WXGA or WXGA+?

Reposting it again on much specific form.

Hi

I am planning to buy dell E6400 (14.1 inch display).
Not sure whether to get WXGA or WXGA+ display. If I get a WXGA+ display, will I be able to set the graphics resolution to 1280x800 and if yes, will the display work as good as i have WXGA display. Please help me out. My basic requirement is to get the one that has minimun stress to the eyes.

Also, shall I go with discrete or integrated graphics with this laptop? Does having discrete graphic card causes more heat as compared to the integrated one. I Wont be playing much games on this.


Thanks in advance.
Jazz

 

You will be able to set the resolution to 1280x800 on the WXGA+ display but everything will look blurry since it's not the native resolution. You can get the WXGA+ screen and adjust the DPI settings in Windows to make the fonts look bigger. I would recommend WXGA+ (it's not that much bigger, in terms of resolution, than WXGA).

The Nvidia GPU does create more heat but I don't think it's something to be very concerned about. If you're just playing basic flash games or some older games (Starcraft, CS 1.6 etc.) I would recommend the Intel GPU. Otherwise, go for the Nvidia to play some more recent games (Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead). Don't expect it to play Crysis though .

 

Thanks for your reply. I will basically be using this system for s/w development purposes, running servers etc. So had a concern about heat with extra heat with Nvidia GPU and also if WXGA+ causes eye stress since everythng is smaller.

 

you won't be able to have a proportioned 1280 x 800
it will be a series of
1440 x 900
1366 x 768
1360 x 760
1152 x 864
1024 x 768

 

My bad. I'm only seeing 800x600, 1024x768 and 1440x900 as options on my E6400. So 1280x800 on the WXGA+ may not be an option.

 

Hi jaggu

If you're worried about eye strain and things being too small, use Windows' DPI scaling, don't change the resolution. If you set the DPI to 125% (the option is in the control panel), then all the windows and other visual elements appear 25% larger. The benefit is you're still running at the native resolution, so everything is still sharp, just bigger.

The only drawback is some applications are not 'DPI aware', thus they will appear at the unadjusted 100% size.

I have a 15.4" 1920x1200 screen which is beautiful, and readable, but I did worry about eye strain. I now use Windows 7's DPI scaling (set to 125%, as 150% is a bit too big) and everything is perfect (except for Firefox, which doesn't play ball, but I can live with that).

As for the GPU, I'd go for the discrete option. Yes it consumes slightly more power and produces slightly more heat, but it's useful to have the extra horsepower. Even if you're not playing games, using Aero and playing back videos can still be helped by a descent graphics card. Of course the integrated option gets the job done, but it's not in the same league as nVidia and co.

Like the saying goes, "It's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it" (especially as you can't upgrade the graphics card later on).

 

I've got the E6400 with the WXGA+ screen, it is definitely not too small to work with. I'd go with that.

As far as the GPU is concerned, I would stick with Intel unless you play games a decent amount or do 3D app work. Longer battery life, less heat, and cheaper.