1920x1200 on a 15.4" screen

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Empty_Quarter

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Does anyone here have a 15.4" laptop with a WUXGA 1920x1200 screen? I will soon be getting a W500 for school (CAD/PS/minor gaming) and this is the only upgrade that im not too sure off. 1920x1200 is a luxury that I can enjoy, but the thought of it being on a 15.4" screen is just bothering me.

Is the text readable on such screens? Is it tough on the eyes? WSXGA+ 1680x1050 may not sound like a bad idea to be honest. It will be a couple of weeks till I order the laptop, so some people's input on this matter would be helpful :)

I should probably get myself to a best buy and see how WUXGA looks on a 15.4" laptop =\
 
I seriously doubt you're going to find any 15.4" laptops at Best Buy or any B&M retailer with 1920x1200 - it's a very niche resolution and all those "consumer" laptops will not come with that resolution from the factory. These days, 1440x900 seems to be the "sweet spot" on 15.4" laptops, replacing 1280x800 which is still very prevalent. 1680x1050 is a nice one but also tough to find, but WUXGA+ on a 15.4" retail/consumer laptop in a store? Ain't happening...

I've used such hardware in the past, and while - on a 15.4" screen - it did cause a bit of eye fatigue with extended use, some people love that combination of screen size/resolution. Personally, for a 15.4" screen, I prefer 1680x1050 these days, just seems to be the best "fit" for my particular uses/needs.

But if you do locate a consumer retail laptop with 1920x1200 on a 15.4" screen at a B&M retailer, do post the model number because I just don't think you're going to find one... 17" potentially (it's sad to see 17" screens at 1280x800 resolution, even 1440x900 on a 17" is too large in my opinion), perhaps even the monster 19" models that some companies make, but 15.4"... I doubt it.
 
My T61p had a 15.4" WUXGA. Great LG screen, very crisp, good color. It was amazing. I loved it, but my new W500 is WSXGA+ and much easier on the eyes. If I need the high resolution, I can just plug it into my LCD.

Personally, the sweet spot for me is 120-135 PPI. That means: 1280x800 @ 12.1", 1440x900 @ 14", 1680x1050 @ 15.4", and 1920x1200 @ 17".
 
Yeah, I searched through B&M store's websites and the best I found was 1920x1080 on 16" Sony Laptops.

I currently have a 3 year old latitude D620 @ 1280x800 on a 14". It's a poor resolution, but for its time, it was good. I recently had the opportunity to use my friends D830, which is basically my laptop in a 15.4" and with a 1680x1050 resolution. I found the WSXGA+ screen was fantastic. It was easily readable, easy to use. I know I'll be happy with 1680x1050, im just wondering if ill be missing out if I don't get the 1920x1200.

The WUXGA upgrade is $200, and I am really debating whether I should spend $200 on the screen, or put the money towards other upgrades such as CPU/RAM.

batteriesnotincluded, I see that you have a W500 w/ a WSXGA+ and you are pleased with it, thats good to hear. I also see in your sig that you have both an 80GB SSD and a 160GB HDD in the W500, does the W500 have 2 2.5" bays? if thats the case, im totally sold on the W500!
 
I have this this res (1920x1280) on my work laptop (15.4" Dell Lat. D820). I use it all day and have become totally spoiled for anything lower resolution. I'm shopping for a personal laptop to do some gaming on, and having a terrible time finding ones with good resolution.

Unless you're one of the folks that routinely runs their desktop at a lower-than-native res, I wouldn't hesitate to get as high as res as you can.
 
I had an Inspiron 8600 with a 15.4" 1920x1200. It was beautiful for coding and working, but eventually it did strain the eyes. I agree with the above posters reccomending 1680x1050.

Of course, take my advice with a grain of salt, since I haven't used a laptop of that size since the Inspiron died; I've found myself MUCH more comfortable with 12-14 inch models that don't break my back to carry around everywhere.
 
