What is YOUR 1520 Screen Resolution?

So you just ordered a brand new Inspiron 1520 that you can't wait to get your little (or maybe not so little) hands on. What was the screen resolution on it (and if you have a little time share your mind about why you picked that resolution)!

 

I just got the basic 1280x800 matte screen.

 

I picked 1680x1050 because it is the most screen real estate for 15.4" and is approximately the same DPI as my M1210 at 1280x800. I also like the ability of pushing the graphics card to a higher resolution while gaming--we won't know for sure what the 8600M can do until the drivers get better.

 

I personally picked the 1440x900 because it's a good balance without having to see something too small as with the WSXGA+ and not something with too low of a resolution either as with WXGA. Also, if you game, it is best to run them at the native resolution of the LCD so you don't have some kind of blurry effect, and an 8600GT can't take a 1680x1050 resolution with settings all on max on newer games without lagging and 1280x800 is probably fine for gaming but I just personally prefer 1440x900 for more detail.

 

Yeh i chose 1440x900, just for that fact that it's not too small and not too big. its just right IMO!

 

I agree qwerty...

 

If I ordered an Inspiron 1520, I would get nothing less than WSXGA+. I love it on my current laptop.

 

WXGA because I play games and never over 1024x768. I've also never used a computer with a resolution greater than 1280x800 and wanted more. Only reason would be if I got the $700 blue ray, which I didn't. Anything higher won't be supported by many games or just won't run. (the 8600GT is only at the upper end of GPU's anyway.) WXGA is the closest native resolution so it won't blur at 1024.
As for why not glossy, glare just drives me nuts.

 

The WXGA+ is great because it's a happy medium and fits the screen better than the WSXGA+.

 

WXGA+ 1440x900 as it is just 'right' also alot brighter

 

I'm having so much trouble as to which resolution I should pick. I have one person at another forum telling me to get 1280*800, while on here, there are people vouching for 1440*900 and even 1680*1050. I looked at a windows xp desktop on a 1680*1050 15.4 inch screen. It was very small. So I think it's either 1280*800 or 1440*900, but not 1680*1050. Does anyone have any more opinions on this matter?

 

Yeah, look at a 14.1" WXGA screen. You can find one in a store. If you like having everything that size, the 15.4" WXGA+ will make things about the same size. Just slightly smaller, but not much, and you'll have more desktop space. You can look at the DPI chart here.

 

i decided to get the WSXGA+ because i need more screen space for my drawings and designs. But when i wanna game i can always just plug in my 1024x768 monitor from 1863. And if i wanna game on the go (bad idea, Practically head shots the battery) i can always scale it.

 

I chose the WSXGA+ screen since I like doing graphics work and all the screen real estate I can get is welcomed. If the graphics card can't run the games I want at that resolution then I will just hook up a CRT.

 

It all depends on your needs. I picked up the WSXGA+ because I'm normally doing work in one main window and I like having a chat window and a video playing on the right side of the screen. Thats about 70% of my time.

If I got this laptop strictly for gaming I would go 1280*800. On the other hand I have a Dell 20" lcd @ 1680 * 1050 and when I play games at 1024 * 768 it looks fabulous. So for me, this works well. You gotta find your happy medium. Find out what you will be doing most of the time and work with that.

 

Yeah I guess it depends on your needs...if you're not going to game and only do graphical design and you absolutely need every pixel to count, I guess WSXGA+ is okay....but otherwise it's just too small IMO

 

I don't know why everyone keeps talking as if it's such a massive drawback to view games in non-native resolutions. I've played 1152x864 on a 16x12 before and I hardly ever noticed it. =\

Maybe it's just me?

Also, doesn't it add a lot to your ship date? I have to have my unit before July 31; I ordered today and got a ship date of 25th. I've heard people with the WXGA+ having orders pushed back into august. True?

 

Yeah the ship date is pretty late with WXGA+ (late July though not August...at least not yet...) but that just comes to show the popularity of the WXGA+ being a good fit for the 15.4 screen.

