E1505: Which screen / GPU?

So I'm planning on using this laptop for digital DJing, DVD watching, and VERY occasional gaming (Lord knows I barely have time for it anyway - I'm planning on playing old games and definitely that old game Vampire: Bloodlines).

So what kind of screen do you guys recommend? I've got ****ty eyes and hate eyestrain, so I tend to keep the desktop resolution pretty low.

Also, if I'm not gaming often, and I just want a minor boost to overall system performance, do I need the 256MB GPU or can I just roll with the 128MB one?

J

 

For your gaming needs, the 128MB GPU should be sufficient. It should also run Vista fine, in case you are thinking of upgrading.

 

I definitely am...

 

Will the 128MB GPU be able to manage anything modern? Or should I just steer clear of modern games with that GPU?

 

The best video card on the E1505 is the X1400 with 256MB Hypermemory, meaning, 128MB dedicated on card and 128MB shared.

It's on ok, lower middle level card. I can play BF1942 and GTR fine with it.

I have the WXSGA+ screen. The resolution is 1680x1050. I have the dpi set to 96 and the fonts for things are pretty small.

If your eyes are trashed, consider either the WXSGA+ and run it at 120dpi, or just get the middle screen resolution, I forget what it is right now. The 1280x800 is just not high enough res in my opinion. A lot of scrolling a lot of the time.

 

The 2nd part of your comment is correct.

 

Hmm, I don't mind scrolling as my eyes are destroyed.... Thanks for the info. Anyone else got any input?

 

OR try the wxga+ screen 1440*900

 

^^^

Yeah, that one is prolly a good choice.

I have the 1680x1050 and, the text is small at 96dpi.

Scrolling is not the way.

 

seriously, if you don't want eye strain, you should just go 1280x800

i have 75/75 in both eyes and i think that other res is too high

what you should really do is go into a retail store and check out how other resolution fits you, i personally find that other res makes text too small. if you make the text bigger, it ammounts to the same thing as scrolling down more anyway...

so i recommend you first check out the resolution on retail stores before making your decision as higher is not always better.

also, higher resolution will put more stain on the gpu,thus running games at native for the gpu means that you have to lower the detail levels more or go lower res, which may cause stretching or skewing.

 

What I'm really concerned about is this: When I watch DVDs, is my choice of screen going to affect the quality of the DVD?

J