Laptop LCD vs LCD Monitor & Gaming Resolution Questions

1: How do games that are designed initially for a 4:3 aspect ratio play on a widesreen laptop? Is it with black bars on the side reducing the image? I know HL2 had widesreen options, but I don't remember anything in Far Cry or Doom 3.

2: I had a low-end laptop before (BIOS problems are why I say "had"), and I played through HL1 and Opposing Force on it. I never noticed any blurring. I played the games on 1024 which I believe was the native resolution of that laptop. Are laptop LCDs better than stand-alone LCDs? If I get a laptop with a native resolution of 16xx or 12xx(I forget what the numbers are), will my games look blurred or stretched or anything if i choose to play them at lower resolutions (which I often do to ensure a decent FPS count)?

Thanks,
King

 

Some games, like HL2 will let you easily change the resolution. Others, like some of the Battlefield games, will require you to change a line or two of code in a video file within the game folder. You should usually be able to find out how to change the resolution to something more laptop friendly from the game's forums... Someone here did dig up a nice website link though:

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/

They have a great collection of information on how to get a game working for your laptop. Try the master game list section first, then rummage through their forums if need be.

As for the second question, I just don't know enough to tell you. Some laptops have amazing LCDs. Others a kind of poopy. The gaming results, as well as the ability to play the games at different resolutions will probably be affected by the quality of the laptop you purchase. Sorry I don't know more about this. I'm still pretty new to laptops.

 

GFX card options will allow you to disable stretching, so 4:3 games will run in the correct aspect ratio on 16:10 or 16:9 laptop screen. So what you get is pixel per pixel display

Stand alone LCDs are better than laptop ones. They also do better interpolation (at least if you have a good stand alone LCD), so the stretching on a stand alone will look better than on a laptop. Usually it is best to try and avoid any form of stretching on LCDsin general and more so on laptops.

Edit: one more thing to add. Laptop LCDs in general don't have response times as fast as the newer stand alone LCDs. So there might be some motion bluring