E1505 owners!! wxga or wsxga, which is better?

Hey! I was wondering which resolution will look better on the e1505 truelife screen, and which would have the least screen sparkle, if that makes a difference. Also, I'm using a 1024x768 resolution on a 14" right now, would switching to wsxga make everything look way too small than what i'm used to? I am deciding between this and the acer 5672, and I LOVE the screen on that one. Could you tell me how the e1505 screen compares? Thank you!

 

I would get the WSXGA because it is brighter, looks better, higher resolution, you can always adjust fonts and DPI to adjust to be bigger.

 

There isn't even a question that...
WSXGA PWNs WXGA!!
Go WSXGA!!
-TBird

 

It is absolutely incredible that Dell has succumbed to marketing pressure and offers only the reflective screen as their highest resolution screen. What happened to their high resolution mat screen? Anyone that has seen the new Mac Pro will understand what I am talking about. Great screen with high resolution -non-reflective!

Is there any current WSXGA Dell screen offered that comes in the mat?

 

Are you recommending it for movies and gaming or all?
Because I believe wsxga+ is extremely small for reading and writing stuff.
I am currently using a 19" crt @1400x1050, and even for a 19", I sometimes
feel that the fonts are too small for my liking. At a mere 15.4", a resolution of
1680x1050 means incredibly small fonts.

 

i run 1920x1200 on my 15.4 and it's perfect. when i hop on another notebook running at anything less, i feel like i'm using a toy computer or something... all the icons are huge and things aren't anywhere near as crisp and perfect as a wuxga screen.

 

WSXGA+ is pefect to me. The text isn't to small. Yet I can see alot. I've grown accustomed to the widescreen/highrez combo when I'm working on my online class for the quarter. I can have 2 IE/Firefox/opera (whatever you want you use) and a word document all viewable at the same time. It would be all the better on a glossy screen E1505 which means the picture will be better. The downside to glossy is ofcourse the reflextion.

 

I don't own one of these but I like sxga but like my fonts nice and large and everything at least a decent size I can't stand small but don't like huge either.

I'm at 1400x1050 on my 15inch sxga I like it there.

 

WSXGA+ for me. Seems like the right size for a notebook of its size.

 

So I just received an E1505 with the WSXGA screen, and I would definitely recommend the WXGA instead. The problem isn't the fonts, it's the icons. The default size of the tiny icons is 32 pixels, and in order to scale to this screen they make them 48 pixels, which stretch them by 50%. As we all know, graphics don't stretch well, especially ones that small, so all your notification bar icons, quick launch bar icons, etc. look very bad. I looked at some WXGA screens at Circuit City and CompUSA and would say that this is the right number of pixels for a 15.4" widescreen.

 

Im not sure what screen your stretching to? by default they should show up at their native resolution... did you change the resolution to WXGA or something?

Honestly everyones idea of the right resolution is going to depend on what they do... For example, I used to swear by 1024x768 and would use mult-monitors for software development... couldnt understand my friends love of 1680x1050 screens. Fast forward a couple years...

My work pattens have changed... I do more 3d modeling, and am out of the office more often... so cant use multi-monitors most the time. I just got an e1505 with the 1680x1050 screen and Im in love... its fantastic and fits what I need very well... in fact Dells flexibility to offer hires screens on sub $2000 notebooks is what attracted me to the e1505.

At the same time, my friends needs have changed and he needed a thin and light and better video than dell offered so he went with a 1280x800 Asus with x1600 video... he will put up with the lower resolution in exchange for portability.

So, imo there is no right answer... its all about what your needs are and what your comfortable with.

 

I am using the native resolution -- The Dell default settings for Windows XP on this monitor stretches the 16x16 icons in your taskbar, for example, to make them bigger. In the process, the icons look jagged.

This sort of thing happens all over the place using the 120dpi fonts and stretched icons. For example:

• In one program I tried to uninstall the text didn't fit in the dialog box because whoever wrote the program assumed the fonts are 96dpi.
• In Internet Explorer, graphics in web pages are stretched to make them more visible, but in the process they get jagged with aliasing problems.

That is why I would suggest the WXGA screen instead -- you fit into the "norm" of Windows XP so your fonts and icons will be the right size, dialog boxes will look correct, and pictures from the web will be the right size. My opinion is if you try to do the "norm" with a WSXGA screen, the text and icons are way too small.

 

Although I havent experienced the web image distortion you mention, I agree completely about the 120dpi fonts breaking alot of things in one way or another. Thats why I was hard core XGA at one time... but my needs have changed... the extra resolution is essential for the tasks I do most.

As soon as I noticed font errors (in the ATI Catalyst control center) I reduce the font size back to the standard 96dpi and all was better. Its a bit smaller than im used to... but something im more than willing to live with for the extra screen realestate.

