Anyone tried the XPS 1530 with 1920x1200?

I'm thinking of shelling out for this baby.

I need higher than 1280x800 and that leaves 1400x900 and 1920x1200.
1680x1050 would have been great at this size but Dell have pulled them (due to the grainy problem I imagine).

Now, I had a 1920x1200 display on a Sony 17" laptop and (gorgeous as it was) I used to think that the res was too high for that size screen: icons in XP were tiny.

So now I'm considering 1920x1200 on this 15.4" screen and I have to wonder if it'll even be usable. I'll mainly be writing code and reading text and I'll be running Vista.

Any opinions?

 

I've been using WUXGA (1920x1200) for years on my 15" Inspiron 9100. Yes, it is a bit small and people tend to make comments when they see it, but you can always make your font sizes larger. It has never been a problem for me.

Like you, I write code. I also work with photography and do video editing as well. In my experience, the extra desktop space is immeasurably worth the "sarcifice" of the small size. So, answer your question in short, yes it is very usable.

I currently use an M1530 with WSXGA+. I got stuck with the Samsung crap LCD and I'm looking to upgrade my resolution by either swapping my old WUXGA from my 9100 or purchase the LG LP154WU1 WUXGA which I've read a lot of Mac users have been raving about.

 

i actually own a compaq x1000 one of the first 15.4 widescreen laptops. i purchased mine with the 1920x1200 resolution. i love it!

i've had this laptop for around 5 years now, i've been wanting to replace it however i could never find a suitable laptop that also had this kind of resolution plus a decent graphics card

 

Thanks Rikki and ayce. I also spend a lot of time on photography in Adobe Lightroom...but I'd probably do that on my desktop with 24" WUXGA. The laptop is really just for coding in Visual Studio on the train to and from work.

I suppose I just don't want to end up squinting to read the screen.
Maybe if it's not my main machine then I won't mind having 1440x900?
On the other hand, perhaps if I got the WUXGA one I'd be able to exchange it for a lower res if I didn't like it?

Damn, I wish I could just see one. Anyone got any screenshots of 15.4" WUXGA in action? And a 1440x900 comparison?

 

To those guys who have a 1920x1200

What happends when turn your resulution to 1680x1050 does the quality stay the same or does it get grainy or even distorted?

 

most likely it will be "blurry" like any other tft used on non native resolution, why would you get 1920x1200 and set it on 1680 ? :s

 

Well here's what I did to find this out. Assuming you currently have a 15.4" screen, go download a screenshot of Vista/XP running at 1920x1200 (community forums often have "post your desktop" threads you can find these in). Then use any means you like to view it in full screen (you can scale it to your current res in Photoshop, or open it in Windows Photo & Fax viewer, then press F11 and pause in the upper-right). This way you can see how large things will be. It will appear fuzzy this way, but you get a sense of the size of things.

 

The 1680 x 1050 screens are still available though.

 

This should give you an idea of the proportions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Vector_Video_Standards2.svg

 

I am currently sitting in front of two laptops: a 15.4" Latitude D820 with 1920X1200 and a 17" Inspiron 1720 with 1440x900 (dont ask me how I got that one, thats a while story by itself ...).

Even for browsing the web I prefer the higher resolution; for software development I consider 1440x900 as inacceptable, suffering it only until my soon planned new laptop purchase - you simply do not get enough information onto the screen, I am constantly scrolling around the IDE and switching between the IDE and e.g. documentation ...

Yes, the text is small if you go for 1920x1200 on a 15.4". I have had coworkers who had troubles reading it, caveat emptor. Obviously, a 17" at that resolution is a better choice. I am carrying one or both laptops with me every day between home office, my favorite caffee, and clients offices. These new 17" laptops are not very heavy any more, if this is a reason you consider a 15". I have been using 17" laptops on planes as well. Furthermore, I use a roller backpack to lug them around.

Unless you have troubles with your vision, always go with the higher res if you use your machine for software development.

 

@dtwn83: Unfortunately the 1680 x 1050 screens aren't available in the UK. If they were then I'd choose that res.

@TigerFX: Good idea. I don't have access to a 15.4" screen. I've tried to resize the window to about 15.4" on my 24" monitor. But while it gives an indication of size, it's so blurry that it doesn't really give me a good indication of readability, which is what I'm really interested in.

@Rhodan: Thanks for the reference.

@cyberanto: I agree that 1920x1200 is awesome for dev. I suppose it just falls down when it comes to web browsing. I'm tempted to just go for the 1920x1200 and try to send it back if I find it too small.

In another forum someone was saying just get the 1920x1200 and then up the dpi to 120. I find this pointless: by my calculations you end up with exactly the same real estate as a 1440x900! And I tested this out on my Dell 24" monitor and found that some icons in Windows and other apps don't render well at that dpi.

So it's either 15.4" at 1440x900 or 1920x1200, or I start again and go 17". But I don't like the battery life of the 1730. Kinda had my heart set on the m1530.

Damn. I wish Dell had an outlet I could go to and try these babies out.

 

Try to phone Dell to ask if you can order a 1680 x 1050 screen. Sometimes it's possible to order things by phone that are not on the website.

 

Thanks Jesper. Should I use the "Request a Call" feature on the website or should I find a direct number?

I might ask them about the LED 1440x900 while I'm at it.

 

On the Dell UK website it says "Buy Online or Call 0844 444 4699" at the top. I'd just call that number.

 

Doh! Thanks mate. Can't believe I missed the very first line of the website!

 

Just spoke to a Dell salesperson and he said I CAN get the m1530 with 1680x1050! Just not available on the website.