I went with 1680x1050 on the Sager. I was pretty torn, because 1920x1200 is way better for coding, but I wanted decent fps too. Now that I'm using it, 1680 isn't bad at all. Either option is good, just don't go the lame 1440 route.
 
I've got a HP NC8230 with a 15.4 1920x1200 and I really can't bear to think of buying another laptop with anything less. but then again I'm a desktop space whore.
 
A couple of years ago, I tried a Dell M60 (15.4") with 1920x1200. I used it for all my writing work and absolutely loved it... for about 3 weeks. After that, I developed headaches and eyestrain from so much squinting. Ended up returning it for one with 1680x1050. My eyes and forehead were very happy. I think 1680x1050 is the perfect resolution for 15.4" screens. Wish my MacBook Pro had it. :(
 
I would say eye sight plays a major factor in this. as for me I have pretty damn good eye sight from what others have told me.
 
Empty_Quarter said:
batteriesnotincluded, I see that you have a W500 w/ a WSXGA+ and you are pleased with it, thats good to hear. I also see in your sig that you have both an 80GB SSD and a 160GB HDD in the W500, does the W500 have 2 2.5" bays? if thats the case, im totally sold on the W500!
Click to expand...

The Thinkpads (and Latitudes as well), can have the optical drive removed and a 2nd harddrive put in its place with the proper adapter. I don't need my DVD burner that often, so I put a 2nd drive in its place.
 
I guess Im settled on getting a 1680x1050. I wont use the laptop extensively where having a 1920x1200 resolution is an absolute priority. I want to use the laptop comfortably really. Besides, the W500 by default comes with 1GB or 2GB ram, and I think the $200 would be better spent on getting 4GB and a better CPU.

Thanks for letting me know about the second modular HDD bay! I was aware that latitudes had this option as well, but they were rather costly (as they came with the hard drive, they didnt sell the bay alone) and hard to find. I will be sure to add that to my shopping cart.

Thanks all for your opinions :)
 
you can get knock off bays for the Thinkpads for $20 on ebay. Original, they're like $35-50. If you were getting a T61, I'd sell you my old one...but the 500 series uses SATA instead of PATA for the laptop connection.

The one I have is a knock off. I didn't know I would be getting it, but I took a gamble on a cheap one. It works...so whatever. The official Lenovo ones have a round green light, as shown on my former T61p (which used SATA to PATA; given that the PATA/PATA kind used in the T40 series looked like the SATa/PATA, I imagine the new ones are the same)

DSC00926.jpg


The knock off has a rectangular blue light.

DSC02197.jpg





I'm sure you can find bare Latitude ones as well; I'm not sure if they're using SATA as the internal interface or not. I probably wouldn't go through Dell for it if they're wanting you to include a drive as well.

Enjoy the W500 when you get it...I managed to get mine off of the outlet Redistributed (New, sealed customer return) for $1031 with a 160gb 7200rpm, and 3gb RAM.
 
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Joe Average said:
These days, 1440x900 seems to be the "sweet spot" on 15.4" laptops, replacing 1280x800 which is still very prevalent.
Click to expand...

Ha, I wish. All the stores in my area are almost exclusively 1366x768 *puke* You might find a 1440x900 in a 16-17" if you're lucky.
 
Get it only if you need that resolution in a PORTABLE display.

I've owned this since my Latitude D800 five or six years ago. It's great for spreadsheets when on the road, at the time I'd work with big ones. Those days, that usually was the highest spec screen but this is no longer the case.

Whereas today the price of the WUXGA got you the best screen available, today it's a tradeoff. There are I believe only two sources of 15.4" panels in this resolution and neither is particularly modern... the screens haven't changed much since my ~ 2003 D800. Whereas at 1440x900, there are some truly fantastic panels with LED backlighting, excellent gamut, low power use, high brightness and fantastic contrast. So whereas WUXGA meant more pixels with no downside four years ago, today you're definitely going to give up something on certain models.

Therefore, if you're certain you need that resolution in a portable device then by all means, get it. If not, consider a better spec but lower resolution panel and a desktop LCD.
 
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