HP dv9500t WSXGA Worthwhile? Photoshop-worthy?

Before ordering I'm trying to decide if it is worth the extra $50 to upgrade from the 17" WXGA (1440x900) to the 17" WSXGA (1680x1050)? The descriptions in HP's "help me decide" area say that both have a "high-definition widescreen display".

I'm thinking why go for the added resolution if there won't be an HD-DVD drive, nor will I be using the laptop to view HD movies. My primary use will be to edit pics in Photoshop. Will the added resolution make a significant difference in the quality of my photographs on the screen?

On a similar note if anyone has seen this before ... when I play recorded shows from my home DVD/VHS recorder on my current emachine 5310 the pic is never nice and sharp. Will playing on the HP's high definition screen help?

Here is how I have customized so far. After many freezeups editing pics on my other machines, if any pitfalls of running Photoshop please chime in! Thanks!

Moges

Vista Home Premium
Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo T7300 (2.0GHz/4MB L2Cache)
(maybe?) 17" WSXGA+ BrightView Widescreen (1680x1050)
Memory 2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
Graphics Card Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
HP Imprint Finish/Microphone/Webcam
Networking Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection
Hard Drive 160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive

 

more resolution usually equals a better visual experience for games and also image editing so it's worth it but it's up to you.

no guarantees the recordings will be better on your laptop, it might be the recordings themselves aren't very good. of course i don't know what an emachine is but if it's a computer then the quality improvement is doubtful.

the specs are fine for your requirements, if you want to play games, the graphics card isn't really designed for this, wait til about June for the newer ones with the nvidia cards to come out

 

I have an older 17" HP zd7000 with the 1680x1050 resolution. It's great for photo editting, the extra resolution is definitely needed when working with 8 megapixel pictures from my Nikon 8800 digicam. Also, once you get used to all the desktop real estate you'll never be able to go back. Working in AutoCAD on my laptop is much easier than at work on my 19" 1280x1024 monitor cuz I have so much more space to have extra toolbars up on the screen.

The only issue some people may have with the high resolution is that text can be small at times, although it's no worse than using 1280x800 on my 12" laptop.

 

Thanks SideSwipe, I'm going to go for the higher resolution screen. For $50 its better to have it than not and wish I had.

Re. my watching DVD recordings ... an emachine is a laptop. The model 5300 has a beautiful 1280x800 widescreen. Unfortunately the emachine has a known overheating problem. Powers down at the worst times! The HP is going to be its replacement. You got me thinking about the quality of the DVDs on the emachine so I tested 2 disks. One a movie and one of my recorded DVDs. The image was the same. Its just not sharp. Its fine enough. I can cetainly see the picture. Its just not great. Best I can compare it to is the way an LCD TV screen looks with an analog signal. Hopefully there will be a little added clarity when viewing on the upgraded screen on the HP 9500. I'll post it when I find the results.

I spoke to HP yesterday. The person mentioned the newer graphics card coming out in about a month. Sounds like its worth waiting for but I'm really at a loss with this overheating/shutdown problem on my emachine. A month is too long.

No games played on my laptop. Please help me here as I'm not 100% clear on what the graphics card does? I hear advantages to gaming and think its about processing graphics faster. Which I can see with a moving image. Are there advantages over the current graphics card if I'm editing (often using multiple layers) in Photoshop?

Moges

 

Hi Snork, thanks for your input. I'm used to smaller font on my widescreen emachine. And yes, like you I *love* the added desktop real estate. A real plus for someone working with multiple windows open.

I'm wondering ... if I find the font too small on the HP's hi res screen if there isn't a way in Windows to increase the font size?

Moges

 

I have a dv9000t with the WSXGA+ screen. You can easily resize the DPI of the fonts in XP or Vista in the display properties. But I like the fonts the way they are, but I used to have a 15.4" WSXGA+ screen so I am used to the small fonts. I wish HP offered a WUXGA screen like Dell.

 

Hi x0lliex, if I change the font size in the display properties will the fonts on the web also be larger or only fonts on my Windows applications?

 

well you could try that with your current machine and see if the fonts change, i dont think they do, i think the web browsers have their own settings.

as for your movies, i have a 1440 x 900 (basically the cheapest of the LCD options on the dv9000t) and viewing DVDs is great, some movies don't look great but that is how they look on any screen I have tried. but overall the quality is real good, this laptop is primarily intended for movie viewing so this is what it's made for.

 

Web browsers do have their own font size setting, but the global windows font size does also effect IE....atleast in WinXP it does, haven't tried Vista yet.

Under XP I find that setting "large fonts" really screws up web browsing and was more a hindrance than help. After a while you won't even notice the small font size though most likely unless your eyes are bad.