For these old eyes!

[JimL]

I hope someone can tell me I have completely the wrong idea here, but it appears that going to a 17" laptop from my 15" laptop, per se, will do me no good whatsoever in getting larger, more easily readable type faces on this "larger" display. Rather (in the case of text) that it will have the same old type sizes and merely extend them out into longer lines or more columns or windows of lines, etc., the height of the display having remained the same.

I'm not talking about jumping through hoops to set up larger type faces - that can be done on a 15" screen. I'm talking simply about having an inherently larger type display.

JimL

[sjthinkpader]

If you can manage same size click buttons and tool bars but just want larger font to read, you can try a larger DPI setting:

1. Right click on the desktop then select Properties.
2. Click Settings tab.
3. Click Advanced button.
4. In the DPI drop menu, select Larger.. or Custom then set a larger DPI.

[Harryc]

Since this is a Thinkpad forum, I'd have to assume that you are asking about 17" Thinkpads. The only one available is a model W700. It's native resolution is either WXGA+ or WUXGA. WXGA+ is a resolution of 1440x900, and WUXGA is a resolution of 1920x1200. I don't know what you have today, but since you posted in the T4X forum, lets assume that you have a 15" XGA (1024x768) T4X Thinkpad. What happens with resolution is that the higher (larger number) the resolution is, the smaller the text on screen is. So your current T4X's LCD displayed text size would be larger than both LCD offerings of the W700 series. I hope this answers your question.

[JimL]

Since this is a Thinkpad forum, I'd have to assume that you are asking about 17" Thinkpads. The only one available is a model W700. It's native resolution is either WXGA+ or WUXGA. WXGA+ is a resolution of 1440x900, and WUXGA is a resolution of 1920x1200. I don't know what you have today, but since you posted in the T4X forum, lets assume that you have a 15" XGA (1024x768) T4X Thinkpad. What happens with resolution is that the higher (larger number) the resolution is, the smaller the text on screen is. So your current T4X's LCD displayed text size would be larger than both LCD offerings of the W700 series. I hope this answers your question.

More clearly, assuming I set the resolution to 1024x768, would normal text be any larger on this larger W700 display?

The point being, if I got a giant 21 inch CRT I know an equal resolution setting would give me something bigger to read. But is that really the case with these 17 inch screens? And I don't mean marginally. I mean AT ALL. I mean, is all the size put into making it wider, not higher. I've seen a lot of 17 inch screens locally with screens not even as high as my 15 incher. NOT interested!

JimL

[ZaZ]

Yes it will be larger, but setting your LCD to a non-native resolution will make it fuzzy/blurry. Vista and Windows 7 do a pretty good job making things bigger with the use of DPI. In XP some fonts are hard coded making it difficult to enlarge them. The LCD with the biggest text would be a 15" standard notebook like the T60 or R60 with XGA resolution.

[RealBlackStuff]

All these new big-size laptops have widescreens, not the 4:3/5:4 screens like the old 14.1" and 15" such as used on the T4x series.
These had resolutions of 1024x768 or 1440x1050 or even 1600x1200.
With widescreens you may get the same width, but a lot less height.
Personally I hate them with a passion.
I use a 19" external monitor with 1280x1024 resolution. This too would be perfect for you!

[sjthinkpader]

...
The point being, if I got a giant 21 inch CRT I know an equal resolution setting would give me something bigger to read. But is that really the case with these 17 inch screens? And I don't mean marginally. I mean AT ALL. I mean, is all the size put into making it wider, not higher. I've seen a lot of 17 inch screens locally with screens not even as high as my 15 incher. NOT interested!

JimL

CRT monitors are very different from LCD screens. LCD screens have a native resolution as Fred mentioned. So you will get a fuzzy display if you set it to some other resolution. If you set the DPI I mentioned above, the GPU will resize the fonts and still give you a pixel accurate display. CRT is much different because they were never designed to be pixel accurate.

I have a 21 inch Mitsubishi CRT monitor next to an A31p. Both are 1600x1200. One is pixel accurate and one is not even though the CRT is capable of 1600x1200 resolution.

[JimL]

All these new big-size laptops have widescreens, not the 4:3/5:4 screens like the old 14.1" and 15" such as used on the T4x series.
These had resolutions of 1024x768 or 1440x1050 or even 1600x1200.
With widescreens you may get the same width, but a lot less height.
Personally I hate them with a passion.
I use a 19" external monitor with 1280x1024 resolution. This too would be perfect for you!

Perhaps. I have a 17 inch LCD that wasn't too well suited to the task. It would only accept 1024x768 because it didn't have a resolution matching the next one available on the computer. Looked terrible.

I need to buy a new TV - HD of course (resolution?). Is it yet useful to feed a computer into a TV?

JimL