XPS m1210 owners: Screen Question

For those of you own a m1210 and previously had a larger laptop (i.e. 15 inch or 15.4 inch wide screen) - do you find the 12.1 wide screen of the m1210 to be too small?

My main concern is programs like Firefox, MS Visual Studio 2005, and Word that have a lot of toolbars that may make the usable area of the program small.

I know it may take some getting used, I'm just worried I'm going to regret getting a laptop with only a 12.1 inch screen.

Thanks for you opinion,
Rich

 

I had an e1505 1680x1050 before my m1210, it'll take some getting used to, much less real estate so much less on the screen, you'll just have to adjust the way you work a little, I have 3 20"ws lcds on my desktop, so getting the e1505 was an adjustment for me. I love my m1210 though, the power and portability cant be beat, you just cant get ultra high res on a 12" display, unless you wanna carry an electron microscope around with you.

note, standard 15.4 inch wxga screens have the same resolution as the m1210, so the amount of content displayed on the screen would be exactly the same as the m1210's 12.1, 15.4 wsxga+ on the other hand will display much more, 1680x1050, and further up is wuxga 1920x1200, wich is kinda nuts for a 15.4" screen, though quite nice for a 17

 

I previously owned 15" sized laptops, before the M1210, I had:
Toshiba Tecra S2, 15" SXGA+ (1400x1050)
Dell Inspiron 8200, 15" UXGA (1600x1200)
Dell Latitude C800, 15" SXGA+ (1400x1050)

Like you, I was initially concerned with the move down to a 12.1" screen, and it will get some time to get used to, which for me, was all of 1 day.

I think the widescreen aspect helped a lot, as from my perception, I don't feel as if I lost too much desktop real-estate space (since you have a wider field of view compared with standard 4:3 aspect). And, 1280x800 on a 12.1" LCD is a perfect match, and the dpi looks the same as the previous laptops I have, or the equivalent of the WSXGA+ (1680x1050) on a 15.4" LCD screen.

As the previous poster have said, most "mainstream" notebooks these days ship with the same WXGA resolution, from 12.1", to 13.3", 14.1" and 15.4" LCDs. Since the resolution is the same, you won't find any gains in productivity (desktop real-estate) even if you move up to a 15.4" screen size (unless of course you opt for the WSXGA+ or WUXGA resolutions).

In my opinion, WXGA on anything 14.1" or larger is just way too big and a waste. Most people sit about 1' to 1.5' in front of their laptop LCD screen, and with the very poor eyesight that I have (-6.0/-6.5), even I can read the text without my glasses on a 1280x800 15.4" screen.

 

hehe. My M1210 is supposed to come today (you know couriers though). I have the same pixel width on my 19" CRT (1280x1024) for my desktop. Now I'm getting the same on a 12". It's going to be weird going back and forth between the two..

 

Have you decided on the m1210 yet? Please keep us updated on what you think about the screen should you choose this model.

 

Basically the difference between a 12.1 wxga and 15.4 wxga would be like comparing a hard cover novel to a paperback version of the same book, its the same content, same #of pages, and the same amount of words per page, just bigger in size.

 

I went from a 1280x1024 19 inch LCD on my desktop to the 12 inch display on my M1210. It's fine. I don't feel cramped because with the widescreen you're really only losing vertical resolution.

 

But does everything seem strangely big when you go back to the desktop?

 

I will being from a widescreen 15.4 at 1680x1050 also. I know this sounds strange, but the other laptop I'm considering is the e1705 at 1920x1200. I never carried around a 17 inch laptop, but I figure 3 more pounds over my current 15.4 inch can't be too bad.

That rationale may sound crazy, but I've narrowed it down to either the m1210 or the e1705 - so the issue I'm decided between is screen real estate versus size and weight.

 

The 1705 is too big for an on the go computer in my opinion, I dont regret getting the m1210 at all, its fantastic, I cant have as many windows on the screen as I had before, but I can deal with that for the portability factor. The 1705 is a desktop that easier to carry, if your going to be using it in one place most of the time, and occasionally taking it elsewhere, go for it, but if you plan on taking it around withyou several times a week and using it at various locations, I strongly advise against it,

the wheight of the 1705 isnt that big a deal, its the sheer bulk of the unit, its big, really big

 

i'm also considering the m1210 and i currently have an HP dv4000 (15.4"). i don't understand the whole resolution thing though.... Wouldn't everything appear alot smaller at that resolution (1280x800) if its being crammed into a smaller space???

also (a bit off topic but) that 256 mb 7400 turbacache card would work better than my current 128mb ati x700 right?

 

You are correct, it will appear smaller as the resolution is being crammed into a tigher space. However, you also use your laptop a lot closer than say, a desktop computer (usually around 1'-1.5' is the distance between your eyes and the screen for a laptop, and around 2.5'-3' for a desktop computer's screen), therefore there is a point where text will appear as too large on a laptop (but this is down to personal preference again mainly).

As for the video cards, the GeForce Go 7400 is a 4 pipeline DirectX 9.0c card clocked at 450MHz (the default clockspeed which the M1210 used), while the desktop Radeon X700 is a 8 pipeline DirectX 9.0b card clocked at 400MHz (for the standard edition). So the X700 will be the faster card with faster fillrate and more memory bandwidth. The equivalent laptop/mobile card that you should compare the desktop X700 to will be the GeForce Go 6600/7600/7700 or the Mobility Radeon X700/X1600/X1700.

The Go 7400 will be more like the performance of the Radeon 9600 Pro/X600 (which are also 4 pipeline cards), or the current GeForce 7300GS / Radeon X1300 Pro on the desktop.

If you are looking for 3D graphics power, you shouldn't be looking at any 12.1"-13.3" form factor models as the confined space means it just isn't pratical or feasible to put anything with more power. You'll have to look at 14.1" and higher (i.e. mainstream sizes) to find any 8+ pipeline graphics chips.

 

oOoOo... its making sense now. Thanks. Hmm, i didn't think my mobility 700x was better than the 7400 go... and all these people talkin' about running FEAR, WoW, Guild Wars and such like its somethin hot... shoot... hmm... but its still a good deal for the m1210.

i mean until i ran into the m1210 i was considering purchasing the hp dv2000t which has the weaker 128mb nvidia 7200... and that customized at hp.com would cost around the same as a "recently purchased, new" m1210 at the dell outlet. So its definitely still a choice for me (I'm looking for a more mobile laptop than my 15.4").

 

While the Go 7400 isn't that powerful compared with the current crop of middle/mainstream offerings, it does manage to hold its own with most games. Remember, since the maximum resolution on the M1210 is only 1280x800, the Go 7400 is actually a nice match for it.

I play CounterStrike: Source and Guild Wars quite frequently on mine, and I can tell you that both at their default quality settings (which is actually high on say textures and most options) and at 1280x800, its definately smooth. The built in counter in CS: S averages 40-55fps even in a busy 32 player map. Same with Guild Wars.

But, if you plan to play the absolutely latest games such as FEAR or Oblivion, then you'll have to turn the eye candy down or move to a lower resolution (e.g. 640x480) to get smooth gameplay.

Or, as I mentioned before, a 14.1" or larger laptop with a much more powerful graphics card (such as the ASUS A8Js).

 

ooo that asus sure is nice... but way out of my price range. I think the m1210 is still top choice for me now; i'm not really the type that demands my graphics settings set at high or anything. I'll mull it over for some time... go to the store and check out how small a 12" screen is and stuff. thanks for the help.