Dell 14z - Which Resolution Should I Get?

Hi everybody! I plan on buying the dell studio 14z in a few weeks, but the screen resolution is holding me back right now from purchasing it. I don't know whether I should get the 720p or the 900p. I am afraid that if i go with the 900p, the text will be too small for me. Please let me know what you think I should get. PLEASE POST PICTURES OF BOTH 720P AND 900P IF YOU HAVE ANY. Thank You

 

It really is a personal choice. Some people prefer 900p some people prefer lower.

You can however change the DPI settings, so you get good resolution and font sizes are larger. However, some older applications (and even some parts of windows itself, don't fully support it. What you'd notice is that the text might not fit in the boxes that it should fit in, or it goes off the screen.

For a large number of people though, the common applications have been configured correctly with changed DPI settings.

 

Photos won't really help you figure this out, because you'll have to really use it to find a difference. Most people (as I've seen) find stuff small temporarily, but quickly get used to it and take full advantage of the extra screen space. Very rarely, I've found that people do find it too small after using it for a long time, but most people appreciate the extra screen resolution. To best figure this out yourself, I'd find somebody with a fairly high res screen or shop around and use it for a while to make sure.

 

I've always found WXGA+ (1440x900) to be the perfect resolution for a 14.1" display. Those were 16:10 aspect ratio displays, while the 14z has the newer 16:9 aspect ratio. I would definitely go with the 1600x900 (900p) on the 14z!

 

I agree with allfired up on this. More screen resolution which gives you more room for lots of things like tool bars and even when running multiple applications.

With modern OS's ability to change icon and text DPI makes it even easier.

I have also noticed in our company that we have had a few people complain at first when they go to a higher res screen, but they quickly adjust and actually prefer it medium to long term

If I was buying a 14Z (and I am considering one) I'd go with the 900p

 

The great thing about the 900p (1600x900) is that you still get the same 900-vertical pixel count, as with a 1440x900. It simply gains 160 horizontal pixels.

With the standard (WXGA) the resolution is 1366x768 compared to 1280x800 on the outgoing 16:10 aspect ratio displays. It gains 86 horizontal pixels, but loses 32 vertical pixels- which can equal several lines of text! On a 1080p display, it's 1920x1080 compared to 1920x1200 on the 16:10 displays. That means a loss of 120 vertical pixels and no change in horizontal pixels.

So while other display resolutions represent a trade-off moving from a 16:10 to 16:9 display, the 900p is a win/win!

 

Not gonna lie, I have the 900p screen and its a little taxing on the eyes after a while...
But I do love it, and it is especially nice when multitasking.

 

Have you tried adjusting the font size (DPI)? A friend of mine has a 15.4" ThinkPad T61p with a WUXGA (1920x1200) display. He had a difficult time with the default setting (96 DPI) but after adjusting to 120DPI, it looks perfect- easy to read and still much more "desktop real estate" than something like a basic 1280x800! The DPI scaling is significantly better in Vista than it was in XP...and I've read that it will be further improved in Windows 7!