Gaming screen size

I was so dead set on getting a nice 17" or larger screen for my next rig, but working on a 14.1" HP Pavilion the last couple of days seems to make me think having a screen that large may be too large. I would all most say that a 15.4" would be perfect. This thread is to see what size of screen in your opinion would be perfect for gaming.

 

17" widescreens are awesome to game on. The problem you will find with getting a notebook with a smaller screen is that they are generally less powerful, and will not allow you to run them on high performance settings or on any settings at all.

 

I agree with Alacrity. 17" is incredible, so huge you think you are watching HDTV instead of playing a game, especially if you have a good videocard.

I play on a 15.4" though. Nice screen. I would like to have a 17" though.

Charlie

 

I normally game on a desktop 17" SXGA monitor (hooked up from my laptop).

 

i have a 15" screen with a great 1600 x 1200 resolution. Sometimes I hook it up to my 24" monitor

 

I have a 19'' for my desktop, and my laptop, which actually shipped today (just got the e-mail) is coming with a 17'' widescreen

 

im using a 15.4", but id rather do it on a 17"

 

Consider how and where you'll be gaming.

If you'll be keeping this unit quite portable...a 15.4" while most likely be much lighter and easier to manipulate than a 17". If you'll mostly be gaming at home, at your desk, than an external monitor would be a good solution(and you could easily get a 20" widescreen for just $400 or so.

If you'll be taking this laptop elsewhere to game a lot, and lugging the external LCD isn't really appealing, then a 17" machine might make more sense.

There are other things, too(like a full keyoard w/num pad). However, I'm satisfied with my 17", but I don't lug it around daily. It's also nice when I go to game over at a friend's place.

Of course, it won't fit on a seatback tray very well on an airplane, so I don't use it to watch movies on flights either.

 

i prefer 15.4 inch!!!!

 

The 15.4s are pretty nice and large because of the widescreen, but if youre gaming 17 is the only way to go. Like Alacrity said 17in notebooks are more powerful too.

 

i still prefer 15.4 inch...because its Powerful Gamming at a mobility level!

 

I have a 15.4" widescreen. It is very nice for gaming.
Tim

 

It's interesting to see the results. I would have thought the 17" would pull ahead but 15" is #1. With the release of smaller notebooks with greater GPU's I think the preference for portable gaming will be dramatically reduced. Like many of you have stated, you plug in to an external monitor anyway.

 

I voted for the 15 incher. A good compromise between power and portability, although you can't get the high end GPUs (7800, 7900, X1800?) due to heat constraints. Still, the 7600/X1600 isn't a bad card...

I agree with tullnd's comments above about buying an external monitor for home use. A 20" widescreen will probably cost less than the difference between an 14"/15" note book and it's 17" cousin.

 

i usually hook up my lappie to my desktop's 17 inch HP MX75 CRT Monitor (very good viewing angles compared to LCD's) to play games...otherwise...15 incher it is!

 

Compromise for size and price:15in
Best:17in

 

I'd still go for 15.4" tops. Any bigger and it makes the notebook too bulky and heavy to carry around. I love gaming and while I see the fun in having a 17"+, I think that it's tough to enjoy such a screen without suffering the additional weight etc.

 

One thing nice with a 15.4" I can spend more money on getting a nicely configured notebook. It would be nice though to have some of my older games come in wide screen support.

 

i hook mine up to a theater projector screen, what now! not really though, if only i had the means.

 

Love my 17" for watching DVD's at work, and it's great for gaming too (and HP lcd's are absolutely gorgeous), but I do often wish my notebook was a little smaller/lighter. If I were wealthy, I'd have a high-end 17" for gaming & movie watching in a semi-permanant environment and a 15.4" for mobile fun.

 

I honestly wouldn't want a 17 inch unless it was pushing a 1600 something x whatever resolution. I like a 15.4 with WSXGA

 

I like my 17". And I don't find it too big. It's really only a few pounds heavier than my old 14" Precision M90, and the screen real estate is sooo nice. Plus, a much powerful system.

 

What do you think of gaming on a 12 inch..as I am contemplating about getting the dell M1210.

has anyone gamed on a 12 inch, and wat was your experience?

 

It all depends. Have you tried and enjoyed gaming on a PSP? If you have and find it ok/good, then chances are you'll be ok with the 12.1 too.

However, I believe that good games these days require a sufficiently sized monitor to showcase graphics (read "eye candy"). Games like Oblivion etc are best played on decent sized screens. While you can tackle such games on arguably smaller screens, it wouldn't be quite as attractive... to me, anyway.

