Anyone playing games and watching dvds on a 1440 x 900 screen?

I'm trying to decide whether I want to go with a 1440 x 900 screen (wxga+ on a Dell m4400 notebook). Knowing that this notebook will only have a mid powered quadro m770 gpu (9600gt), I'm trying to pick the best screen that will allow me to play my simulation games at native resolution, as well as allow me to watch dvd movies with a good clear/sharp screen.

Should I go with the 1440 x 900 screen as the best compromise for gaming and watching dvds, or should I go with the higher 1900 x 1200 resolution screen? (These are my only two screen choices, with nothing inbetween.)

Will the 1440 x 900 screen be less clear or sharp when it comes to watching dvd movies (as compared to the higher resolution screen)?

My dilema is that I know that I can always lower the resolution to play games on a non-native screen resolution (with a slight loss of clrearity). On the other hand, there is no way to get a sharper picture if you are stuck using a lower native resolution screen. Is the 1440 x 900 screen the best compromise?


Any advice or input would be greatly appreciated!

Best regards.

 

Higher resolution is always better although the higher the resolution the more powerful the graphics card will need to be to provide the same level of performance compared to if a lower resolution was used.

Of course, make sure you are comfortable viewing a high resolution screen (text too small, bad eyesight, etc.), I suggest you visit a store and take a look at different screen resolutions and make sure you are comfortable with the resolution that you will be buying, if anything, base your decision on your level of comfort viewing a screen of a certain resolution.

 

I have 1440*900 and i find it fantastic!! You are not going to benefit with 1920*1200 in games as you don't have the *oomph* to run them, and unless you are going to be watching blu-ray, the higher res will look stretched and even more pixelated. Personally I would buy the lower res + it will cost you less.

Good Luck

Fattail95

 

go for this one: 1900 x 1200

you wont notice this most of the times anyways.

 

I have the 1400*900 with an 9600M GS, RTS games and Source engine games are the only ones I run at Native Resolution... Movies Look great....

If you can afford it, go with the 1900*1200, it will look sharper for movies, but I doubt you will be playing any new games at that high a resolution. But it does not matter, just find the correct aspect ratio and scale back while gaming.

hope this helps

 

Standard dvd's only display in 640 x 480 so it'll be pratically the same on either resolution since the screen will be the same size. Blu ray will obviously be better on the full HD screen but i find it's ok at 1440 x 900 too. For new games you should go for the 1440 x 900 screen.

 

You cannot say that higher is always better, because there are usually other factors to consider aside from resolution.

-Brightness
-Contrast
-Sharpness

etc

A 1920x is NOT always sharper than a 1440x. That might seem strange to say, but for example, the gaps between pixels may be larger (in relation to the pixel size) on the 1920x. This is not something you could see with the eye (except up close) but you can perceive it as being less sharp.

I'm not saying it WILL be this case, just illustrating that you have to look at the screen quality from many points of view. There is no point in saying higher=better without knowing about the quality of the panels in question.

On my current laptop, I believe the 1440x was the better choice compared to the higher resolutions. It was the better quality screen, brighter (very important on glossy screens) and well suited to the GPU for gaming at native res. This may not be the case in your example, so you should look at all aspects before deciding.

 

Id say go with a 1900x1200 res. Unless all you do is game the higer resolution will make things alot better outside of games.

 

I couldn't handle 1920 x 1200 on a 17" screen, ow

 

ive seen 1920x1200 on a 15", it was amazing

 

The m4400 notebook comes with a 15" screen.

 

I'm very happy with my 1440x900 resolution. My eyes can't really handle anything higher resolution than that on a 15inch screen. I've tried upping DPI settings, but support in some applications just isn't there yet.

Using an 8600m GT, all my games run at native resolution (1440x900). So expect to game at crisp, clear, and native, WOO!

DVDs are encoded at 720x480 if I remember correctly, so any resolution screen is fine for DVDs.

 

True, but we are all amusing they use a higher quality screen with the more expensive 19*12 because that is they way we have accustomed and it's most logical for these companies

 

Well you can't assume that unfortunately. Sometimes they are higher quality, sometimes they are not. The cost does not always guarantee the quality.
When I bought my last laptop, it was:
1280x800 - 220nits
1440x900 - 250nits
1680x1050 - 200nits

So the middle screen is clearly the brightest, MUCH brighter than the more expensive 1680x screen. And as we all know, brightness is a pretty important factor with these glossy screens, you need a good level of brightness to avoid too much reflections under bright lights.