 

IRO I know what you mean, I do the same thing and for 3-4 hours a week I play, I don't notice anything. Then I have friends who wouldn't dare play games in non native resolutions, but they log 20-30 hours of gaming per week.

Resolution wise, everyone has different eyesight preferences I guess. My brother has a 15.4" and 1280*800 is still too small for him. But 1680*1050 on 15.4" for me is just so sweet.

 

I went with the 1440x900. btw what does dpi mean? i bought a bluetooth mouse and it says it switches between 800 dpi and 1600 dpi.

 

DPI is just another term for resolution...it stands for (D)ots (P)er (I)nch....it makes more sense to use DPI for a mouse than resolution because it means that the mouse is sensitive and can track a certain number of movements per unit length. So, the higher the DIP, the more sensitive the mouse is (which is why a gaming mouse usually advertises its relatively high DPI) whereas a resolution would make no sense for a mouse since there is no area over which it is defined (unlike for monitors).

 

Our opinions don't matter. Would you buy shoes according to what we vote fit's OUR feet? They're your eyes lol.

But seriously, if you use that 1680x1050 as a base for comparison, just know that's about 15% more dense (that much smaller objects) than 1440x900, which is in turn about 15% smaller than 1280x800 on same size screen.

If you haven't had high resolution in the past, wxga might not be a burn for you. For me, even wxga+ is constraining, and for people who have wUxga, even 1680x1050 is not enough. That part's all relative- what's not is your eyesight. Certain objects will not scale cleanly if that wsxga+ looked kind of small for you in the store. That won't change, but you'll adapt some.

Unless you have really bad eyes, 1440x900 shouldn't be too small, especially if wsxga+ was just kind of on the border of too small. No WAY would I ever get wxga on a 15.4... ultimately though, it's a personal decision.

LEt us know what you go with and how it works for you.

 

On displays it's effectively the same thing as PPI, pixels per inch. While the same resolution among different size displays is the same #Pixel X #Pixel, the smaller the display at any given resolution, the higher the DPI/PPI.

Ranked from lowest to highest DPI:
size res ppi
15" xga 85
14.1 xga 91
15.4 wxga 98
12.1 xga 106
14.1 wxga 107
13.3 wxga 113
15 sxga+ 117
14.1 wxga+ 120
14.1 sxga+ 124
12.1 wxga 125
15.4 wsxga+ 129
15.4 wuxga 147
12.1 sxga+ 164
15.4 qxga 171


I know my upper and lower limits of what I can tolerate, and won't really consider combinations above and below those bounds. Makes it easy.

 

Ok, I really don't know much about this, but are all the Inspiron's widescreen? I just saw my friend's new Macbook pro or whatever... looks pretty sweet. I guess I haven't been to a computer store in a while because I'm so used to seeing traditional sized screens.

 

DPI is actually a very effective way to determine what screen size will work for you if you are changing monitor sizes. My M1210 has a 12.1" 1280x800 screen which has a DPI that is very close to that of a 15.4" 1680x800 screen. Therefore, I should be quite comfortable with a WSXGA+ 15.4".

DPI is also not the same as resolution, since you can have the same resolution on two different screen sizes (for example, 1280x800 on a 12.1" screen and a 15.4" screen), but the DPI will be vastly different.

 

I think I'll get the 1440*900. It's between 1280*800 and 1680*1050. I've seen plenty of 1280*800's at the stores, and I could go a little smaller for more real estate.

 

I'm getting 1280x800 - the minimum. It's plenty of pixels for what I do, and the DPI is closest to what I have now. Right now I'm at 80 DPI on a 1024x768 16-inch CRT, and it looks great to me. The 1280x800 will be 98 DPI, 22.5% more, and I figure that's enough of a switch at one time. And it costs less, so that's an added bonus.

Yes, all the Inspirons are widescreen. There aren't very many standard displays left - ThinkPads have them and Fujitsu has at least one model, as does HP Business. I'm not used to them either, never having had one. But what really caught me off guard at the store was the desktop monitors - they're all LCD now and I totally missed them expecting to see CRTs.

