Dell 1520 resolution options..help a newb decide :)

Hi All,

First timer to this forum and first time notebook purchaser. After doing extensive reading here, great site btw, I have decided to go with the 1520. It seems like a nice balance for me as I mostly need the laptop for home with occasional travel. The computer will mostly be used for basic tasks (word processing, browsing, etc), organizing pictures with some modifications, creating some home movies, and light gaming.

My confusion is when it comes to the resolution choices and the little information on Dell's site. Let's take price out of the equation and focus on the technology. These options are:

Glossy, widescreen 15.4 inch display (1280x800)
Anti-glare, widescreen 15.4 inch display (1280x800)
High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch display (1680x1050)
High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch display (1440x900)


In the help me choose link when customizing, it mentions WXGA+, WSXGA+, WUXGA, yet these descriptions are nowhere to be found in the selections. They also mention True Life but none of the optins use that keyword either. So essentially the help me choose just makes me more confused.

Now, I know high resolution is always nice, but I also do not want to make everything on the screen, ie fonts and icons look tiny so that I get eye strain.

Can anyone provide information and help in making this choice?

Thanks in advance!

 

The best way to decide is to try and see screens for yourself. Most of the screens at any store you go to are going to be same old WXGA screens. But the Dell Kiosks you sometimes find in the mall tend to have display models with high resolution screens. If you can, even if they still have the old models. You should go check them out.

Personaly I find WSXGA+ to be the cat's meow when it comes to 15.4 screen size notebooks.

 

High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch display (1440x900)

....is perfect for a 15.4" notebook.

 

I was thinking of going for the 1440x900 with truelife option however i have floaters in my eyes and i am wondering if the higher res might strain my eyes a bit so i might opt for the 1280x800. I am still unsure on truelife though. it looks great in stores for pretty much everything but so many people hate it it scares me!

 

I opted for the 1680 x 1050.

I plan to use an external monitor at home (20" or so) - and I assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that I needed to select that option if I wanted to be able to drive an external monitor at that res.

Now that I think about it, thats probably not true. Does anyone know what the maximum resolution of an external monitor that the 8600m-GT can drive?

 

WSXGA+ by far. Anything else and you won't have much desktop space to work in. 1680x1050 gives you plenty of room without being illegible.

 

My confusion is still how do I know which option is WSXGA+?

Is that the highest resolution option?

Thanks for the info !

 

is their any problem of turning down the resolution of a wsxga+ screen to like say wxga+ resolution? (in wordprocessing....gaming...movie...etc)

 

Yes.

WXGA (Wide Extended Graphics Array) has a resolution of 1280x800
WXGA+ (Wide Extended Graphics Array Plus) has a resolution of 1440x900
WSXGA+ (Wide Super Extended Graphics Array Plus) has a resolution of 1680x1050

For the 1520, WSXGA+ is the highest option.

Not really. It doesn't appear as crisp and some people find that really annoying. I have a terrible graphics card in this desktop and when I play games I turn the resolution down to 800x600 on a 1280x1024 LCD and it looks fine.

It will look a little weird, but it should be fine if you ever want to turn it down. If you don't forsee yourself ever using the highest resolution, don't get it.

 

yes, but it won't look as good if you take a 1680-1050 and drop it down to a lower resolution. it gets sort of blurry compared to a screen that is just wxga at it's highest resolution.

 

Terrific that explains so much more. Thank you very much.

Now, lets say money wasn't the deciding factor here. Would choosing the highest resolution cause me to have very very small icons and text? Or are they not related?

 

The higher the resolution the smaller the icons and text will appear (in short, yes).

I personally prefer to have more desktop space and my eyesight is good enough that I'd feel very comfortable runnig 1680x1050 on a 15.4" screen.

I like the smaller icons and text, but if you don't, and want your monitor to appear clean and crisp at a resolution at which you can read text and distinguish icons, go with the smaller res.

 

I agree with Zahn. You can fit more in the same amount of space on a 1680x1050, but some people will never take advantage of this. Honestly, if you never play games it won't be a deficit to upgrade at all. And even if you do play games, it will still probably be not very noticeable.

 

Last question on this, it appears that 3 out of the 4 options are for glossy. Does antiglare make the picture worse? Is glossy the way to go?

Trying to decide on which of the two lower resolution options i should choose.