IFL90 - which screen resolution do I want?

I'm thinking somewhat seriously about switching my order around from the 1280x800 screen to the 1680x1050. Any reason FOR or AGAINST such a move? Will the higher-res screen display lower resolution settings full-screen on the laptop? Will the lower-res screen display higher resolution settings for an external monitor?

 

You typically don't want to change the native resolution on the lcd screen. It gets fuzzy and weird.

Get the higher res though - it's not that bad for text, but it's a significant upgrade beyond the screen itself.

1. 9-cell battery instead of 6.
2. 512MB instead of 256MB for your GPU
3. better screen res
4. You might even get a GPU upgrade from GS to GT** this isn't confirmed! it's simply a mystery at this point.

 

Well the WSXGA+ option comes with a better video card and 9 cell battery which would be better for gaming and you would get more batter life out of the 9 cell.


Instead of lower the resolution you should raise the DPI(system font size) level. In games its okay to lower the resolution( good way to get smother gameplay)

EDIT: taelrak beat me to it.

 

alright, gonna go for it, thanks for your input, guys!

 

The higher resolution laptop should have the 8600gt (hopefully).
Tim
Edit: too slow

 

the question is, whether the 1280x900 has gt or gs.

 

my french reseller has the 1280x900 with a 8600M GS @512Mo

 

1280x900 is a bit small for a 15.4" or larger screen. 1280x800 is almost too low of a resolution for my laptop, which is only a 14.1". My old machine was 1280x800 on a 15.4"... an m6805. Great machine, but every day I would curse at having to scroll all the time to work with text or surf the web.

 

According to this site, posted in the Notebook Screen Guide, "Whatever the lowest resolution available for your chosen screen size is, you're going to want it. Games look best when running at the native resolution of the screen." Does this mean I want to get the WXGA, not the WSXGA+?

 

No. That statement doesn't really make any sense.

Native resolution means the stated resolution...WXGA or WSXGA+ are both the native resolutions for those screens.

The statement would make sense for an LCD if it said "Whatever the HIGHEST resolution available for your chosen screen size is..." The highest resolution for any LCD is its native resolution.

 

Well, it's true that you're probably not going to run Crysis at your native resolution on a WSXGA+ screen, but that doesn't mean you should simply go for a WXGA

 

Games look best running at native resolution, but they by no means look BAD running at non-native, especially if you set up the scaling correctly. And if your computer is used for ANYTHING other than gaming, the higher resolution is so much better for general use that it's not even funny.

 

Sonny...back in ye good olden days, when I was a young lad...we had 640x480 screens and we were happy with them! yessir!

 

Back in the really good olden days we had 40lbs Compaq luggables that we ran through O'Hare with uphill both ways in snow up to our necks. They had those nice 80x26 character green phosphorus CRTs, 10MB hard drives and 0 hours battery life. AND WE LIKED IT THAT WAY!

 

Hmmm, well, back in ye good olden days, when I was a young lad...we had never heard of a computer and didn't even have pocket calculators...although we did dream of them

 

Ahhh, the good ole days with monochrome monitors and dot matrix printouts with their perforated edges.........

 

I still use that dot matrix printer...

 

My family had an NES before I was born, and I got a Sega Genesis for Christmas a few weeks after I was born.

That being said, I'd go with WXGA. Many websites, though they may be crummy, don't quite work right at higher resolutions. I hate reading text in a straight line across my screen. That being said, I hate not using my native resolution even more. And unless you're playing Blue-Ray or HD-DVD, movies will look better at that res too, both DVD and online.

So, if you get the WXGA screen, IMHO, it's better for reading text and watching movies, and you're already going to be gaming at that res since it's not the best GPU out there.

Just my 2-cents.