 

i'd have to agree with the 1440x900 as well, as I had the same decision when I bought my Toshiba. i've been very happy with that res, think it's a good compromise for gaming performance, and yet doesn't make icons and text too small to see clearly.

 

The perfect resolution depends on what you will be using your notebook:

- If you want to use it for gaming: go for the 1440x900, the Full HD screen would be nice, but no 15,4" notebook has the muscle to run games at that resolution (apart from the Alienware m15x, but thats expensive and overheats)
- If you will use it for watching movies, you will benefit from the Full HD screen, because HD movies will be much better on it.
- Last but not least, if you need it for work (even if you will use it for work 15-20% of the time) get the 1440x900 screen, the other one will be unbearable for most work.

 

You don't have to run games at your screen's native resolution. I run games all the time on my Gateway P7811fx or my desktop with 24" screen, both with 1920x1200 native resolution, at 1280x800 and they look fantastic.

I like the larger resolution for Windows desktop space to work with, but for gaming, everything runs great at 1280x800 (or 1440x900 for that matter).

My Vostro has 1680x1050 on 15.4" and it's nice too, but I think 1440x900 is a little better for less eye strain. Problem I have with 1440x900 is for some older games that want to run at 1280x1024, you can't do that.

 

I'm using a Macbook Pro with a 8600M GT and a 1440x900 resolution. It's nice.

 

I'm intolerant of low resolutions, so I recommend the 1920x1200. Very nice resolution, it will do wonders for your productivity if you're using a lower-res screen now. A 1440 screen only has 56% of the space of the 1920. That is a huge difference.

I concur with earlier posters; while gaming, the slight blurriness from running at a non-native res with the 1920 screen will be unnoticeable. I have used many notebook and desktop monitors with a 1920 res.

 

i would recommend the 1440x900 resolution if your going to use ur lappy for gaming.
almost all vmobile vid cards will not be able to handle 1920x1200 for smooth gaming in the new games. you would therefore be unable to play games at the screens native resolution and pictures will appear less sharp and sometimes pixelated as mentioned in a post above.
also you wont appreciate the hd+ quality of a 1920x display on a screen as small as 17inch.
even on hd tv's the recommend size for a full hd set is 40inches or you will not appreciate the FULL hd quality...

hope this helps

 

Again, why does everyone think you have to game at native res? Downscaling looks perfectly fine in games!

 

an lcd screen is brightest and sharpest at its native reso;ution
when it uses lower resolutions it scal or interpolate the non-native resolution to fit on the screen. this leeds to the blurriness i was mentioning

in theory however lowering resolutoions to multiples of the native resolutions will minimize loss of sharpness.

this is a known limitation of lcd screens

 

I can't really tolerate non-native res when gaming. Especially not with something like an online FPS...

The only exception would maybe be for example a racing game or similar , where everything is whipping by quickly and there's no time to examine anything in detail. But a online FPS, where you might be trying to snipe a guy across the level, and his head is just peeking over a wall by a couple of mm, I definitely need a sharp view, that you can't get with a non-native image.

 

so true
so if you really want 19xx by 12xx be sure you have the vid card to support that like a 4870 or the nvidia 290 which are not out yet...

 

Known, but only a very discerning eye can notice during games. Keep the same ratio and you're golden.

Unless your LCD is 10 years old, 99% of gamers won't notice.

 

true to certain extent but nothing beats native res even on modern lcd's
they are just brighter/sharper at their natives....
you can google it or wiki it you will see that it is laways best to play in your monitors native res. this was never a problem with crt's but its a different story with lcd's
also it depends on how discenring your eye is...
i seem to notice it though

 

I notice non-native resolutions too, but only initially; after I start playing a game, I forget about it.

You don't have to game at native res all the time as htwingnut said. Lower res = lower productivity in everything else but games.

 

I run at 1440x900 native on my desktop though. My laptop 1920x1200. But yes I agree I need to have native, I just love the sharp look of native compared to downscaled which in my opinion doesn´t look good.

 

Well since i can't stand the blurriness from non-native at full screen, i just set the nvidia control panel to not scale... So i get black bars around, but a sharp, non blur image... Obviusly this works if you use just 1 scale down from your native, otherwise you'll get a square too little to actually see something... In games too demanding i set 1280x800 without scaling and im good to go...