Thinkpads Forum

Is there really such a big difference between XGA and SXGA+ on such a small screen? I've read somewhere people complaining that XGA looks pixelated when compared to SXGA+ ... Does this also apply to the 12.1 inch screen?

I don't think XGA is pixelated on 12.1 -- but SXGA+ will provide you significantly greater sharpness and screen real estate. Whether that's critical is really a personal decision. (Pianowizard wouldn't live without it, but I just ordered an X61 with XGA.)

xga is just too low res for me... the SXGA+ on a 12.1 is the perfect res for me...

tomh009 wrote:(Pianowizard wouldn't live without it, but I just ordered an X61 with XGA.)

Actually, I don't mind spending ~$100US on an old X series to play with -- I briefly owned an X21 just last month. But I wouldn't want to pay any more than that for an XGA laptop.

I can speak as the owner of an X21 (with the XGA screen - back then, that was the upgrade... ) and a user of a demo model X61t with the SXGA+ screen (and the XGA screen is once again the upgrade! ) that my company ordered in.

Myself, I find the SXGA+ screen to be quite excellent for my needs. The resolution is high enough to actually have some screen real estate, rather than being crammed into 1024x768 like I've been for the last few years. And, FOR ME, it's not too high. The one that my company is ordering for me will have this screen.

However, those with poor eyesight, or those that like to hook a wireless keyboard and mouse up, and kick back with the laptop on their coffee table will hate it. (Hey, I know people like this...)

For comparison purposes, I'll put dpi here.

15" QXGA: 170 dpi (highest end laptop LCD IBM has ever sold, R5x only)
12.1" SXGA+: 144 dpi
14.1" WSXGA+: 141 dpi
15" UXGA: 133 dpi
15" WSXGA+: 132 dpi
14.1" SXGA+: 124 dpi
15" SXGA+: 117 dpi
14.1" WXGA: 107 dpi
12.1" XGA: 106 dpi
15" WXGA: 101 dpi
14.1" XGA: 91 dpi
15" XGA: 85 dpi

I only covered ThinkPad screens. No Lenovo 3000 screens. I think I got everything in the 30's on up. Bolded are the screens that we're comparing.

Lower the DPI, easier to read. Compare against your current screen to see how much of an impact it is. Although, on a 12.1", I find that my face ends up close to the laptop anyway.

12.1" XGA does not look pixelated - it looks smooth and quite sharp.

Lack of real estate can be a problem.

Personally, although my eyesight is fine (*knocks on wood*), I wouldn't want to stress my eyes by SXGA+ below 14".

Agreed. I'd almost say my X21 was better looking WITHOUT ClearType than, say, my R51e with it. (Same resolution, 12.1 XGA on the X21, 14.1 XGA on the R51e.) It's all in the pixel density.

Note that the 12.1" XGA is right with the WXGA screens (which are fairly dense) and not too far off of even a 15" SXGA+ screen.

mattbiernat wrote:Is there really such a big difference between XGA and SXGA+ on such a small screen? I've read somewhere people complaining that XGA looks pixelated when compared to SXGA+

I don't recall people complaining about pixelationg. It's the limited real estate of XGA that people don't like. SXGA+ gives 86.9% more working area than XGA.

bhtooefr wrote:For comparison purposes, I'll put dpi here.

15" QXGA: 170 dpi (highest end laptop LCD IBM has ever sold, R5x only)
12.1" SXGA+: 144 dpi...

Let me add one in between these two:

15.4" WUXGA (available for Z61p and T61p): 147.0 dpi

And BTW, the 15.0" QXGA has 170.7 dpi, so I guess one should round that up to 171.

I went to research for my new laptop yesterday. While I couldn't find a Lenovo X61 Tablet in store, I found the fujitsu ones instead with same screen size and profile. (12.1" XGA)

I can say that XGA is about the comfortable size for reading most text and working on documents in "tablet" mode; reading documents, browsing web, using digitizing pen in the tablet mode.

But my own preference if I were to buy one, I'd prefer SXGA+ because my field of work. SXGA+ gives me much more working area and I am very comfortable with its dpi (144dpi). Actually I had worked with 1920x1200 15.4" (147dpi) before and really love it, BUT this is based solely on your preference. (I'm working with 1600x1200 15" T43p every day and I think the font can be smaller!! )

Oh, one Fujitsu has 8.9" with WXGA 1280x800 (170dpi), that one is too small to work with.