Vostro 1700 screen: high or low resolution?

Hi everyone. I'm about to buy a Vostro 1700 with a 8600M graphics card. From the review on the forum it seems the card wont manage high resulution screens so I was wondering if you can recommend me, in your experience, what screen resolution is better: 1440x900 1920x1200? I would use the laptop for office work and just a couple of games: CSS, HL2 and Tomb Raider.

Also, what do you make of the 9-cell battery? Is it really too big? I've read somewhere that it sticks out quite a bit.

Cheers!

 

i chose the 1280x800 matte screen. I dont like the glossy screens. I know the 8600m gt cant perform well on high resolutions so i chose a lower one on purpose. (plus easier on the eyes). i also got the 6 cell battery ( cheaper and smaller).

You should check out how much the 9 cell sticks out. It might be embarrasing in front of friends/colleagues.

 

Yeah, thanks man. I'm also thinking of getting the low resolution screen.

LOL You got me totally wrong hahaha. Nice one!

Cheers

 

Too bad they don't have the "in between" resolution of wsxga+. That would be perfect. I think wxga+ is kinda low, and the wuxga is kinda high. But if I were to choose from those 2, I would go with the higher res. You can always turn down the resolution of a game if it can't be played at wuxga res. But you can't turn up the resolution past 1440*900 if games are playable at wxga+ res.

 

I think you should go with the wxga+. Yes that res is a bit lower but they generally look very nice on that size screen. Forget the wxga + on the 14" and 15".. they have issues. On the other hand, the wuxga does not get too many complaints on the 17" dell. Unlike the 14" and 15" dells, the 17" does much better on all the resolution options as far as user complaints. So pick the one you want.. If smaller print/fonts is ok for the additional real state then get the wuxga.. Otherwise go lower res. But they are generally good on the larger 17". Also I suggest getting the larger battery.. The 17 is already considered a desktop replacement and is rather bulky. At this point who cares about the weight? Your talking about a 17" dell. If bulkiness is something you are worried about you better think something different then a 17" notebook. The larger screen will eat the battery up so get the bigger battery. If you are also getting the blue tooth you really want more battery life.. BT takes allot of power I am finding out. Think 1 hour less battery life with BT.. its that bad. If you are really concerned about the battery sticking out you might want to get both batteries.. That way you have the extra power when you need it. It cost more to buy it separately later on.

Then again, most people usually plug in their 17" notebooks because lets face it.. they are not that portable and probably wont' be used in places like planes/cars that don't have access to power outlets. If you are planning on always plugging it in, then the larger battery is a waste of money.

 

I have also ordered a Vostro 1700 and now I am worried judging by what u guys posted here the last post kinda comforts me but I would like I definitive answer on this.

I ordered the laptop with the

256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600M GT

and

17.0 in Wide Screen WUXGA LCD Display with TrueLife™

Will my graphic card be able to handle running Vista ultimate and next gen games smoothly?

 

1440 x 900 is enough.
Things are too tiny at an even higher resolution, and for gaming, Personally, I don't really care as much for the resolution, I've played halo on the lowest resolution, Ithink it was 600x800, and I thought it was fine

 

The question i was asking was can the card handle it every body has there own pref with regards to this but i just need to know whether it can handle the the task.

I probably wont run games higher than 1024*768 anyway but if i wanted too can the card handle it i checked Nvidia's site any they said that it will handle up to 2048x1536 res so any body who has actual experience with this card please let me know.