Dell I9300 Screen

After much deliberation, I have tentatively decided on purchasing a Dell I9300, which seems, so far as I have been able to ascertain, to offer the best available ratio of price to performance.

I have read, though, that the I9300 has a certain "screen issue" -- namely, a "sparkling" effect viewable against white backgrounds. As I am a writer, and am hoping to be able to use this machine for long periods of time without eye strain or irritation, this screen issue is a cause of no slight concern to me. What are your opinions of the 9300 display? Is it clear, bright? Is it viewable in sunlight? Is the "sparkling" phenomenon largely a non-issue?

Thanks.

 

You've hit on the BIG issue with the 9300 for a lot of people. Yes, there definitely is a "sparkle" effect with the 9300's WUXGA screen. It's most noticeable with white backgrounds... just like those you see in documents. Another thing about the 9300 screen is that whites appear as a dull grey color. The WXGA screen does not have these problems, by the way.

The good thing about buying from Dell is that you can return products without a restocking fee, so there's no risk in trying the 9300.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by mefloquine.dream

 

Again, thanks.

I've been using an aging Dell Inspiron (bare-bones model, approximately 650$ before tax/shipping ) for a year and a half; and never have I used a resolution higher than 1024 X 768. Now, on a larger screen such as the one on the 9300, I'm sure I'll use a slightly-higher resolution; but I cannot conceive of any real need for anything greater than, say, 1600X1200 at the absolute maximum.

Aside from the additional "real estate" afforded by the WUXGA screen, is there any other real reason to prefer it over the WXGA variant? If the sparkle phenomenon is as endemic as it appears to be, it seems to me that there is no justification for spending the additional money for the TrueLife display -- assuming, of course, that one is not placing an unreasonable premium on resolution.

Have you used the traditional WXGA screen? Do you think it would be easier on the eyes during long periods of writing/document work?

 

Thanks much.

What is the difference, aside from the "sparkle," between the two screens? Would the WXGA screen be as well-suited for DVDs/games/entertainment purposes?

 

Wow. Thanks.

The Internet is truly a beautiful thing -- such knowledge gleaned in such little time

BTW: What made you choose Asus? I looked at a custom Asus from ProPortable.com, but it seemed like i could get more bang for the buck from dell. Was I wrong?

 

You've got it right. The WXGA is much easier on the eyes and is the screen I'd get were I in the market for a 9300. I had an Inspiron 8600 with WUXGA. At first, I really like that resolution, but within just a few weeks I found myself constantly squinting and leaning close to the screen while using my 8600. For notebooks, I think the best resolution is WSXGA+, which is what I have on the Asus z70v I ordered. I use a 24" WUXGA LCD with my desktop PC and it's perfect for me.

 

I concur... the wonders of the internet never cease to amaze. You oughtta see my collection of downloaded porn videos. HA!!

I chose the Asus because I wanted a slim, light, 15.4" WSXGA+ notebook. Dell didn't have anything that could match the z70v, so the decision was easy for me.

The 9300 is undoubtedly the best bang-for-the-buck notebook you can buy. If you can score a $750 off coupon or a 35% off sale, you can pick up a loaded 9300 for well under $1500.

Glad to have been of help to you!

 

I wonder how much my old Inspiron 1100 weighs...

I'm used to fairly heavy laptops -- I'm always afraid I'll break the slim ones -- so I doubt size will be that much of an issue.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by mefloquine.dream

 

BTW: What would give the biggest performance increase? 1.73Ghz to 1.86Ghz Pentium M? Or 40 GB 4200 RPM to 60 GB 7200 RPM HD?

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by mefloquine.dream

 

I am trying to configure a 9300 for purchase and after reviewing the forums have decided to go with the WXGA. I desperately want the 256 NVidia G0 6800 - would this be wasted on the WXGA? My usage would basically be 50% Word, Excel, Quickbooks, web and 50% gaming. Thanks for your help ... boat.

 

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

 

I suggest you only go with the TrueLife if you want the resolution or there is no reason. DVD's play 100 percent better on the non TrueLife disply otherwise they are not in focus. Way back in April...the first day or so someone told me that and i did not really believe it. It is true without a doubt.

