Pics: Sony Vaio Z Screen Resolution (1366x768 vs 1600x900)!

Good news for people thinking of getting the Vaio Z but still cannot decide which resolution to go for (1366x768 or 1600x900). I've got some pics that should help you guys out. Unfortunately, I do not have any side by side comparison photos between the 2 of them. Furthermore, I do apologize for my very poor camera & photography skills. Hopefully, the following poorly taken photos can still help someone.

One thing to take note of is that for both Vaio Z, all the setting are in their "default" values (Default screen resolution, 96 DPI, etc.)

For all the pairs of photos:

Left - 1366x768
Right - 1600x900


Windows Vista Section

Below are the Windows Vista boot-up screens:



Below are the Windows Vista login screens:



Below are the Windows Vista Desktop screens:



Below are the Windows Vista Desktop screens with the "Start" buttons activated:

 

Microsoft Office & Adobe Photoshop Section

Below are the Microsoft Word documents with the Calibri fonts at 11pts:



Below are the Microsoft Word documents with the Calibri fonts at 72pts:



Below are the blank Microsoft Excel documents:



Below are the blank Adobe Photoshop CS3 workspaces:



Below are the "default" photo sizes when working in the Adobe Photoshop CS3 workspaces:



Below are the "maximize - actual" photo sizes when working in the Adobe Photoshop CS3 workspaces:

 

Mozilla Firefox Web Browser

Below are the Google homepages using the Mozilla Firefox web browsers:




Below are the very top of the Notebookreview.com forums (Sony section) using the Mozilla Firefox web browsers:




Below are the start of the actual Notebookreview.com forums threads (Sony section) using the Mozilla Firefox web browsers:




Below are the very top of the SonyStyle Vaio Z models selection web pages using the Mozilla Firefox web browsers:




Below are the start of the SonyStyle Vaio Z models selection web pages using the Mozilla Firefox web browsers:

 

Bonus Comparison Photos

I've also got a few comparison photos, posted below, showing the Vaio Z (1600x900) & the Aluminum Unibody MacBook. Hope it helps anyone who needs &/or wants to look at them. Once again, I hope these pics help.

 

Did you buy another Z?

 

Hey i love the wallpaper, may i have it?

 

where did you get the keyboard cover for the Z?

 

nice photos.

I have to say that I love my 1600x900 screen. Everything is a bit small at first, but it's well worth it as the text is super clear and it's just nice to be able to go over a lot of contents at once.

 

I got the Vaio Z silicon keyboard cover from the following Hong Kong based seller from ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Keyboard-skin-fr-Sony-VAIO-VGN-Z610Y-B-VGN-Z610Y-13-1_W0QQitemZ230333294502QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCA_Mice_Trackballs?hash=item230333294502&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50

 

thanks for the comparison. it makes easier to choose.

 

Those borders and small fonts look clear here. Reminds me of why I didn't go for the 1600 x 900, even when compared to every other laptop with a regular resolution it looks abnormally small. But I would probably still be fine with it given some tweaks to the DPI and increasing size adjustments.

 

I run my Z-590 with DPI set to 140. This gives me the same font size as I would get with a 96 dpi screen set to 96 dpi -- the fonts are just clearer.

The size difference only comes to play with bitmap graphics that can't be scaled without a quality loss. An image on a web page will look smaller, yes.

 

Yes, of course you can have the wallpaper. The following is the link to the wallpaper:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=7278712&postcount=30

Full credit goes to Robbbin of MacRumors.com. Enjoy.

 

Hey speed, i just noticed, your for sale notebooks used to be all 3 but now your macbook is back in current? does that mean you are keeping it?

 

I guess I'll be keeping it.

As you can see in my Price Check thread here at NBR, people know that I'm stupid & are expecting me to sell my less than 2 weeks old aluminum MB for $850 shipped. I mean if they are me, I bet no one will be stupid enough to do such a silly thing, will they? I guess if I sell my MB for $850 shipped now, I AM REALLY STUPID!

 

Does the lo-res Z have the same faint diagonal lines on screen problem as the high resolution one?

 

I've to apologize for not being able to answer your question.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I'm not sensitive to these "diagonal lines" thingy & I personally cannot see any of those lines while I have the Vaio Zs (both lower & higher resolution. This may not be true if those screens are to be viewed by you or someone else.

 

Oh sweet, thanks man

 

You're welcome.

 

I started noticing it after using the high res Z for about 3 weeks.

It's kinda obvious once you notice it. However, it is noticeable only when you physically move/shift/shake the screen.

It really doesn't bother me that much given the awesome color reproduction and the great viewing angle of the Z's screen.

 

What an excellent idea, these comparison photos, just what I wanted!

 

Ctrl+MouseScroll.UP or .DOWN will increase dpi and/or text size in almost all common apps run under Vista, I think.

 

It will increase the font point size, not the dpi.

The two are different -- changing the font size is like gaining or reducing mass, while changing the dpi is like changing the gravity. In both cases, your weight changes too, but for different reasons.

(In practical terms, when the dpi changes, not only fonts change, but scalable graphics too.)

 

can't decide which screen is better
have an option to add only 100 usd and take 1600*900 instead of 1366*768
I'm not really sure does it looks better. Eyes are OK. Small font is not a problem.

