Running games at non-native resolutions?

I'm in the market for a laptop with a 1920x1080 resolution screen. The current one I'm looking at has an anti-glare 1920x1080 screen which is great for movies and normal usage with more screen real estate, but I'm wondering how this will impact me negatively since the GPU that comes with the laptop (6770m or a 6750m) probably won't run games that great at 1080p. (Primarily Starcraft 2 when things get going). Would dropping the resolution to something like 1600x900 or 1366x766 make the game look worse because it is a non-native resolution for the monitor? I'm just looking to run games medium/high...

 

6770m is a pretty capable GPU. Of course it wont run Starcraft 2 on full ultra at native res with good fps, but you can find a review here: AMD Radeon HD 6770M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

So @ native res on high, expect between 40-50 fps.

 

I personally refuse to play at a non-native resolution because I think it looks terrible. Even if that means turning down the eye candy, I can't stand the blurriness. I know some people prefer to turn on AA and all the eye candy so it may not bother you. Although fgocards says you shouldn't have a problem with Starcraft 2 anyway so it may be a non-issue (I honestly know little about the 6770m).

I had Crysis on my 8800m GTS and I couldn't get decent frames at 1440x900. I lowered the resolution but it was noticeable especially on the HUD. So I put the game on a shelf and started playing it again a few years later when I had a new desktop.

 

Couldn't you activate the option to GPU to do the scaling at the ATI's Control Panel? I've read about it and it seems that it improves the image quality a lot when playing at non-native resolutions.

 

This is a very subjective matter and I'd suggest the OP see for it yourself. just grab a laptop and make the screen resolution lower than its default value, then check online for screenshots of the type of games that you plan to play and see if you find it acceptable or not.

I personally cant bear it. I'd rather play at lower resolution in a small window if the game is too GPU demanding. But obviously there're ppl that actually enjoy looking at non-native resolution, especially those coming from TV console gaming.

 

Personally, for FPS/action games (ie: Bioshock, Mass Effect 1 & 2), I barely notice any difference when I use a slightly lower resolution, such as 1440x900 on my T500's 1680x1050 screen. For RTS games such as Age of Empires, Warcraft III, etc, and RPG games where the dialog boxes are important (ie: Vindictus), I find that native resolution is important. So, I'd say it depends on personal preference and the types of games you play.

 

I just downright hate other resolutions than native : / Some games gets really smudgy if you lower the RESO, like the witcher 2. So i almost always play on native and i find it better to play native and then lover some settings than to play on lower reso and have higher settings. But with starcraft i think you should be okay.

 

I dont find it very noticeable to use a lower resolution as long as it has the same aspect ratio and you let the gpu do the scaling.

In most games though the extra resolution is not very taxing until you get to extremes (30" monitors or multi monitor)

Id rather deal with scaling or using lower settings any day to have a higher resolution screen for everything else (desktop work, web surfing, etc) without any second thoughts as compared to having a lower resolution screen just for the sake of gaming.

 

Yep, I didn't notice my xbox360 did any scaling on my U2311h, until I tried to run it on my U2711

At that point, I could see the "pixel smears" if I looked closely at my monitor in Halo: Reach!

 

To anwser shortly: as long as you keep the ratio when downscaling the images will not look very distorted. For 1920x1080 its ratio is 1.77, thus 1600x900 or 1270x720 are viable options for downscaling properly.

Hope it helps

 

I would say as long you stay within your aspect ratio:


Here is a list of all monitor resolutions both wide screen (16:9, 16:10) and normal (4:3)

Code:

List of monitor resolutions 4:3 Aspect ratio:

640x480........4:3
800x600........4:3
1024x768........4:3
1152x864........4:3
1280x960........4:3
1400x1050........4:3
1600x1200........4:3
2048x1536........4:3
3200x2400........4:3
4000x3000........4:3
6400x4800........4:3

List of monitor resolutions 16:9 (Widescreen) Aspect ratio:

852x480........16:9
1280x720........16:9
1365x768........16:9
1600x900........16:9
1920x1080........16:9

List of monitor resolutions 16:10 (Widescreen) Aspect ratio:

1440x900........16:10
1680x1050........16:10
1920x1200........16:10
2560x1600........16:10
3840x2400-----16:10
7680x4800-----16:10

 

I've heard the same but I don't have the option in the control panel. I have an HD3670m, do you need a 4000 series or higher or something like that?