot to school two nights a week. I will be taking it on vacation with us and maybe the occassional DVD if that makes any difference.