Screen Resolution advice

I'm looking at buying a dell xps M1530 and I don't really know what screen resolution to go with. The comp. will have an Intel T8300 (2.4Ghz) or maybe a T9300 processor. It will also have a 256 MB 8600GT graphics card and 4 GB ram.

The home & office site gives the options of a 1440 x 900 screen and a 1920 x 1200 screen. The business site offers those 2 plus a 1680 x 1050 scrn.

Would the 1920 x 1200 be too awfully small or is it worth it? I probably won't watch many movies because I have a PS3 and a 26" lcd tv, but I will definately be playing some games and doing other school based activities .

But anyways I need some guidance; I don't really know what to get.

 

i doubt u will be able to play games higher then 1440 by 900
so i would say that

 

If you ever plan to use it for web surfing or office work, I'm personally a fan of as high a resolution as you can get. I've had no problems with my 1920X1200 17" or my gf's 1680X1050 15". I think 1920X1200 could be fine on a 15". If worst comes to worst, up the DPI and font sizes in Windows, but don't drop your res. You can play games below native res ok though.

 

And also you can still do 4:1 pixel scaling too, and play pretty well at 960x600 without the muddying effects of interpolation.

I'd go with the WUXGA resolution if available.

 

I personally find WSXGA+ to be best for a 15.4" notebook, but everyone's different. WUXGA is too small in my opinion, but there are some who like it. The best thing you can do is go look at some though it will be difficult to see any in a store. Your best option is probably if you know someone with one. Do you have a computer now and if so what's your screen resolution?

 

wsxga+ unless you know you need the screen real estate.

 

WUXGA on a 15.4 is pushing the human equation!

 

WUXGA will make thing VERY small and hard to read, but if you work with a lot of windows , then you might need it.
Otherwise , 1680x1050 is the screen for you.

 

Go for the 1440 x 800 LED!

 

I'm using a 1440 x 900 on my 19" widescreen for my desktop now, and I like it. I've never had a laptop before though. I guess I should go check out the resolutions in a store somewhere.

 

I have 15.4" and 1680x1050 and it's great, my opinion is to go with that one.

 

i wish i could have wuxga on a 14 inch.... Then again i have much better than perfect vision.

 

I have poor vision, yet still like super high res. I've had no probs with the specs in my sig or my gf's 15" @ 1680X1050.

 

Ok. One more question.

Will using a higher resolution make the laptop run any slower?

 

probably not unless you use programs that are heavily dependent on gpu. most obvious is games. you'll probably have to lower resolution for newer games.

 

^^^What he said. Yes, in games definitely or any program using GPU. But I would still sugest to go for WSXGA+. But that is only my opinion.

 

+1 for the WSXGA+. It's a fantastic resolution, and allows you to get much more organizational capability for your buck in terms of documents, net surfing, and in some cases games.

 

In this case I'd vote for the WXGA+ option.

 

Personally, i think 1440x900 is best for 15.4" unless you absolutely need the extra real estate. I use a 1440x900 14" screen and it's just a bit too fine, whereas on my 17" laptop 1440x900 is a little too low.

 

I love the WSXGA+ res on a 15.4" personally. I would do nothing lower on a 15.4". I might even do WUXGA on a 15.4", but I am pretty happy with WSXGA+. Vista is pretty easy to use with higher res because it bolds the icon titles in the Control panel and such. I find the digital clock and the system tray a little small, but it is no big deal. Since you site closer to a laptop than a desktop LCD, the higher res is no problem. I was thinking of going with lower res, but I am happy I did not. The screen real estate is really nice on a high res.

 

Do the size of things displayed in WSXGA+ look the same on a 15.4, 14.1, and 13.3 displays?

Or to put it another way....if WXGA looks too big (to me) on a 15.4, would it also look too big on a 13.3?

 

Well I ended up going with the WUXGA because it was the only option with the special they were running. Hope it works. heh heh