9300: screen for web & graphic design

first post - yay! i'm hoping a fellow web/graphic designer can answer my question. i'm considering the 9300 and one my main purposes for the laptop is web & graphic design. i'm not terribly experienced, but i have recently obtained some steady work that should be leading to more. my laptop up til now has been a Clevo 888E (Pro-Star 8854), and i always thought the screen was pretty good. this was in comparison to a monitor that was worse than we thought - we recently replaced it with an older Apple monitor which is gorgeously bright.

i've been reading through the forums regarding the XGA+/UXGA screens, and the Dell 'help me pick' link recommends the UXGA for serious graphic work. what i'd like to know is whether that screen is good and necessary for good graphic work. aside from the web design, i don't do anything else that requires an excellent screen (ie i watch dvds rarely).

thanks in advance!

Arp Laszlo
http://djrx.com
AIM/iCHat: arphaus

 

dude i think mac is best for what you want to do

 

i'm not a mac person - in fact, the Apple monitor i have, a throwaway from work, is the first Apple product i've owned since my long-gone Apple IIe [ ].

i'll clarify what else i do in addition to web design: audio production. and no, Macs are not the end-all and be-all for that, no matter what someone who's either invested ten$ of thou$and$ or any old Mac addict will say. music plugins can require a lot of horsepower, and Pentiums have an insanely better cost erformance ratio than Macs. i'll admit - OS X is a really nice, well-conceived OS and Apples are nothing short of gorgeous. but i'd rather spend less to get something that gives me more (though spending more on an Apple is better than spending $1000 more for nice paint-job on a lappy).

in short, i'm a pc guy, and will be staying on the platform for awhile. that being said, have you a recommendation either way on the screens?

Arp Laszlo
http://djrx.com
AIM/iCHat: arphaus

 

I do some FrontPage web site work on my 9300, and I chose the WUXGA+ screen. I'm having a hard time getting used to this really small font size, even though I've changed to 150 dpi and ClearType fonts. I am not sure what to tell you. Perhaps I need glasses or something, but my eyes are really hurting now. The brightness is fine on the 9300; default is a little dim, and I have to adjust it up some.

There's another forum devoted to the 9300 screen resolution. You might want to go in there and find a better answer. I intend to use CAD on my computer, so the WUXGA+ was almost a necessity. I can say that games and DVD movies play very well on this display. You'll probably want to invest in the better graphics card option, either way you go.

Inspiron 9300, Pentium M 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM, 256MB NVIDIA 6800 Go, 17" LPL WUXGA+ TrueLife,60GB HD, CD-+RW/DVD-+RW, Dell Wireless

 

i love my current laptop's native resolution, 1280x1024. it's also got a 15.7" screen, and i'm quite happy with the smaller text. after going to a store and looking at some laptops with 15.4" & 17", i've started to lean more towards the smaller screen. while 17" looks awesome, the laptops themselves are a tad massive.

otoh, my current machine (Clevo 888E) is a 12lb beast, and anything will seem lighter in comparison.

Arp Laszlo
http://djrx.com
AIM/iCHat: arphaus

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by InTheSticks

 

i'm definitely going with the 15.4", once i saw that the 17s would be 2" wider than my current laptop.

interestingly, a friend of mine has a 14" vaio that he uses for CAD stuff, but he mainly does graphic design rather than architecture.

Arp Laszlo
http://djrx.com
AIM/iCHat: arphaus

 

I've come to the conclusion that I'll probably have to live with the fuzziness of the large fonts, icons, and graphics... or send my 9300 back and get a smaller screen. The problem with that, however, is that I intend to do CAD and need the 17" for that. I guess I COULD get by with a 15.4" screen with good graphics capability, but that is the minimum you can work with when doing CAD stuff.

I just hate to think the 9300 might NOT work for me. [ ]

As I said on another board here, perhaps I should try the prescription glasses made to wear while working at a computer. [?]

I'm just not ready to give up on this one yet.

HeartofGold:

I DID try all the options from the other web site. Although none of the options solve all the problems at the same time, some HELP. It still comes down to choosing what I can "live with." Thank you for your diligence in helping me with this one!!! [ ]


Inspiron 9300, Pentium M 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM, 256MB NVIDIA 6800 Go, 17" LPL WUXGA+ TrueLife,60GB HD, CD-+RW/DVD-+RW, Dell Wireless

 

i AM primarily a Mac guy, but I picked up a 9300 for fun and cross platform game testing. I work on web stuff, and game creation...I'm so-so about the WUXGA+. I really think it should max out at 1680x1050.
1920 x1200 is just too high for the screen size. Fonts are simply too small. No matter how much tweaking you do, you will always come across font problems. Alot of websites layout will get all buggered when you increase font size more than once or twice.

