SXGA display

[JimL]

Looking at possibly buying an ebay t42 with 1400 x 1050 x 14 inch display.

1400 x 1050 default characters are just too small for my eyes. (1024 x 768 isn't that great for me.)

How does a 1024 x 768 setting look on a1400 x 1050 x 14 inch? May I assume it's bad?

[Ken Fox]

Looking at possibly buying an ebay t42 with 1400 x 1050 x 14 inch display.

1400 x 1050 default characters are just too small for my eyes. (1024 x 768 isn't that great for me.)

How does a 1024 x 768 setting look on a1400 x 1050 x 14 inch? May I assume it's bad?

In my opinion, it looks bad. This is exactly what my parents have done with their SXGA+ T43. They've owned several other T4x notebooks over the years and when they upgraded to this one about 6 or 8 months ago, I encouraged them to go for the higher resolution screen. I went so far as to help them to increase font sizes on their browsers and a few other programs. When I went back to visit them recently I saw they had dumbed down the resolution to 1024x768. It doesn't look good to my eyes but they prefer it.

Anytime you go to a non-native resolution, especially when it isn't a simple evenly divisible change, the video system must interpolate.

You would get much more value for your money spent on a high resolution screen by adjusting font sizes and the like on your programs. If you are going to use the machine with a lower, non-native resolution, it makes much more sense to spend less on a machine with THAT resolution. I think it will look better, too.

ken

[pianowizard]

Yes, it would look bad at 1024x768. You may want to consider getting a 15" laptop with 1400x1050 or a 14" one with 1024x768. BTW, 1400x1050 is SXGA+, not SXGA, which corresponds to either 1280x960 or 1280x1024.

[christopher_wolf]

Running an SXGA+ 14.1" LCD at non-native 1024x768 will indeed look bad unfortuanately. I think that a 15" 1400x1050 might be a better option, if you don't mind an extra inch or so in the form factor.

[caffemusse]

As my sig shows, I recently switched from my t40p (1400x1024) screen to the xga screen on my brand new t42.

I must admit that it does look a bit more grainy, but for the price it is definately alright. To me it is a matter of the correct viewing distance from the screen, as I previously was quite close to the lcd, and now with my xga a bit farther away, it all seems a tad better at looking at.
These days, you can also considering buying a docking station and putting on a decent LCD via the dvi... Price is pretty much the same as buying a t42 sxga+ screen. At least here in Denmark.

cheers.
PS. By the way if some of you out there have tips on improving the 'crispness' of the XGA screen...please let me know.

[dsigma6]

I think that a 14" SXGA+ is a tad too small. I've increased the DPI by about 20%, but text doesn't fit in areas it used to..

Also, programs like Firefox end up with jagged lines in the address bar, for instance, until the window is resized.

I do like the extra real estate, but I'm no digital imaging editor, just a poor schlub.

[kookaburra]

I prefer 1024X768..

there are not so many games support 1400x1024

when under 1024,,the front will look strange and uncomfortable..

if you don't play games, then it 's fine to choose 1400...

[dsigma6]

if you don't play games, then it 's fine to choose 1400...

Au contraire my friend...I've been playing Halo CE at 1400x1050 and it runs very smooth.

I do understand that other games may be different though.

[christopher_wolf]

Mos games within the past 5 years, support 1024x768 just fine, either at 16 bit or 32 bit. Whether they are optimized or not to run at that is another question but that introduces very tiny extra overhead for the CPU and GPU so as to render it insignificant in any case on modern hardware.

[JimL]

Thanks to everybody for your comments. It turns out I got what I think is best all around for my purposes, a 1024 x 768 x 15 inch. (Just turned out that way) I'm used to 1024 x 768 and I think the 15 inch with 1024 x 768 native will be a tad easier on my eyes.

Is a 15 inch machine actually a little bigger or is the LCD just framed differently?

[pianowizard]

Is a 15 inch machine actually a little bigger or is the LCD just framed differently?

Bigger:

14.1-inch models: 12.1" x 10.0" x 1.0-1.2"
15-inch models: 13.0" x 10.6" x 1.2-1.4"

[JimL]

Is a 15 inch machine actually a little bigger or is the LCD just framed differently?

Bigger:

14.1-inch models: 12.1" x 10.0" x 1.0-1.2"
15-inch models: 13.0" x 10.6" x 1.2-1.4"

Thanks. That's still better than my 770E 2.5 - 3 inches thick and weighing 40 pounds (more or less). To say nothing of the fact that it will be about 8 times faster. (Too bad that doesn't speed up my dial up connection. Of course dial means Dial In And L ........................................................)

[pianowizard]

Thanks. That's still better than my 770E 2.5 - 3 inches thick and weighing 40 pounds (more or less).

LOL! If you really want something much lighter, you shouldn't get the T42p because it's not a whole lot lighter than the 770E, 6.2 lbs versus 7.7 lbs.