I finally joined the SXGA (1280x1024) club!

[pianowizard]

As some of you know, I have been fascinated by the 13.7" 1280x1024 screen of the 770X and 770Z for years, but was never able to find one for a reasonable price. For the longest time, I thought that those were the only laptops to have 5:4 screens, but a couple weeks ago I discovered that the Dell Inspiron 7500 had one as well, though larger (15.4"). On eBay these Inspirons are far more common than the 770X/Z and last week I bought one for $36 shipped. It has the fastest CPU (700MHz PIII) for this model and the RAM maxed out to 512MB PC100, although the seller sold it without the HDD or the HDD connector. I ordered the connector but it hasn't arrived, and so I have been just playing with this laptop running Knoppix. At 12.03" x 9.62", this screen is the second tallest laptop screen that I know of, second only to the 16.1" UXGA screen of Sony's GRX570 (12.88" x 9.66"). For comparison, an 18.4" 1920x1080 screen is only 9.02" tall!

How many of you have 1280x1024 laptops? Are the above-mentioned models the only 5:4 laptops ever made? I stopped buying laptops for the sake of collecting sometime in late 2008, but this Inspiron was too tempting too pass up!

[Neil]

I don't know how many laptop models were ever made with SXGA screens, but I have a 770X with one (but I cracked the screen a couple of years ago ). I also had one of those Dell 7500 machines for a little white about three years ago, and I too was fascinated by the screen size and resolution, but ended up selling it to someone wanting a large easy to read screen.

[ajkula66]

I've never owned a laptop with a SXGA screen. My loss, I'm certain.

When I came to my current (sort of) workplace, they were getting rid of a ton of 770 units and replacing them with brand new T20 machines. The problem here being, I had absolutely zero interest in computers/laptops at the time. Had I owned any brains, I would've grabbed one of those ThinkPads and put them on ice for future generations...oh well.

At this point in the game, I know that even if I came across a 770 today, it would probably end up being stashed away just like my 701C has been for the longest time. I still own too many toys to play with in the very limited amount of free time that I have at my disposal...

I'm happy for you, PW, knowing how much you always wanted to play around with a SXGA unit. Have fun with that Dell!

[RealBlackStuff]

Slightly OT: with my desktop I use a HP LP1965 monitor which has a 19" 5:4 SXGA LCD, perfect for me.

[automobus]

Until now, I did not realise that SXGA notebook screens are rare!

Before I came to love ThinkPads, I was more familiar with Sony and Dell. It might not have been very common, but in my head I thought, "there have always been SXGA laptops". And I imagined they were more common than super-resolution UXGA laptops. I would have sworn that there were SXGA options in old Sony PCG-F or PCG-FX series, but now I cannot find them. In the PCG-GRT series, there were 16-inch SXGA screens.

[pianowizard]

I've never owned a laptop with a SXGA screen. My loss, I'm certain.

George, that's so surprising!

Before I came to love ThinkPads, I was more familiar with Sony and Dell. It might not have been very common, but in my head I thought, "there have always been SXGA laptops".

You were probably thinking of SXGA+, which is 1400x1050 and is extremely common. Even Dell gets the two acronyms confused once in a while. For example, near the center of the page below, Dell referred to both 1400x1050 and 1280x1024 as "SXGA": http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/s ... /specs.htm

Slightly OT: with my desktop I use a HP LP1965 monitor which has a 19" 5:4 SXGA LCD, perfect for me.

SXGA isn't rare at all for desktop monitors. 17" SXGA is a nice size, though I have never been a fan of 19" SXGA -- if it's already 19", why not go just one inch larger and get UXGA for 46.5% more pixels?

[automobus]

You were probably thinking of SXGA+, which is 1400x1050 and is extremely common. Even Dell gets the two acronyms confused once in a while.

No, I remember years ago seeing an advertisement for a Dell laptop with 1280×1024.

I still cannot find evidence of 1280×1024 in VAIO F or FX. But I found this instead: Gateway Solo 9550 with 15.7-inch SXGA screen.

[RealBlackStuff]

Most of my time I spent on forums, so don't need any fancy resolution.
I sit about 3 ft. away from the monitor, so 1280x1024 is perfect for that.
My eyesight is not good enough to appreciate/decipher UXGA.

