Inspiron 1420-1280 X 800 or 1440 X 900

Both screens are glossy and I'm told by Dell that they both have Dell's TrueLife enhancement (can anyone confirm this?). The laptop is primarily for school use. Some video editing and I'm hoping I can game a bit. I've got the GeForce GO 8400M GS and I know it will run better at a lower resolution but I'm still uncertain which to get. Does anyone know from experience which looks better? Gaming is not the most important thing to me, I just want which looks best.

These are the exact names;

Glossy, high contrast, widescreen 14.1 inch display (1280 x 800)
and
High Resolution, glossy widescreen 14.1 inch display (1440 x 900).

Thanks in advance

 

I have the 1440 x 900 and it's great.

 

One doesn't look better than the other. It's what people prefer. So while one might be perfect for one person, the other might hate it and prefer the second choice. So there's no definite answer as to which is better. I suggest going over to a retail store and look at several similar computers and compare the two resolutions urself.

I'd go with the wxga+ one (1440*900) personally. A little more real estate and it doesn't look to small.

 

In your opinion is there much more lag in games?

 

Depends what games. If you're playing soliatare then no. If you're playing Crysis then yes.

Tell us what games you play.

 

I'm looking at a bit of HL2: Deathmatch, Battlefront 2, Battlefield 2, I don't expect the graphics to be spectacular, I've got a desktop for that, I'm just looking for a bit of fun now and then.

 

you can interpolate / give up some screen size if you need to for gaming. i would go that route because of the benefit of general desktop usage.

 

Thanks for the help so far. Perhaps my real question is "How much worse will gaming be on the 1440 by 990?" Sorry to be so vauge in my previous posts.

 

It will be a little bit slower on the higher res, but not astonishingly.

But for example, if the game is barely playable at 1280*800, then it will be unplayable at the higher res.

But realize, that even tho you get the higher res, you can still play the game at lower resolutions. So I think it's better to get the higher res and play the games that run at that res, and if necessary you can scale down for better performance.

But if you get the lower res screen, and games are playing well, then you can't scale up. But you can always scale down if games are not running well.

 

Yes, but on the 1440x900, games will look worse when scaled down because LCD screens don't like non-native resolutons.

I'm also considering these two res's for my new notebook so I am paying careful attention to this thread

 

Ok, thanks a lot for the advice adinu (rep points for you). You've been really helpful. I'm going to go with the 1440 X 900 screen, I want the laptop for work mostly anyway. If I wanted to game I would have got an XPS or something similiar besides that's what my desktop is for. I figure you're not going to get a stunning gaming machine with GeForce GO 8400M so games are really just a fringe benefit to me, if the screen looks better all-round its worth the sacrifice.

Thanks again. Now the long wait until it gets here...