Screen Resolution Help

I picked a WSXGA+ screen (1680x1050). I had the option to pick instead a 1440x900 or 1280x800. I intend to mainly game on this laptop, but I will be viewing movies and websurfing on it. I know that the resolution I picked isn't ideal for most games (I will be playing almost exclusively Company Of Heroes, BF2, and COD4 on the laptop -- maybe an MMORPG), but is it really going to be bad for most games moving forward?

I can still cancel and reorder, but I don't want to go through the hassle if this resolution isn't a big deal, especially since I like the option of adding an aftermarket HDDVD drive to it if I feel like it.

Can anyone lend me their opinion?

 

Most games are played at 1280x800, which you can do on a 1680x1050.

 

You don't have to play games at the screens native res. You can always turn it down.

But what you can't do is play them at a higher res than the native one.

So by you choosing 1680*1050 you have the option of playing games anywhere up to that res. But if you chose the 1280*800 one, you don't have the choice of playing it any higher if your gpu can handle it.

 

To clarify, I heard that running a game/program at a lower resolution than the native res of the screen could degrade the quality of the picture significantly. From what you're saying, this isn't as much of a problem as I had heard?

 

The picture quality will be less, but definitely not significantly...it will still look fine.

 

With a 15.4" screen (which I assume is the size you've got based on your resolution options), it's harder to tell the difference between 1280x800 and 1680x1050 because the pixels are so small (when compared to, say, a 17" or 19" screen). Everything looks a bit blocky and edges/corners seem blurry without anti-aliasing because the picture is stretched to fit your native resolution... but you'll hardly notice it when things are in motion. And most games do involve motion.