from desktop to notebook .. screen size

I own a 17" desktop . . and am about to transition to a notebook. I game a lot online (fps,rts). I dont like the idea of a small screen size (15" dektops freak me out ).
Will a 15.4" screen suffice for gaming(not below 15" plzz ) or is 17" the only option to look at. Is there too much difference between 15.4" and 17".
this will help all those are looking for their first (gaming) notebooks.
tia

 

Tia, I would suggest checking out notebooks with 15.4" and 17" screens in person - Best Buy is a good place to look. Screen size really is personal preference - I am fine gaming on my 15.4" LCD, and I have no problems going back and forth between that and my 17" desktop.

Chaz

 

How much are you willing to spend?

 

i can spend for a 17" if the need be.. but I'll prefer to spend less if i'm happy with a 15.4"

 

i went from a 20 inch widescreen, to a 17 inch powerbook, to a 15.4 inch Asus Z70VA...i like them all, but if you will be traveling, get a 15.4..the 17 inch is just too big.

pb,out.

 

Perhaps a 15.4" machine and put a few hundred towards a nice 19" LCD for your desktop?

Unless you're doing all your gaming mobile(and even though...toting a 19" LCD and a 15.4" laptop is probably easier than most desktop systems). But if you do most of your gaming at home...might be the wise choice.

I ended up with a 17" model myself...but I don't tote my laptop around much. About twice a week I go to a small LAN gathering with a few friends, so it's nice to have the bigger screen for that...but if I was taking this thing around with my daily, I would have gotten a smaller unit.

 

You didn't say whether your desktop monitor was a CRT...
But, an important thing to remember is that you can't directly compare a CRT to an LCD. they are measured differently

CRTs are measured by tube size. a 17" crt the physical tube is 17". BUT, the actual visible screen is usually between 15.8 and 16.2 inches, nearly an inch less.
Whereby a 15" LCD has an actual viewable size of 15 inches.
So the difference in viewable area as measured diagonal is many times less than an inch. And since it's diagonal, many people think 15in LCDs are the same size as a 15in crt when they see them for the first time.

Widescreen changes the numbers a bit, but the viewable area thing still holds.
But from what I hear, many people like the widescreen because they can fit 2 documents side by side and still work with them, something you can't do on a normal 4:3 ratio monitor.

 

i have a 17" crt ..
so do you mean to say that a 17" crt (~15.8-16.2") is almost equal to a 15.4" lcd (widescreen better)..

 

Well, that would be an extreme. I would say that it's closer to 16" lcd.

 

If there was such a thing as a 16" LCD, it would match the viewable area of a 17" crt.
And since sizes are measured on the diagonal, an inch of difference is not really that much.

Widescreen messes with the H/W ratio. widescreens are usually 15:10 or 16:10 instead of the 4:3 of a normal monitor. (there are no monitors that are true 16:9)
As such, a 15.4 inch 16:10 widescreen is about the same physical width as you'd get with a 4:3 standard 17-inch LCD screen. But the height is a little less than that of a standard-width (4:3) 15-inch LCD screen.