14" wide v/s 15"

I plan to buy a notebook very soon. My main use of the notebook would be to browse, basic programming, MS office stuff, multimedia and basic gaming. I would like it to be portable so that I can take it around in college.

I am therefore considering either 14" - 15" screen notebook. Could someone advise me me if a 14" widescreen is more suitable to my need vis a vis 15"? I heard that not all applications run properly on wide screens is that true?

Seeing another thread below, I am more or less certain to buy a core duo notebook rather than a Turion. Will not being 64 bit hurt me in any way (plan to use the laptop for 4-5 years at least). Are the 64 bit core-duo's for notebooks due for release in aug/sept worth waiting for? Will they be prized much more then no 64 bit core duos?

Thanks a lot for your time!

 

For portability I would say the 14' wide. Its a definitly an overall smaller screen, and its wider instead of taller like the 15'. In my opinion its easier to carry a wider notebook. Also if your planning on doing MS office stuff, multimedia, games and such, you'll want the widescreen, because you can fit more windows on it then you could on a standart 15'.

As for applications not runnings. That really only pertains to older games, and some newer ones that dont support widescreen resolutions. You can force them to strech, but then they are distorted. They will just run at a standard resolution, EX:1280x1024/800x600, and there will be black bars on each side to take up the extra space. Its not a bad thing, it may annoy you, but the games work just fine.

If you can wait for Core 2 I would. They say they are 20% faster than Core 1, and use the same amount of power and create the same amount of heat, plus they are 64-bit. Yeah you'll start seeing them for sale in notebooks somewhere around september/october, its worth waiting for. For pricing, once they come out the Core 1 prices will drop sharply, and the Core 2's are suspected to take the Core 1's previous price bracket. They wont be super cheap, but not like these $1200 Pentium D's we were seeing a few months ago.

 

Thanks a lot for your detailed response.

I have just one more question - Can I then set a wide screen resolution to a normal screen's resolution (say 1.33 ratio) and then there shouldn't be a problem (distortion) with any game/application. Is that correct?

 

Yeah if the game/application dosent support widescreen resolutions, it will go to its default standard resolution, and there will be black bars on the sides of the screen to take up the extra space.

 

I have 14" and my main ussage is like Yours. I searched for a while for a laptop before I ended up with mine. The 15" or 15,4" is really huge when You want a portable. I like my 14" screen that I can use home for work and gaming, and I like its size enabling me to bring it with me everywere without having to excersise

 

Actually, a 14" widescreen is the same width as a 15" regular aspect ratio screen, but the 14" is about 1" shorter. So you would actually have more screen space (assuming the resolutions are similar) on the 15". However, you also have to balance that with the extra weight of the 15".

 

Thank you everyone for your answers. I will most probably look out for a 14" wide screen now.

 

I was heasitant to buy a 14 inch brightview glossy widescreen, due to it looking kind of small, of course I still bought it. I love the thing now, i hate regular box screens they drive me crazy when doing everything.

As to you question about programs not running correctly, I do some games, advanced video editing, autocad, and some other highley intense graphic programs, and I have not run across one problem.

Hope this helps ya out.