Theres also a catalyst setting that might help... it defaults to stretching the screen to fit which can distort things... you can set it to resize but keep aspect ratio... then if your in a graphics mode that isnt the same size as the screen it will not stretch it out of aspect... so everything still looks the right proportions. If you do that you can even reduce the resolution down to 1280x800 and all will should correct on the hires screen.

 

Yes, the taskbar icons look a little jagged with the SXGA+ screen but in my opinion this is a very minor annoyance far outweighed by the extra screen real estate. I do wish there was a way to turn the taskbar re-scaling off--I would prefer small, crisp icons rather than larger, jagged ones. Hopefully MS will get it right with Vista. However, I wouldn't let that small cosmetic issue steer you away from 1680 x 1050...

 

I noticed the same graphics issue in IE when I originally fiddled with an E1705 (and an E1505).

You just have to turn off IE Scaling in one of the little dell utilities in your system tray.

I have no idea why the feature is on by default, because it does make things worse, not better. I imagine Dell gets lots of calls because of this.

-DJS

 

I like WSXGA for the E1505 best, I simply feel that WSXGA feels more at home on a 15.4 inch screen than any other resolution, just my opinion.

 

could you point me the right direction for disabling IE scaling? I cant find it anywhere. Thx

 

I decided to get the wsxga because I recalled using an sxga screen on an old gateway notebook, and I thought even on that computer the screen was beautful and sharp. Also, I figured (correct me if I'm wrong), that I could always change the setting to wxga if i wanted. I know that computers always look best in their native resolution, but I got the x1400 card, so would having a better video card help make the downgrade to wxga look a little better? I'm getting worried that I won't find enough wallpapers, or even enough high-res images to create my own! Thanks so much for all your replies!!

 

im on a 1680x1050 i6000 right now, which has the matte screen which at first i was upset about, but now i like. anyway, definately go with the 1680x1050. btw, did dell get rid of the 1920x ???? on the e1505?

 

See the 6000 had the high resolution matte screen just like this 600m that I am on now. Again Dell sucummbed to Sony mania with the reflective screen. I'll let everyone know how I like my new e1505 - yes with the only offered high resolution reflective screen!

 

I originally had the e1505 with the matte screen. I discovered a better deal on the current offerings of the e1505 so I returned the original and ordered the unit with more memory, bigger HD and true life mid resolution screen. Whoah! Not even a comparison. The true life screen is incredible. Hype or not, it's worth the extra $$$. I dont do anything all that special with it. Watch the occasional movie, listen to a lot of songs, all office apps and a couple of work applications. Oh, and will also use PS for digital image editing.

I had a buddy over last night & they were talking about getting a notebook. Grabbed mine, threw it in his lap and fired it up. He couldnt stop talking about the screen. It really is that nice.

As a comparison, I do have a 20" Mac flat panel display for my desktop mac.

 

Guys, my screen seems to be "jaggy" and not clear. I tried to lower the res, however it still isn't perfect. I have the wsxga screen and I'm not sure what to do. TIA.

 

I figured out why I was seeing jagged icons. I had turned up the font size from 96dpi to 106dpi (110%) not realizing it was scaling up the icons in the taskbar and the menus as well. I turned it back to 96dpi and the jaggies are gone...

 

P51geru-- now if you take your 1505 and plug it into your Apple monitor - guess what, you don't have DVI out.!!! So you will have to connect via your VGA. I've got a 1505 on order and want to plug it into my future 24 inch Dell monitor. No DVI out! Would you please plug your 1505 into your monitor via the VGA and tell me how it looks?

Thanks.

 

Get the highest resolution possible.
If you can I would highly recommend avoiding a glossy screen it.

 

Explain why no glossy!

 

Glossy screens are a matter of taste... Theres positives and negatives to both...

Glossy Screen
Higher Contrast, leads to darker blacks and deeper colors, but is also prone to reflections and shows dirt/dust/smudges more easily.

Matte Screens
Shows dirt/dust/smudges less, much less reflective so more useful in some lighting environments.

Id say that the glossy screens are more like a traditional CRT, better color, but you also will see reflections in them, etc. Some like it some dont. I swore by matte screens in the past, my new e1505 sxvga+ is my first glossy notebook... and I have to say that I like it alot... it does look better, and ill live with the reflective nature of the screen.

 

I tried this out (set the WSXGA screen to WXGA resolution) and the result is a blurry mess that hurts your eyes, even on the X1400. You're better off leaving it at the native resolution and dealing with the jagged icons and sharp text.

 

Yep, resizing the display usually yields differing degrees of blur... because the screen is resized/stretched to fill the available area. You can clear it up some by doing one of the following.

- Set the driver to resize the screen to fit, but maintain aspect ratio... this will be a little blury but will be clearer as the stretching wont make the screen wider than it should be.