 

If the font and sizes are okay with you, 1600*900 is a better choice imo. There might be "hidden" differences too, though. In another thread, some people have mentioned that the 1600*900 has faint, diagonal lines, or striped blotches. I don't see it on the 1366*768. People are reluctant to post any pictures though.

 

You also get 256 MB of dedicated video RAM with the 1600x900 screen, while only 128 MB with the 1366x768.

 

Yes sir, but that makes no difference, 256 maybe even worse. Not worth mentioning.

 

Does the local sony styles store have these on display to look at?

 

Can you tell me why? I prefer lower resolution but the only doubt for me is smaller video memory size...

 

I prefer 256 MB of video memory myself. There may be two reasons why 128 could be better:
- lower power consumption (one chip vs. two)
- since 9300M has 64-bit VRAM bus, throughput might not be enough to handle 256 MB of VRAM efficiently

The latter I am not sure of and besides both 128 and 256 also map the same amount from the main RAM, which is even slower, so 256 MB will still be faster than 128 MB VRAM + 128 MB RAM. That brings the 3rd reason:
- 128 MB version chops off additionally 128 MB of main RAM, 256 MB version chops off 256 MB. Could be considered "expensive" in 2 GB RAM configurations.

 

Probably because it is SOOO hard to catch on film. After having my Z for a couple months, I do notice the faint diagonal lines on my 1600x900 screen from occasionally if I really look for it. The lines only appear when the screen is displaying certain shades of color while you move your head at a certain speed or when you shake/move the laptop when you are using it on your lap. I don't notice a thing while doing regular word processing or watching movies.

Just out of curiosity, is it true that there's absolutely NO faint diagonal line on the lower res screen? Personally, I would go and have gone for the higher res screen. I admit that text can be small at times, but it's easy to scale up in word or chrome, or you can always change the dpi. The ability to review more information on one page is like a huge relief/freedom to me, while not having a carry a heavy 15 in laptop to school. Text in PDF files are smooth even when you zoom out, which is a huge plus for me, as I receive a lot of PDF files for my courses. I use the Z as a desktop replacement, and have the docking station connected to my 24 in screen at my apartment. It is hard to go back to the lower res screen when I'm used to my bigger monitor at home.

I don't have great vision either.. In fact, I have horrible vision when I'm not wearing my glasses. I would say most people would be comfortable enough to work with the higeher res screen for an extended period of time.

 

The jist of it is that the 256 MB VRAM has better performance at high resolution gaming, while 128 MB VRAM has better performance on the standard native resolution gaming. The video card, 9300M GS, is not a very powerful gaming card, so you are probably not going to be playing games (atleast the ones worth needing a graphics card for) at high resolution -- thus downscaling. And when playing on a lower standard resolution, the 256 MB VRAM's performance will actually be poorer than the 128 MB VRAM. That's the simplified version, it's been discussed a lot in the main thread if you want to read it.

 

I had two different Z610Y/B units and both easily exhibited the diagonal lines with the 1366px-wide screen. I switched to an SR390 and the backlighting is completely even and there are no horizontal lines. My guess is that it has something to do with the LED inverter on the Z models. It drove me nuts.

 

So... will 128Mb be enough to play Counter Strike: Source at 1366x768 ?

 

CS:S is a several years old game, and may work quite well. It also has very small areas, meaning there won't be as much texture use as large area games like GTA4 and Oblivion (to mention two other games from the same era).

Also note that the card will use spare system RAM for additional texture memory -- this is just slower than the on-board RAM, but still quite useable, especially for older games which expects that to happen anyhow.

So yeah, you'll be able to play most older multi-player games, including WoW, CS:S, Guild Wars, EQ2 and many others. What you won't be able to run are graphics-heavy games. Flight Simulator X is a joke (or should that be yoke?), and you can forget about running Crysis, GRID or Fallout 3. Even if you lower the resolution to the minimum, and play with big black borders, that generation of games will be unplayable.

 

With minimum setting, Crysis is BARELY playable on my Z690, but needless to say, the graphics looks BAD...

Unreal Tournament 3 is quite playable in low settings, and Halo 1 is pretty good with medium to high settings.

 

Unless you dont know already, with the latest 190.15 drivers from Nautis 1600x900 users can now choose the 1366x768 resolution as well

You can also choose a lower 16:9 resolution at 848x480. Now you probably ask me why the hell would you want a LOWER resolution? performance of course! In some games (like fallout3 for example) it doesnt reallly matter if you have a low or high, just add some AA to remove the jaggyness.

 

800x450 would have been MUCH more useful.

 

This is nice comparison.

I chose the lower resolution screen since I need to do coding and reading a lot. I dun want the text to be too small.

However, when you watch video, higher resolution one would be better.

 

I found 1600x900 to be too small, even after adjusting the font size. That solution still keeps alot of fonts very tiny, so I'd vote for the 1366x768 resolution.

 

The fonts being too small is not a problem if you set the DPI correctly; for a 1600x900 Z, it should be set at 140. That makes the fonts the same physical size as on lower resolution displays, just better defined and more readable due to having more pixels per character.

 

Thanks.

Is there a way to "favorite" or "bookmark" a thread? LOL sorry for the bump.

 

Just add it as a favourite under whatever browser you use.
You can also subscribe to a thread and your CP panel gives you those options.

 

I'll try to subcribe. Really didn't want to add more bookmarks to browser, that's why I asked.

Thanks.