Gaming With Non-native Resolutions

I'm planning to buy a 17" gaming desktop replacement sometime in 2007 (hopefully high-end DX10 cards will be available before Fall/Winter), but I had a question about screen resolutions.

How do games look in non-native resolutions? For example, if I got a 1920x1200 screen, and I ran a game at 1440x900 (still widescreen, just lower res), would there be any noticeable fuzziness or scaling artifacts? Obviously it won't be as sharp (lower resolution), but I know since LCD's have a fixed number of pixels, there can be problems when running out of it's native resolution.

What is your personal experience with running out of native resolution? Does it still look good, or is is the native resolution vastly superior?

Should I just get the 1920x1200 and run future games in lower resolutions, or should I get a 1680x1050 screen so I can game at native-resolution for as long as possible?

 

LCD screens will be blurry out of native resolution no matter what; however, if you keep the aspect ratio (such as the example you illustrated), then you should be fine. I consistently game at lower widescreen resolutions on my laptop and I don't have any real issues; as a matter of fact, the only real way to tell much of a difference is to look at the text, which is somewhat blurry.

Perhaps you could make it to Best Buy or somewhere else that sells laptops and take a look.

I'd say go with the 1920x1200 because that's full HD resolution and you'll appreciate all the extra screen real estate when you're not gaming.

 

honestly I have a 1920x1200 wuxga 17 inch screen and I never run games at the native resolution. I don't notice any fuzziness, everything is just a little wider due to the wide screen. The 1920x1200 just gives you so much desktop space its great.