 

Yes, honestly I didn't really care about screen size because I planned to use this notebook as a desktop replacement and hook up my new 19 inch LCD monitor to it. I don't plan on taking it around with me too much, the main reason I got this was so I could use my laptop in my bedroom or living room.

My friend tried to convince me to not get the glossy screen because of the reflection or whatever, but I don't think it will bother me, even though I don't hve a preference for either.

 

will the VGA out work well with an LCD monitor?

 

Well I went back and forth on screen resolution, but decided to go with the 1440 based on what a lot of people said here. I want to use my screen to watch dvds, search the web, use office software for work and maybe a little photo editing. I looked at 1440 resolutions on 15.4" screens and it seems crisp enough. But the main reason I went for the 1440 was because it is not only brighter, but the contrast is higher. Assuming same brightness and contrast I would have went with the 1680. Does anyone know if my image qualtiy when stream to my TV will be significantly worse with the 1440 since have to downsize resolution when transfer anyway. Hope made right decision, guess could always call and go back to 1680 since such long wait time for the 1440. Thanks for previous posts.

 

I got the 1280 x 800 because my current notebook has the same resolution.

Id rather be able to run things faster at the lower resolution. Also I am not to picky when it comes to resolution.

 

i got wsxga+ but i think im going to downgrade to the wxga because i dont think i want such a high resolution because the small text is going to drive me nuts. plus their is no longer a wait for the wxga screens.

 

you guys think itll be a big deal if u get a wsga+ screen but u drop the resolution to say wxga resolution for word processing and gaming?

 

For word processing that res should be okay if you drop it down...but games tend to look bad when they're not running at native resolution...

 

I got the 1440x900. It's just right.

 

so i just purchased an inspiron 1520 with the 1680x1050. and my main purpose for this laptop is for gaming. do u guys think i could modify the resolution or im fine with it. i know i could switch it and all but isnt that a waste? so im not too sure. what is the pros and cons? because modifying the order is such a hassle and it might delays my order too. thanks

 

Just chatted with a customer service, and he said *all* lcd screens were delayed

 

so how long is this delay?

 

Check out this page to find your perfect resolution...
http://www.powernotebooks.com/articles/index.php?action=fullnews&id=21

Find your current resolution that you feel comfortable with, compare it to the new one on the chart.

 

thanks cyber ghost, i think that helped me, or maybe just confused me more. my screen is 4:3 1200x800 17" so i ordered a 15.4" wxga 1200x800 for my lappy. am i correct that everything on the lappy screen will appear a little smaller then my desktop screen?

 

yep. it'll fit more pixels in less space.

 

I think everything will appear about the same.

1200x800 is quite an odd res, never seen one before tbh.

 

I find it interesting that his 17" monitor is 4:3 with a resolution of 1200x800 and now all of the widescreen 16:9 or 16:10 laptops have resolutions of 1200x800.

 

sorry my 4:3 lcd is 1200x1080

 

oh, haha, that makes more sense =).

 

Your resolution should be whatever you need it to be. IMO 1440x900 would look great and 1280 x 800 would also be great for gaming. I *could* tolerate 1440x900 but I need as much space as possible and the small text people claim really isn't small to me so I went with 1650x1080. For gaming, I would go 1440x900 or less.

Granted I will be playing games but I will spend a greater amount of time doing things other than gaming so I didn't want to sacrifice the extra real estate.

So I'm kinda confused when people say what is the best resolution - The best is what you need. The sweet spot is what makes YOU happy.

 

its hard for me to choose because i have nothing to compare it too. other then the LCD screen i have now.

i just saw a pic of the 1420 with the wxga+ and it looked like it wasnt to small or anything. so im going to go upgrade to that i guess. worst comes to worst i change the screen down to wxga and its not in its native resolution.

 

Same went for me, i went to stores but all they had was the 1280x800, i thought it was a little small, so im hoping the 1440x900 is just right.

 

everything will be smaller on the 1440...

 

eek, i meant i thought it was too big.