The TrueLife display is the exact same display except for the resolution and like a clear piece og glss not mirror or reflective over it. When It's turned off you can see the reflection.
As for the sparkle effect .It's grainy but It's the ame no matter which you chose. I wouldn't really call it a sparkle effect.

If you want the resolution ,that is what you should solely base your decision on and this is only an opinion reseched for many months to an extreme.

The resolution can be adjusted by adding firefox ...keeping IE of course aand changing all fonts...all of them . Checcking of ClearType but it wont help unless you downlod a very small utility or tool for ClearType or Trutype to run in the backround. This will fix many ,many isues but not enough nto only use IE and Using Firefox when you can because it makes a huge difference for the text.

Changing all fonts to a ClearTpye or TrueType font is a huge must with a tool runnng.There is a quick easy small powertool in the Microsoft help and support page. Just do a search and the microsoft one will show up with tons of others. This will make a huge difference along Firefox at least or another browser.

Best regards,
heart


Karma, It'll Get You!

 

I've watched a couple movies on the True Life that came with my xps2, and haven't noticed any focus problems. Movies look great on it.

It really comes down to how good your eye's are. I use the 1920 screen with standard size fonts and love it. Getting that much data on the screen at once, and the ease of opening multiple windows next to each other is great. If your vision isn't so good, you probably want to go with the lower rez screen, althrough there are tools you can use if you find the text too small to make it larger.

I will say the 1920 rez is absolutely awesome in games. HL2 has to be seen to be believed, and other games I've been playing like EQ2, Giuld Wars, BF2demo, all look fantastic. My desktop pc has a 17' 1280x1024 LCD, and the difference is really noticeable running the same game with the same detail levels at the two different resolutions. At 1920x1200, you really don't need any form of AA at all.

True Life does make colors much more vibrant, and gives the image a smoother appearance. I'd go to a local electronics store and complare some of the laptops they have thier to get an idea if you like the glass coating or prefere a standard lcd. I think pretty much all laptop manufacturer's have models with the glossy screen.

 

i'll c how good my eyes are once i set my notebook up wen i get it [ ]

6/14-Ordered Inspiron 9300 wit:1.86 GHZ Pentium M | 512 MB DDR RAM | 80 GB hard drive | 256 NVidia GeForce Go 6800
Update-6/20: Expected Shipping
Duble Update-6/21: Delivery

 

Also, could someone explain what the "sparkle" effect is?

 

If you got the Truelife screen, ppl say for the increased resolution but makes for squinting, can't you simply change to the lower resolution like non-truelife screen?

The main difference I see is the more vibrant colors. No? Do ppl with the Truelife screen have anything to say about watching DVD's on it? It's what I'm looking at using the better screen mostly for.

Is viewing angle affected by Truelife? Which has larger viewing angle?

Is the reflection an issue with people? Like do ppl with truelife have thoughts about possibly seeing your reflection while typing documents, playing games, or watching a movie?

It seems this new glossy cover seems to be becoming the new standard for laptops from what I could see dropping by compUSA.

 

Just for the folks who might search in the future and see this thread;
I see a few things here that can be better explained.

The "Sparkle" effect is apparently the result of some kind of special light diffusing shield either in front of or behind the pixel plate.
I think it was an effort to increase the viewing angle of the screen. I have the I9200 with WUXGA screen, and side-to-side, I can turn the screen and it simply doesn't change. However, it behaves like any other LCD if the top is tilted toward or away from the viewer.

You can change the resolution setting for text only. I use the 96 dpi (Dots Per Inch). You can change it to anything you want, however there are "suggested" numbers that work out mathematically that won't cause Internet Explorer to "squish" individual letters in order to fit them into it's limited format.

The other size changing option is to change the overall screen resolution from 1920 x 1200 down to the next lower resolution, thereby mimicking the wxga screen.
I personally like this idea for a handful of reasons:

It's really a personal preference, but I don't find the sparkling effect very distracting.
I DO find bad pixels very distracting, though!
My old 1024 x 768 screened lappy I had 1 dead and 1 stuck pixel, and I found them to be extremely distracting. Pixel problems are a fact of LCD life.
I have a stuck pixel on my I9200 screen, but I can hardly see it.

The other issue is picture quality. "Jaggies" are the step-like diagonal lines in digital pictures that appear more prevalent in low resolution screens. When viewing photographs, the WUGXA RULES!!!