- Set the driver NOT to resize the screen to fit. This results in a crystal clear smaller screen image in the center of your physical screen... with a black border around the outside.

Also if you reduce the resolution of the display... make sure to set the font size back to the standard 96dpi instead of the 120dpi it defaults to with the SXGA+ screen. Nothing worse than resizing oversized text back down when you dont need to.

 

What I did notice when I had my e1505 arrived was how the default windows install would pixellize every image/icon. Through my experience, I've never seen this happened. Maybe it's a laptop screen issue. This problem was quickly solved by a reinstall of windows.

As far as icons goes, you can choose the options for "Large Icons". I know how small icons can be hard to click with the touchpad. But overally I would still recommend a WSXGA for higher resolution. I am bias for the amount of desktop space I prefer to have. Honestly though, you don't have to run the screen on max resolution, you can lower it down and works just fine on the WSXGA if smallness is the issue.

Neb

 

That was likely due to the font size... The default from the factory has fonts set to 120dpi instead of 96dpi... as a result the taskbar and IE try to resize graphics so they all look right... the problem is that it ends up pixelating alot of things. Setting the font back to 96dpi corrects the problem.

 

ya actually that's what I tried then, but it didn't fix it from what I remembered. It didn't bother me then because I was planning to reinstall anyways. Maybe it just a oddity for me but it was definitely unacceptable if it was a permanent problem. I wish I had screenshots of the problem, I hope it was just my problem because I feel bad for those who might think that's how it *should* look like or think it has to do with being WSXGA display.

Neb

 

My e1505 with WSXGA arrived today. I was concerned that text and icons would be too small, but now that I have it I realize my concerns were unfounded. There is NO way I'd want less resolution than my WSXGA has. The screen is beautiful, with great resolution, contrast, and viewing angle. I haven't noticed a glare issue at all, but I imagine it could be noticable if you have bright light behind you.

 

Come to think of it... I tried switching back to 96dpi too... but soon after I s****ped the Catalyst drivers completely and went with the Omega Drivers and after that I had no problems... not sure which one fixed it for me. I like the Omega Drivers though. Nothing like a free +100 on 3dmark 2005 without overclocking.

 

ya I think it might be a video driver issue, that probably makes more sense.

 

How can I change the font size for the icons?

 

Display Properties/Appearance/Effects/check Use large icons

Neb

 

Well that makes the two of us Neb. I noticed the same thing since I got mine. Luckily, I was able to get the Windows XP and Dell utilities cd free (should be here tomorrow). I'm going to dry to do a clean install and run the omega drivers to see if that helps.

Also, you guys with the "shimmer" problem. Do you think that I should send it back, or will this "shimmer" appear with the new one I get as well. I guess I'm asking if it's actually worth the time to ship back to Dell.

 

You don't have to "stretch" the icons, you have to select "..Windows (large)" in the display properties where you choose the Scheme. It does not stretch anything, it has the "right size" icons so they would look better.

 

I actually just got mine with the wsxga screen and I don't see any problem with the icons. The text isn't hard to read at all. The screen is BEAUTIFUL, I really do think that wsxga is the perfect size for this laptop. I compared it to my 14" 1024x768 dell 5150 and the 5150 looked like a fisher price toy next to it. The speakers also....AMAZING!! I still have to streamline it somewhat and get rid of some of the extraneous junk though, I totally forgot what I did for my 5150.

But yeah, the verdict is that wsxga is awesome =).

 

So I did a reformat and installed a fresh copy of Win XP. It def. runs alot faster and the screen seems to be better.

Also, I installed the Omega Drivers for e1505 and when I try to change the resolution for the display settings, the setting had something like "monitor 4" or something when previously it had "ATi x1400." So I'm not sure if this is something I did wrong or if this is normal since this isn't the "normal" driver for the e1505.

 

Well folks. I've been saying that I would not like the shiny screen of the WSXGA. I got my e1505 and the type is small. The shiny screen is not too much a factor. But this darn type is so small. Anyway to get the type larger on these internet sites? I've got the windows icons larger and type is set to very large. But it doesn't effect anything on this browser. Boy though the photographs look nice!!!!

 

in firefox and explorer you can increase the font size. for firefox its ctrl ++ and cntrl +- to change the size, or view>text size on the top

 

Guys, anyone know how to get the native setting for the WSXGA? I recently installed the omega ATi drivers and the maximum resolution it gives is 1490x????.

 

wsxga should be 1680x1050

 

How do you increase the font size in Internet Explorer? the control + doesn't work in explorer.

 

ctrl + mousescroll

 

Well that did not work. First it takes alot of dexterty and when you do these acrobatics with ctrl+mousescroll ----nothing!

 

view>text size

 

>largest...est