15.4" recomended screen res...

hi im getting a dell xps 1530 with a 15.4" screen. it lets me choose which screen res. i want , each with varying prices, and the default "included in price" is 1440x900. the others are 1680x1050, and 1920x1200. which do you think is the most suitable screen resolution i should request? also there is a second option for the 1440 x 900 which is a "led lcd", could someone please explain to me what that is and what the difference is between it and the other lcd options?? thank you.

 

Most laptop screens are standard lcd's, with a compact Cfl backlight. The cfl backlights use much more power than the led backlights.
The led backlights have a much more even distribution of light, whereas mosf cfl screens have light leakage at the top and bottom because the cfl is brighter at the corners, and less bright in the middle.
Basically, led screens are more expensive, are thinner, because they do not need a light diffuser, have a more even distribution of light and they use less power. However, cfl screens are easy to replace, and are cheaper.

In my opinion, 1680x1050 is the best resolution for a 15.4" panel.
I bought my first dell back in 2001 when I was 8 years old, with a 15.4" 1680x1050 resolution screen. The inspiron 8500 was one of the highest end laptops then. I used that laptop up until last year when i bought my Voodoo, which has 1920x1200 reolsution on a 17.8" panel. I think it is much harder to see text at the 1920x1200 resolution, so I sometimes revert to the 1680x1050 resolution.

K-TRON

 

To each his own - but 1280x800 is almost too small for me! anyway, given the problems Dell has had with display quality (see Dell forum), I would go with the LED version.

 

1680x1050 only if you have very good eyes. 1900X1200 is pretty small on a 15.4. 1400X900 is good for most people and LED is appealing. If you are going to game at native resolution you will get higher frame rates with lower resolution.

 

Nothing less than WSXGA+ for a 15.4" screen for me!

 

I'd say go for the 1440 LED

 

1440 for 15.4" is perfect. I have 1280 on a 14.1" Tablet (gosh I wonder which one... lol), and the text is a bit big for me. I ran the numbers once, to see how many pixels per square inch there are per different sizes/resolutions.

I did the math, and it all comes down to how many pixels per inch there are.

I like screens between 7000px/sq in and 12,000 px/sq in. For a desktop LCD that is a bit away and will be used for reading/occasional gaming, 8,000 is fine.

Alas, the notebook lcd is closer to your eyes. I have seen Asus G1's with their resolution at max... it is beautiful... but hard-ish to read.

My 1280 14.1 inch brings in 11,207 px/sq in. I could go with a bit smaller text, more screen real estate... but it is fine.

A 15.4 inch with 1440 brings in 12,158 px/sq in. The text will be a bit smaller on this than on mine, and perfect for me.

The 1680 at 15.4 inches brings in about 15,000... a bit small for most tastes.

But who am I to judge, people get 1900x1200 screens on their 15.4" screens on occasion (m15x, m1530...)

 

ok well thank you all i have one more question. i have the option to either upgrade the hardrive from 320 gb 5400 rpm to a 250 gb 7200 rpm, or upgrade the lcd to the LED lcd that i mentioned in the beginning of the post. which upgrade do you think will make the most difference. im guessing obviously performance will be much better with the harddrive, but do you think it would be a better purchase if i upgraded the LCD to LED LCD ?? thanks guys

 

From what I've seen, LED displays are way better than LCD displays and If I were you (or if it were possible) I'd either a) get a smaller, 7200 rpm HDD or b) buy a third-party (e.g. something from newegg) hard drive and put that in the laptop.

Either way, I'd say pick the LED display.

 

Ehhhhhh see I'd recommend you find a local store that has a 1680x1050 display and a 1440x900 display and see which you like best. I love my display resolution and couldn't imagine a lower resolution.

If you do go with the 1680x1050, I think you'll save enough money that you can buy your own 7200 RPM drive from Newegg.

 

but wont installing it require opening it which will void the 3 year warranty im purchasing with it??

 

Hard drives are user-accessible and like RAM upgrades, shouldn't void your warranty.

 

unless its a mac

I was talking about this just yesterday with a co-worker in our mac vs pc conversation and I mentioned thats one of the reasons I didnt get a macbook pro was because I cant upgrade my own hdd and I would never pay some guy to do it for me when I know i can do it myself for cheaper (and if I am not mistaken you may even have to buy the hdd from apple too, I dunno if you can just march into a apple store with a 500gb hdd in hand and tell them to install it for you)


As per topic I really like 1680x1050 for my 15" laptop it feels good I can read everything and still have a pretty good amount of "real estate" to work with.

I wouldn't mind it being even larger sometimes for photo/video editing.