1680x945 or 1920x1080 resolution?

Hi, Iam looking to buy a Toshiba Qosmio. i was looking into Q887 but then i read several review which said it runs too hot so i dropped that and started looking into Q896 and Q894. there is a difference of 100 dollar between these two models. Q894 is 1680x945 ($1608 including tax and shipping) and Q896 is 1920x1080 ($1715) . both has blue ray reader and i heard it outputs at 1080p.
so my two question is:

1. which resolution is good and which one i should choose?

2. I have read that the volume fluctuates. when a song is being played the volume keeps going up and down. is this limited to only defect models or does all the toshiba laptop come like this?

 

#1 I would go for 1920x1080, but this is just my personal choose.

#2 This is a known problem. If you take a quick look at the Toshiba section here you can find users that raports that issue. I don't know how serious this problem is for now tou.

If you want few more answers for qestion 1, you can ask a mod to move it here: Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades

 

with Q898 I never experienced this volume fluctuations. I disabled windows sound enhancements (not as a fix, I just don't like any sound processing, instead just demand pure sound). May be this fixes ? IDK but I'm sure that I never experienced any sound fluctuations.

BTW, 1080p was a must for me. You can enjoy your 18.4'' screen with a FHD screen, especially with movies and games. But of course this is a personal choice.

 

The 1920x1080 screen is well worth the extra money. 1680x945 only has ~76% of the space, so you can't see as much at the same time. For example, you could see more on a web page without having to scroll. When looking at a high-res picture, you can see more detail with the higher-res screen since there are more pixels to display it. And since the 1920 screen has more horizontal space, it is easier to use two windows side-by-side.

Vertical resolution is very important in computing because tasks like web browsing, office productivity -- are vertically-oriented. It makes sense to have as much vertical resolution as possible (from a productivity standpoint).

 

Charles, I think the question her should not so much be about whether or not 1080p is the better resolution and worth it over 945, but whether the problems with the Qosmio's 1080p screen are worth dealing with. Apparently in this laptop, the 1080p monitors are very dark, unfortunately.

 

There is no mention of dark 1080p screens in this thread.

Personally I'd go with 1080p and use 125% DPI scaling.

 

I am aware of that, but I was making the OP and Charles aware that there is a very well known issue with this particular 1080p screen.

 

Ah interesting, I did not know about those problems. In that case I'd personally be looking at another laptop . . . 845 pixels of vertical resolution is very limiting.

OP -- are you able to see these notebooks in person?

 

Charles, I ended up buying the Qosmio Qosmio Q893. Don't get me wrong, 1080p is my first preference, as is i7 over i5, Blu-ray. I made a decision based on financial considerations, wanting the most bang for my buck. In short, if you are willing to spend over 1.5K on a lappy, then I would NOT buy a Qosmio, but oddly enough, many of us in this forum believe that there is simply no better deal, dollar for dollar, than either the Qosmio Q885 for $999.99 (with the 360m) and the Q893 (with the 460m) for $1,149.99, both on Amazon.

Once you get into an i5, Blu-ray, 1080p, etc, you are far better off with the Asus G73JW, for instance, than one of the higher end Qosmios.

lol Seriously, where else are you going to get a nice lappy with a 460m, really nice built in sound, and a vibrant screen (even only 945p) for that kind of money?

 

for gaming 720p is better choice imo

 

I tend to believe you, but I'm hoping you might come back and explain why please.

I'll soon be returning an ASUS G73JW & am considering going with one of these Toshiba Qosmio X500's. This ASUS has the 1920 x 1080 resolution on a 17.3" screen, and I honestly hate it. At 100% zoom in Windows, everything is too small. Setting the zoom to 125% improves the laptop screen, but also zooms my 19" external monitor - making it almost useless for work. 1920 x 1080 sometimes looks funky (unnaturally stretched out) in simulators, like FSX.

I really wish I could find a retailer that has these Qosmios ( comparison) on the shelf so that I could see it with my own eyes before buying.

 

My method for estimating display legibility is to calculate the pixels per inch (bigger numbers means smaller pixels) and compare this with displays that I know.

1680 x 945 @ 18.4" = 105 pixels per inch
1920 x 1080 @ 18.4" = 120 pixels per inch

For comparison:
1920 x 1080 @ 17.3" = 127 pixels per inch
1440 x 900 @ 14.1" = 120 pixels per inch
1280 x 800 @ 14.1" = 107 pixels per inch
1366 x 768 @ 15.6" = 100 pixels per inch

While looking at a screen in a shop is better than nothing, one actually needs to use a display for an hour or two before you can be sure that your eyes will be happy. While I agree that more vertical pixels are better for usability, display manufacturers want us to buy more with and less height.

John

 

Thank you, John. I found a calculator that gives me very similar numbers: PX CALC: DPI Calculator with Dot Pitch, Size, Aspect Ratio, Pixels, and Megapixels

While more width & less height is good for watching movies, it isn't always the best for work purposes. I like all of the options we have as consumers, but it sure as hell makes it much harder to find the right setup. hehe

Happy New Year!

 

I have the 1080P screen and i am very impressed by the quality, and have absolut no complains about the "dark screen". Its a joy to use from games to blueray films. Full HD screen was main criteria then i bought laptop, but also becuase i already own a Full HD TV and will use the Qosmio with the TV sometimes.

Where is also a new bios improvment to the brigtness

 

Audi4ever, (nice cars btw!)

Do you have to zoom the screen ( Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Display ) beyond 100% in order to view programs, web pages easily?

Thank you!

 

Hi

First....you are right about Audi

In some web pages i have to zoom to cover the whole screen and others like this one its perfect but ofcourse very small in 100%. The defaualt setting is 125%


My English sucks so forgive me if i misunderstand you

 

I understand you perfectly. Thank you - if the default 125% zoom is in Windows 7 at Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Display , not in the Web browser itself, that is exactly what I needed to know.

 

i was at my local micro center and they have the qosmio with the 1080p and although i hear there are the bios fix for the screen darkness, comparing my 945 to the 1080p version it does tend to look a bit darker than the 945 even on full brightness it still looks pretty dark to me and my local microcenter is dimly lit in the laptop department which i would tend to think the screen would pop more even in a darker setting, and set on high it surely didnt look that great to me, it was better in resolution obviously but definitly a darker looking screen.

imo toshiba shouldnt have had to make it a decision for high def or not, i guess taking into consideration pricing its good they did that, but nowdays ALL screens should be high def.

 

Did you compare them directly, and was the "brightness" bios installed on the 1080p screen?