The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Blocky Text Screen: Dell 9100

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by Albrot, May 28, 2004.

  1. Albrot

    Albrot Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I have a Dell 9100 with the XSGA monitor and I am finding that when I surf the net, a lot of the pictures/text look very blocky. Is this because of the resolution, the screen, or some setting that I have wrong?

    Any help would be appreciated.
     
  2. mathlete2001

    mathlete2001 Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    58
    Messages:
    865
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Totally nothing wrong with your system. LCD's have slightly more defined pixels, making a low-res image appear very blocky compared to a CRT.
    Solution: Pump your resolution up to the maximum and enable cleartype, an anti-aliasing function of windows XP. Learn how to turn it on here, it's amazing http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/cleartypeactivate.htm

    Dell 8600
    1.8 dothan SXGA+
    128mb radeon 9600PRO TURBO
    512mb RAM
     
  3. Albrot

    Albrot Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I also found that knocking the screen DPI down to 96 helped a lot too. Thanks for the cleartype hints!
     
  4. mathlete2001

    mathlete2001 Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    58
    Messages:
    865
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Screen DPI? where is that?

    Dell 8600
    1.8 dothan SXGA+
    128mb radeon 9600PRO TURBO
    512mb RAM
     
  5. Albrot

    Albrot Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    You can right click on your desk top, go to properties, and then the general tab. It adjusts everything, including picture sizes and things along those lines, but everything also looks sharper.
     
  6. mathlete2001

    mathlete2001 Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    58
    Messages:
    865
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Thanks, looks like we both learned something.

    Dell 8600
    1.8 dothan SXGA+
    128mb radeon 9600PRO TURBO
    512mb RAM