Inspiron 9100 - WXGA, WSXGA, or WUXGA

by ZebraTJ Oct 5, 2004 3:19AM PDT

I'm looking at the 9100 as a desktop replacement. I am a programmer and don't play games on my notebook. I read a review that said the WUXGA is such high resolution that it makes text hard to read. I know the resolution can be changed but I also know that notebooks have a native, or optimized, resolution. Any suggestions or experiences? My current notebook is an Inspiron 8200 and the native resolution of 1600 x 1200 makes the fonts too small for me to read.

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Re: Inspiron 9100 - WXGA, WSXGA, or WUXGA

by KenSanramon Oct 5, 2004 10:29AM PDT

The resolution you currently have is WSXGA. If that seems small to you definitely do not go higher to WUXGA (which is 1900x....).

If you get a 15.4" widescreen notebook you can already view more Excel spreadsheet columns to the left and right even with a standard XGA resolution (1024x768 square or 1200x800 widescreen).

Many programmers seem to like the WSXGA compromise but if that already seems small to you consider sticking with XGA. Also, the new HP Briteview, Toshiba Trubrite, Sony Xbrite, etc are available only in XGA resolution anyway at the present.

See X1000forums.com (dedicated site for HPZT3000 and Compaq X1000 series 15.4" widescreen Pentium M Centrino notebooks) for forms threads on the ideal screen resolution (note pinned threads at top of each category).

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Re: Inspiron 9100 - WXGA, WSXGA, or WUXGA

by aprill Oct 6, 2004 1:53PM PDT

I'm not that familiar with all this, so don't put too much weight into what I say. I just purchased a 9100 with WUXGA--but I'm not a programmer, I'm an artist, so I wanted the higher resolution.

I haven't used it long enough, but the text looks OK to me. But if you don't need or want the extra resolution, I wouldn't bother. It'll probably save you money, as well as eye-strain.

(Most of the programmers I know have their monitors set to a painfully high resolution, it seems to me! All the icons on their desktops look like little dots...)

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I know what you mean about programmers and high res

by ZebraTJ Oct 6, 2004 10:07PM PDT

My eyes aren't that good though. I think I will go with the WSXGA. It should give me a couple of resolutions to choose from if the native res is too small.

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Re: Inspiron 9100 - WXGA, WSXGA, or WUXGA

by Freder Oct 8, 2004 10:56PM PDT

The higher the screen resolution, the better because you have better color depth and smoothness. If you want to use the higher resolution AND have text, icons, etc. more recognizable use a customized dots per inch (DPI) setting that is controlled by the screen properties.

Right click a blank space on the desktop, select Properties, select the Settings tab, click the Advance button, Select the General tab and you are at the place where you can change the default DPI settings. I run my screen at 1024X768 but use a custom DPI of 120 instead of the default. The beauty of this is that it changes all the objects that display on your screen including the word processor.

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Re: LCD Dot Per Inch Adjust__Not SAME OLD Moniters vs LCDS

by jnzmailbox Oct 9, 2004 5:55AM PDT

This info is what i READ from a dell user opinion on Inspiron 8600...You can change the dots per inch.....and a glass display can do it "right" but a LCD had to stretch and refigure and try to do it, but it does not work the same. They said it still looked kind of bad so stay with the Lower Resolutin laptop screens if you need them, also Display specs dont give a good indication of total quality, must see in person, because brightness and othe things matter too. I guess you need to get one you can retun for a different one.

Inspiron 9100 - WXGA, WSXGA, or WUXGA

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