Laptop Screen Resolution Switching?

ButtermilkJack

I read in a previous thread that laptop screens are not really designed for switching from the factory resolution. Is this true? If I buy a widescreen 1680 x 1050, can I change it to something smaller (with the same ratio - 16:10 - eg: 1280 x 800) and get equal results?

Browsing some internet sites at high res can be a pain in the ass. Plus I'm a web designer so I don't want to design sites at 1680x1050 for people who use smaller.

I'm about to buy a HP Compaq (nx8220) tomorrow so if anyone has experience of HP laptops even better.

ressem

No. Using LCD's display will be fuzzier to some degree unless resolution divides evenly eg 1600 x 1200 to 800x600.

Wouldn't want it as primary mode, It's still usable though for casual use.

Otherwise you put up with the blurred display, or use a centered display with black borders, or plug in a CRT.

ButtermilkJack

Thanks ressem,

I just found this webpage - http://www.lcds4less.com/faq.shtml

Looks like you can adjust downwards within the same aspect ratio without problem? I'll be getting 15.4" (1680 x 1250) and will be looking to reduce it to 1280 x 800. Anyone done this before?

RicardoSmith

ressem wrote:

No. Using LCD's display will be fuzzier to some degree unless resolution divides evenly eg 1600 x 1200 to 800x600.

Wouldn't want it as primary mode, It's still usable though for casual use.

Otherwise you put up with the blurred display, or use a centered display with black borders, or plug in a CRT.

I don't think its dependent on the aspect ratios being the same. Also it effects all TFT's not just laptops. I have a relysis 17" 1280x1024 and any other res is badly blurred. On my Sony Laptop, 16" 1280x1024 it can display 1024x768 quite well, and thats a different aspect ratio. Same with me Dell TFT at work, 1280x1024 to 1024x768 looks ok. Sure its a bit blurred, actually blurred is to strong, soft would be a better description. But it definately useable. Whereas my Relysis simply isn't. The Sony can do 800x600 much better than the Dell or the Relysis. I suspect its simply how its implemented.

Incidentally the Sony has a hardware switch to switch between 1280x1024 and 1024x768. Its seems to be independent of the OS.

ButtermilkJack

So basically what you guys are saying is, I should buy the screen size & resolution that I intend to use because switching resolution is not guaranteed to work properly.

Thanks for the heads-up folks! Much appreciated.

RicardoSmith

ButtermilkJack wrote:

So basically what you guys are saying is, I should buy the screen size & resolution that I intend to use because switching resolution is not guaranteed to work properly.

Thanks for the heads-up folks! Much appreciated.

Try the screen BEFORE you buy it. With a laptop you can plug in another monitor. Which if you are doing web design you should do. You can run different resolutions on each monitor.

jesus_thats_gre

The image quality will be best at the LCDs native resolution. You can scale it down but it looks **** to be honest...

ButtermilkJack

RicardoSmith wrote:

With a laptop you can plug in another monitor. Which if you are doing web design you should do.

Any particular reason for this? Or is it just a personal preference? I was thinking if most ppl use 1024x768 or thereabouts, then designing on a laptop, or any screen, at that size would be ok?

jesus_thats_gre

I use 1920x1200 on my Dell laptop with a 17inch screen. Tis weird having all that desktop space and being able to have so many app on display at once. Tis a good weird though

dazberry

Another option is to run a virtualised OS in vmware windowed - vmware is truely a great piece of software - maybe a bit overkill for just screen res issues - great for building (fixed) OS images to test software under however, and very reasonably priced IMO - needs a decent bit of RAM tho'.

D.

Capt'n Midnight

ButtermilkJack wrote:

Any particular reason for this? Or is it just a personal preference? I was thinking if most ppl use 1024x768 or thereabouts, then designing on a laptop, or any screen, at that size would be ok?

LCD Digital Laptop displays are made of a grid that has 1024 columns and 768 rows. So they are crisp when at that resolution. A monitor is analog so you can blur pixels on the phosphor and get away with it.

RicardoSmith

ButtermilkJack wrote:

Any particular reason for this? Or is it just a personal preference? I was thinking if most ppl use 1024x768 or thereabouts, then designing on a laptop, or any screen, at that size would be ok?

I have my development enviroment on the 1280x1024 screen and the output on the 1024x768 monitor as that whats the users mainly have. However its simply a case of a bigger desktop gives you more virtual elbow room to work. I find its simply a more productive way to work, especially if you have a lot of apps open at the same time.