-However, DVDs are another story.
DVDs only play back a certain pixel count as they were designed for television CRT format, so they actually appear somewhat fuzzy on wuxga as the reading software has to compensate or stretch the image. Of course there is either better software, or simply changing the resolution for viewing, or learning to enjoy watching movies through cheesecloth!

So my point is that depending on your application, choosing a WUXGA screen may only give you slightly more satisfaction over the WXGA, but the WUXGA can be made to behave just like the WXGA easily enough.
Just don't decide against the higher resolution screen for the wrong reasons, such as font size, because that is completely OS adjustable.

Happy Dell I9200 owner.

 

man..the XGA screen 4 the 9300 ROCKS!!!!!...no joke!!...there is absolutely no leakage that i can c...and i got a Samsung LCD screen[ ]...which is the greatest!!!!

6/14-Ordered Inspiron 9300 wit:1.86 GHZ Pentium M | 512 MB DDR RAM | 80 GB hard drive | 256 NVidia GeForce Go 6800
Update-6/20: Expected Shipping
Duble Update-6/21: 9300 Received!!!

 

Does the screen have dark shady diagonal (going towards the middle, one at the "Start" button, other at the "Clock") spots in the bottom corners of it? Just wondering, caz I saw it on all 9300 I've looked at. Not fun to look at.

 

Does anyone know the maximum resolution of the WUXGA screen as opposed to the standard WXGA? I am trying to find that information and it seems alot harder than I thought it would be.

- Mojo[8]

 

Hey Goldbeater or anyone else who know,

So you say with DVD's they only can have so much pixel count. Then does changing the resolution down to mimic WXGA+ for DVD's solve this problem of the fuzziness? If so, I don't see what the problem is.

 

Bringing down your WUXGA resolution for DVD viewing was just a hunch on my part. I have swapped my DVD for an old CD-RW I had kickin' around because I like to watch movies sparwled out on the floor.
So...I don't know, and I can't test it for you. But it's my guess, and I only mentioned it as a "problem: because I've read where people have complained about DVDs looking like they're being shown through a cheesecloth.

I occassionally play a game or two on the WUXGA. I think games will pretty much all start to offer that as a resolution choice in their "options" menu. I'm a bit "so yesterday" when it comes to games. My biggest thrill is Need For Speed Underground.

I found this nifty little chart for screen sizes:
http://img99.exs.cx/img99/9396/screens7ne.jpg

Happy Dell I9200 owner.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by mrmojo448

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by mrmojo448

 

ooo...cooool

6/14-Ordered Inspiron 9300 wit:1.86 GHZ Pentium M | 512 MB DDR RAM | 80 GB hard drive | 256 NVidia GeForce Go 6800
Update-6/20: Expected Shipping
Duble Update-6/21: 9300 Received!!!

 

My biggest quam about my 17" wuxga truelife is that I'm a Web designer and I like to get very detailed with my shading and gradients on graphics and I can't tell the difference between a very light grey and white. This causes a HUGE problem for me. It's so bad that I have to plug into a CRT (big clunky) monitor to design. Coding is a different issue and no big deal on it.

Also having to keep my monitor at 1920x1200 is a giant kick in the pants. This is my first notebook and I had no idea resolutions were so fickle. I've been using CRT monitors my whole life and you can change a resolution and not have blurry anything no matter what you do.

I'm actually pretty ticked off about this. What was common knowledge to most has been a revelation for me. I'm fighting the split between being mobile and doing quality work. The white/grey/sparkle issue is unacceptable. I'll be talking this over with Dell.

If you're going to watch a DVD at fullscreen at 1920x1200 sit back some, don't get up in it's grill because it will look pixelated because the 1920 is stretching the format (remember, they were made for televisions and to be watched from at least 5 feet away). However a lot of time I shrink the media player window and it looks sharp as all get out! Then you can get up close to it. I do this so I can surf the net at the same time.

Let's be honest here, the 9300 is designed for one thing, enjoying media whether it be watching a DVD or playing a game, it's not for designers. Heck, notebooks aren't for designers, well, maybe some but you still have to hook up to a better monitor to work out detail.

Well, I hope this post has helped someone. I use the VLA as well for DVD playback, it's a very nice FREE DVD decoder/media player.

Wayward