[Unknown_K]

I have a couple Gateway Solo 9500's that are 1280x1024, nice large screens. The 15.7" option on the 9500/9550 are not that common, the added filler plastic panels to the front on the laptop to make the screen fit (large beasts made for desktop use mostly).

[pianowizard]

I found this instead: Gateway Solo 9550 with 15.7-inch SXGA screen.

I have a couple Gateway Solo 9500's that are 1280x1024, nice large screens. The 15.7" option on the 9500/9550 are not that common

Most interesting! Thanks for the info! I wasn't aware of this laptop because I have never paid ANY attention to Gateway computers! This unit on eBay has an almost-square screen and so I bet it's 15.7" SXGA: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gateway-Solo-95 ... 43ae6ca2c3

[automobus]

And thank you for introducing this subject! Now you made me browse eBay, too. It seems some of the 16.0-inch VAIOs were "assembled in USA", and I am very surprised to learn that.

[Unknown_K]

I think it is (look at that huge filler piece of plastic in front of the trackpad). The 9500 looks different because it doesn't have those buttons in front.

Normal 9500 http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/mob ... 9500nv.jpg

Most of my collection is made up of Thinkpads but I found a few nice Gateway solos at a local recycler that I rebuilt.

[Brad]

Looks like a working SXGA 770X here.

Brad

[pianowizard]

Looks like a working SXGA 770X here.

Thanks for the info. No longer interested though, since I already have this Dell Inspiron 7500. I also just bought a Dell Latitude E4200, meaning I once again have too many laptops and must stop buying any more! I should sell my Latitude D820 but I like it too much.

[automobus]

Toshiba Satellite 1955 has 16-inch SXGA. So far the list includes: IBM Dell Sony Gateway Toshiba.

[pianowizard]

Toshiba Satellite 1955 has 16-inch SXGA. So far the list includes: IBM Dell Sony Gateway Toshiba.

Excellent discovery! So SXGA laptops weren't as rare as I had thought after all. And this Toshiba is only about 10 years old.

My Dell Inspiron 7500 (the one mentioned in my opening post) is still going strong. It has a 250GB HDD, with a 720MB partition running Windows 2000, and the rest is filled with MP3 files ripped from my CD collection. I play these files as background music once or twice a week. The built-in speakers are better than most other laptops I've used, which is nice.

[MunkyCheez]

Looks like we can add Acer to that list:
IBM, Dell, Sony, Gateway, Toshiba, Acer, ...

Besides numerous Inspiron 7500s with SXGA displays, I've also seen a monster-sized Acer laptop that had a 5:4 SXGA display, 3.5" desktop hard drive, and desktop memory DIMMs! No joke! It was cool, but we couldn't keep it around at the shop -- the motherboard was bad and it was just taking up space.

I have no idea of the model number, but if I had to guess, I would say that it probably had a 16" display. It was really massive and solid/tough-feeling. One of the bulkiest P4-era machines I've seen (as a side note, I own an HP Pavilion zd8000 and Dell Inspiron 9100 with 3.2 GHz P4s each).

So no, I don't own any SXGA laptops, although I've certainly seen and worked on them. I never thought to grab one from the junk pile at the shop, mostly because they're just PIII systems and rather unspectacular in other respects. I do use, however, a 17" Dell SXGA LCD monitor with my Linux desktop, which I realize is quite common for both 17" and 19" sizes.

Of course, I've always been on the lookout for an SXGA member of the 770 series, but for now I think I might have to get one of those 7500s to play with!

[pianowizard]

Looks like we can add Acer to that list:
IBM, Dell, Sony, Gateway, Toshiba, Acer, ...

I recently discovered one more, the Compaq Evo n800c.

Of course, I've always been on the lookout for an SXGA member of the 770 series, but for now I think I might have to get one of those 7500s to play with!

The 770X and 770Z were the slowest of the SXGA laptops. If you want an SXGA laptop that's still kind of useful, go for one of the Pentium 4 models.

[ilakast]

Came across a 16'' Sony Vaio (PCG-GRV616S) but I can't find any resolution info online http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331169607138