The screen makes games look incredible, and DVD's.. but I just don't know if I will be able to use it on a daily basis.

I used to have 20-20 vision, and it hs declined quite a bit.. I think from being on a computer as much as I am everyday. My eyes get tired..dry..etc. I'm not sure why Dell and other companies are ramping up the native res on these displays.. but it's just too high.

I'm thinking I will return my 9300 and wait to see if Dell will offer a middle res in the future.

 

i've been looking around to see if i can find pictures of the screen at the different resolutions. i use 1280x1024 normally on a non-WS 15.7" - i don't know if 200 more pixels up&down will bother me that much or not. i wish dell could have screenshots to help us make a properly informed decision.

Arp Laszlo
http://djrx.com
AIM/iCHat: arphaus

 

you mean http://www.notebookforums.com ???

 

i found a faq on the 6000 that seemed to have had screenshots once upon a time. i haven't had a chance to look around to see if they're posted elsewhere.

Arp Laszlo
http://djrx.com
AIM/iCHat: arphaus

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by AdamMD

 

Nitpicking has nothing to do with being advanced or not. I subscribe to several forums that are FAR more technical than either this one or notebookforums (which IMHO is just a place for flame bait). I dislike that place for precisely that reason -- they needlessly nitpick.

Most of the ppl who does it only do it to show that they are in the "know", while really have ZERO idea what they are talking about. It's all about jumping on the bandwagon. Nothing advanced about that.

Granted there are sometimes viable infos over there, I've read up on their thread regarding the Acer 8104, and found it to be quite informative. But in general u'd be better off going to a more heavily moderated, and advanced forum like HardOCP's or Ars Technica if you are looking for more advanced help. They tend to weed out the trolls just as soon as they pop up. lol

Newbies come here for advice, a lot juvaniles go to notebookforums to rant, and if you want to actually learn something, go to places like anandtech or hardocp or ars instead. [ ]

at least that's how i see it.

cheers,

yass

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by AdamMD

 

I've been stricltly using notebookforums.com for awhile now and find the user base there to be a bit more advanced compared to this forum. I'm not knocking people on this forum now! [ ] So for those of you more inclined to nitpick the hell out of dell's systems, you might be better suited to notebookforums.com Don't let em brainwash you though. And no, no relation to titaniummd

 

After trying all the options to increase dpi; change resolution; use ClearType fonts (and the ClearType tuner), I have come to the conclusion there is no right answer here. Although there are some improvements here and there, none of the changes (alone or combined) are enough to make me love this screen. I love the laptop, and movies look good on it, but I didn't buy it for that reason. I don't think I can live with this, even with a lower resolution (and screwed up everything else). It's probably going back! I'm not going to trash my vision just to have a 17" display! It's not worth it.

Unless someone has another this to try???? You've all given good suggestions, and it's appreciated.

Inspiron 9300, Pentium M 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM, 256MB NVIDIA 6800 Go, 17" LPL WUXGA+ TrueLife,60GB HD, CD-+RW/DVD-+RW, Dell Wireless

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by InTheSticks

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by flyrooster

 

I did lower the resolution, and left the DPI at default (96?), and used ClearType fonts. Although this was the best solution out of all, it tends to stretch things out from left to right; make them blurry; and only seems to change some of the things on the screen. While most items looked bigger, there were still some words that were painfully small, compared to the rest.

I don't really have any vision problems, or anything, I'm just not into straining my eyes to read. I guess I'm spoiled, in a way, by a normal, 15" CRT monitor. Or... maybe I DO need glasses?! Ha ha.

Right now, I'm at work and don't have the laptop with me. But, I am going to adjust the resolution to something fairly acceptable (not too blurry, and big enough to see), either tonight or tomorrow morning. There's got to be an answer!

HeartofGold... your Karma is getting you. Thanks, so much, for trying to solve the problem and keep me from being too disappointed. I know you're trying to return some of that support. That's what it's all about on these boards! Sharing information, helping solve problems, and keeping each other SANE!

I haven't given up quite yet (although I AM investigating other options, just in case I have to throw in the towel).

Later, everyone!

Inspiron 9300, Pentium M 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM, 256MB NVIDIA 6800 Go, 17" LPL WUXGA+ TrueLife,60GB HD, CD-+RW/DVD-+RW, Dell Wireless

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by flyrooster