Is this worth it (WXGA Vs WSXGA+)

Fozie

Hey

Im hoping to buy a laptop tomorrow but i cant make a descision
between :

1) 15.4" UltraSharp™ WXGA (1280x800) CCFL Display (220nits) with TrueLife™

2) 15.4" UltraSharp™ Widescreen WSXGA+ (1680x1050) TFT Display with TrueLife™

i wouldnt mind getting the WSXGA+ but i just dont know if its worth 130 euro extra !

so i would love if yah can advice me on which one is better value

heres the other specs on the laptop im buying hope it helps. Thanks !!


Base

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.20 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2-cache)


Microsoft Operating System

Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium - English


Colour Choice

2.0 mega pixel Camera & Midnight Blue for CCFL Display


LCD

15.4" UltraSharp™ WXGA (1280x800) CCFL Display (220nits) with TrueLife™

or

15.4" UltraSharp™ Widescreen WSXGA+ (1680x1050) TFT Display with TrueLife™


Memory

4096MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]


Hard Drive

250GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive


Video Card

NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 8600M GT with 256MB dedicated graphic memory


Primary Battery

Primary 9-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (85 WHr)

far2gud

In my opinion neither screen is best, The first one is too low resolution while the second is too high. I think the middle option is the best trade off between the resolution and graphics power ot the 8600gt.

Jonathan

Use this calculator to find out the differences for yourself.

PPI => Pixels per inch

Dot pitch => Distance in mm between 2 pixels

Voodu Child

If it's a Dell, I noticed in their specs when ordering mine that the 1680x1050 panels they're using in a lot of their laptops are even less bright than the 1280x ones - only 200nits.

You don't mention the brightness for that panel, so it might be worth checking.

At the end of the day, it depends on your own personal usage - do you tend to run 1 window maximised the whole time? Or do you work with photoshop or something where extra screen space is always a good thing/

As suggested by far2gud, I went with the middle-ground on a recent 15.4" Dell I bought (1440x900). IMO it was the best balance in screen-space, readability, brightness and cost.

Ghost Train

I've got 2 laptops from dell with the 1680x1050 screens, one last year, one recently. I really like the high resolution screens, but the quality of the new laptop screen was poor, very bright but bad contrast (and black level). Viewing angle very tight too

The new panel is 6-bit instead of 8-bit of the older panel and uses dithering to make up for the lower number of colours it can do

If you google "6-bit vs 8-bit lcd" or "dell grainy screen" you'll get more info

Not sure what the panels at the lower resolutions compare, but its something to consider

Fozie

thanks for your help
i really appreicate it .

i decided to go with

15.4" Widescreen WXGA+ (1440x900) TFT Display with TrueLife

which i believe is a good choice probably the best choice

thanks again for your effort and time!

FoZ