Laptop resolution question

[kmS]

Hey everyone I just have a quick question that I hope someone can answer. My dad is currently going to purchase a 24" monitor b/c his current 19" is too small b/c he has to strain his eyes and neck to read the print. The only issue that he is worried about what happened with his old laptop, is that b/c it just has an integrated video chipset that it will be horribly distorted b/c he cannot get the proper native resolution of a larger monitor. He now owns a newer Dell with a widescreen monitor, however, it still just has an integrated chipset so he has the same worries of his old chipset that he won't be able to achieve his intended native resolution of this new monitor (he is hoping for a monitor that has a native resolution of up to 1900 x 1200, however he can take it down a little bit). So do you guys have any ideas of how to make sure that it can achieve these kinds of resolutions, or if downloading the latest drivers, etc. would help his current situation?

 

[exe]

I don't remember the exact specs, you'll have to read them youself, but the pixel pitch of the 19" is bigger than that of the 24". So, if your dad has problems with the 19", he's going to fare worse with a 24".

As far as integrated graphics, so long as you're not gaming, and the laptop is relative new in the last 3 years, you should not have a problem driving 1920x1200. If you run Vista though, if there isn't enough video RAM, you will loose the Aero eye candy. And if the system strains, it will limit your color to 16bit to drive the full resolution. Driving 1920x1200 isn't such a big deal, my old laptop with an ATI 300 128MB RAM can do it, so can my old desktop with ATI 7000 discontinued cards do the same, both via DVI (it's even easier via VGA).

 

[exe]

To ease eye and neck strain, I suggest you dad get a monitor arm, they can be had for cheap these days, about <$75. This way, you can move the monitor closer to your eyes and viewing height. I recommend Ergotron LX arms, I think they have a cheaper version as well. Any arm will do, so long as you can adjust height and depth.