Which screen to buy???? (Dell XPS1530)

Mornin' I am confused. Can someone tell me if it is worth it to get the LCD upgrade from Dell. I am going to order the XPS1530 and he available options are the high res glossy screen (1680 X 1050) or the...Full Hi Definition glossy screen (1920 X 1200). I do photography and do a ton of photos. Will the Hi-res be better? Can I lower the settings down to 1680 X 1050 if the 1920 X 1200 is to small on the screen. The LED was available but they pulled it back from the available options. All comments are appreciated!

 

i ordered 1680 X 1050 ,i thought that 1920 is too much!

 

Lowering the res will make EVERYTHING look fuzzy. You would not want that. I would say 1680x1050 is probably the smallest you would want to go on a 15.4" screen unless you have really really good eyes.

 

I agree, if you do a lot of work, thats the lowest for sure...

 

I have a 1680 x 1050 screen and I love it - for me that's just right, not too low and not too high.

It's a matter of personal preference, and you should decide for yourself. If you want to get an idea of the size of text etc. on different resolutions, go to a local shop and have a look at different 15.4-inch laptops and check what the screen resolutions are.

 

Do you know: Is your screen the SamSung or the LG? Has Dell/SamSung fixed the Grainy Screens in the SamSung 1680x1050?

I just ordered mine yesterday. With all the Grainy Screen issues I have read about for the 1680x1050 I am thinking of asking if the will build it with the 1440x900.

 

Jesper,
Oh, I see your signature. Looks like you got the LG. Did you just get Lucky, or is there some trick to getting the LG?

 

My screen is the LG. I didn't do anything special to get an LG screen.

Note that not all Dell laptops come from the same factory. Here in Europe they are currently made in Poland. Other people in a Dutch forum have been reporting that most of them got LG screens the last three weeks or so. It looks like at least here Dell is now using LG screens and not Samsung screens. It may be different in other parts of the world - I don't know.

Also note that not all Samsung screens seem to be bad / grainy.

 

Yea I have seen that too, but I sure do not want to have to put up with one that is .... returns ... and tec support if I do not have to. Sure would be nice if they just "got it right the first time".

 

I keep reading about it but I don't understand how the resolution can be too high? I must not understand properly.

I do know that lowering the res will look bad, so that should not be done.

If anything is too small though, why can't you just zoom in?

In every application I can think of, there is the option just to zoom in.

FIrefox can zoom in, word/excel etc, just zoom in, photoshop etc, zoom in, desktop, set the DPI higher, use large icons if needed etc.

In what applications is it not possible to just make everything bigger?

Those are the ones where it makes sense not to get to high res on a small screen, but I don't know what they would be?

Thanks,

Steve.

 

Most applications, especially if you're using Windows, are not written to be resolution-independent. You can change the font size in Windows so that the text isn't too small, but for example images and other parts of the user interface of many applications have a fixed size in pixels, and if you have a very high-res screen those parts may look very small.

 

I just opened internet explorer and see what you mean, there is no obvious way to enlarge everything.

I'm used to firefox and use mouse gestures so am always making text and pictures bigger and smaller, as there is such huge variation on the web anyway for font sizes.

Any other applications you can name where it would be an issue? I'm thinking of a WUXGA screen on an 8710p and can't think where it would be an issue for me.

I mainly use Office documents / piture editing, web and games where I can't see a drawback to high res, so I was wondering if any one can think of any.

 

"I just opened internet explorer and see what you mean, there is no obvious way to enlarge everything".


You're kidding right? If you look at the bottom right hand corner of this window is there not a drop down arrow with 100% written next to it. Click on it and you can zoom the whole screen in or out.

I'm assuming you're using IE7 of course.

 

I just looked at a friends 15.4 older wide screen. It only has a 1280x800 rez, and for me that was small. Would I really be punishing myself in the Rez department to request a 1280x800? I ordered it with the 1680x1050, but after seeing this one, I think the sharpest/smallest rez I could see would be the 1440x900

(without glasses )

 

If you do photography then you better get an external monitor if you haven't one yet. Any resolution higher than 1440x900(which seems to be the limit in my opinion) is definitely way to high on a 15,4 inch screen. That would be a waste of money.

 

Nope.

Nope again.

 

Could you explain why please? If it's because things will be too small, why can't you just zoom in? Apparently even IE7 can do it.

 

Do you really want to sit and zoom in and out everytime you open a window? And not every program will allow for that.

I think you need to look at real screens before you make a decision. 1280x800 is my limit and I even jack the DPI up a bit sometimes. Font height on a 1280x800 is about 2mm - I just measured. Now go down from there if your resolution gets higher. It is hard to determine what is right for you on a forum - you need to see it for yourself somewhere.

 

Yes, you can but I don't see the point of getting a screen with a higher resolution if you need to zoom in on your display to use it correctly.
That's the reason why there are differents screen sizes.

Having the highest resolution on the smallest screen is in vogue but it doesn't mean it's the best thing to do. If you want a larger space then you better go for a bigger screen not for a higher resolution.

Now just like the one above said, if you have the opportunity to see the screens in person, do it, try them if you can and make you choice.

 

Thanks guys, I think I get it.

I guess it's just personal preference. I've seen many different res screens and I do prefer the high res ones with tiny writing etc. because I like the look of pictures and things on those screens, they seem to give more detail, smoother lines etc, and I don't mind zooming in if writings too small. I do some full on photo shopping and so I guess I use the extra resolution. I just like having the option but I understand why most people don't.

 

In both Firefox and IE7 the zooming is a little buggy. I'm not sure how much you've tried it, but with IE7, when you zoom in several times, a lot of links don't seem to be "clickable" in the right spot anymore, especially the smaller ones. You have to click where it was to follow the link.

That's just one example, Firefox is a bit different because it only scales text, not the whole thing like IE. This means a lot of links don't fit where the designer meant them to. In general, zooming in web browsers today is not as flexible as you'd hope.

If you'd like to try, then just browse today zoomed in several times and see if web pages behave like you remember them. Especially on complicated websites like www.dell.com web browsers have a lot of trouble.

As for the rest of the programs, each application has an independent setting. My opinion is that you're going to spend a lot of time in settings menus adjusting things, and you still won't be able to get everything that you want.

But, there's a generous 21-day return period. If you don't like the high res screen, you can easily exchange it for another so go for it. You might love it - clearly people do or they wouldn't sell it .