 

17" but you also have to consider resolution. For non-gaming 1900X1200 is incredible, and 1080p movies are mindblowingly beautiful. But for gaming, I'm forced to play at non-native resolutions (Bothers some people, doesn't matter to me...)

 

Wow, I'm the only one that voted for 12.1". I know it might not ideal, but I like ultra portables. To have a 12.1 that runs BF2 on medium settings is just ideal for me.

 

15.4 inch FTW!

I accidently chose 17" in the Poll btw.

 

usa patriot, I hope you didn't order a 17" asus by mistake too

sweet deal by the way, something with the x1600 for less than u$d 1500/--.

btw what does ftw mean?

 

I'm with ya (although I voted 17" because I have one) -- smaller screens means lower resolutions, which equals better framerates. You don't really need a monster GPU if you're running at a 1280x800 resolution natively. Plus why have a NB in the first place? Portability, of course!

My ideal NB is the Asus Portable One MX. It's perfect, a very svelte 5lb, 1" thick Core Duo NB, with a 1280x800 14.1" transflective screen powered by a Geforce 7600 Go. It's the perfect combo of portability and power

 

For The Win, teh interweb geek speak

 

i use a 17 inch screen

(XPS m1710)

 

15.4s are nice, but larger is always nicer...

17 inchers have the most power too...

And you can always go external monitor for more size...just pick the laptop that fits your needs and perhaps go that route if you need bigger...

 

24" FTW!!!

The 17" built into the lappy is good for on-the-road gaming, but I can really lose myself in a game with the 24" Dell. I wonder though what gaming on a plasma or projector would be like (drool...)

 

my 14 is perfect because I can connect it upto a 32" hdtv at home for big screen gaming

 

For me 1920X1200 is pretty crappy for gaming. I want the frame rates. My first dell had a 1400X900 samsung, great for my frame rates but that screen sucked with color purity and light bleed. FEAR screams at 1400X900 but all my playing is done at 1600 x 1200 because that's the lowest non-native resolution I can stand.

My auto-cad drawings are the saving grace for this screen! When I run volo view I can put the whole telemetry can on the screen and view sections of it

For me standard 480i DVD looks pixeled to death at 1920x1200 so please, where are you getting 1080p movies? We are runing 1200p LCDs

 

i game on a 15.4", its fine, not to big..

 

how many fps can the ms-1039 support? Mobility Radeon X1600, Turion MT-40 CPU..2GB memory [2x1gb]

 

Try here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=39568

 

I have used a 15.4" but I decided to go with a 14". The 1280x768 on it looks good and with the Ati x1600 it keeps the framerates high on most games. The ability to go anywhere I want without having a cumbersome and heavy unit makes it that much nicer. I even sold my desktop off and I used a 21" widescreen and don't miss it.

 

I have gamed on many screen sizes. But as far as FPS games are concerned a 12.1 has been the best thus far. Its small yet very comforatble for me. Now rts games the bigger the better for me. I love my 19in when it comes to empire earth and such, cant be beat.

 

well bigger is not always better as it's sometimes pointless having a really big monitor as the image size will stay the same depending on the resolution of the laptop and monitor.

 

Well having a higher res is definately a must. Running empire earth 2 on a 19in lcd at 1600x1200 is much better then on a smaller screen. running it at 1200x800 just seems like a waste for a 19in lcd...but thats just me

 

sorry if this is like a nub question but what happens when you play games at non-native resolutions?

does it look all ugly or something?

like say native res is 1680x1050...but i drop the res down to like 1280x800 or 1280x768 would it make the game look nasty?

 

It would look a bit blurry, as all LCDs do out of native resolution. But, as long as you keep the aspect ratio (i.e., widescreen), it will look fine.

 

Blurrieness isnt that bad either. I run several games at 1200x800 on my screen which has an optimal of 1680x1050. You dont notice it unless you're looking at some very fine text.

 

17". You get the best GPU choices and a greater viewing area.

Notice the poll asks what people game with and not what the best size would be... so all those 15" responses don't surprise me.

 

That's a shame they can't put a 9700GS or ATI 1800 in a 15" form factor with maybe a 1280 x 1024 quality screen. You could max out a lot of games at that resolution! Doing CAD work? Go for the 17" or external monitor.

 

I'm new to gaming. Have a dv6000z with a Nvidia 7200. Is it normal that the resolution gets blury in full screen.

 

When the LCD is out of native resolution, it is normal.

 

Thanks for the reply. Is there a way to change the GPU settings to enhance the resolution at full screen or a bigger window.