Couple of Questions About Notebook Video.

[HiTek21]

I'm looking to buy a notebook PC in a couple of months or whenever I save up enough cash to get one. I want to get the cheapest / best performing notebook possible, I've been browsing through Dells website trying to customize a cheap notebook and I noticed several different screen options. What is the difference between WXGA, WSXGA, WUXGA and whatever other options they have. Cheapest one i think is WXGA which is $100 less than the Dells customized system.

Also I plan to use this notebook mainly for school purposes, websurfing, etc.. but I'd also like to be able to play some games if possible but there aren't many options for higher end graphics cards, i think the best one from dell is the GFTi4200 Go which is only available on the 8500 series notebooks which i most likely wont be able to afford, so how well does the ATi Radeon 9000 Mobility perform? I'm not really a video buff so my knowledge is very little as to details and stuff, so please treat me as a newbie.

TIA

 

[the FooL]

Sorry, I can't help you much.
The difference I believe is mostly the native res.
WXGA - 1280 x 800
WSXGA+ - 1680x 1050
WUXGA - 1920x1200

the W stands for Wide.

standard non-wide res is
XGA - 1024 x 768
SVGA+ - 1400 x 1050
UXGA - 1600 x 1200


I believe normal SVGA rex is 1280x1024
I haven't seen a WSVGA offering from Dell though

What i would like to know from someone who has the widescreen is whether or not games look ok on them.
I doubt the laptops have enough power to drive games at 1920x1200, especially the FPS ones.
I've heard that unless the game supports wide-screen resolutions, there might be some stretching going on, etc.
Unfortunately, I don't know anyone who has a widescreen LCD for me to put up against a CRT monitor :frown:

Hope that helps.

 

[LiLRiceBoi]

I got a D800 last tues, which I will be returning probably tomorrow. I'm getting a thinkpad.

Anyways, to answer your question, the only game I've played on my laptop is Vice City. It run perfectly at the 1920x1200 wide screen setting.
You can change the settings so that it 1)streches to fill the screen 2)centers the image (1024x768 game would fill 1024x768 pixels) or 3)scales with fixed aspect ratio (black bars on side)

BTW, the LCD is very clear. If you have "bad" eyes and cant read small text too well, I would not recommend the wuxga screen. I REALLY like the display on this notebook, but some of the other problems are causing me to return my notebook.

Go ahead and buy a dell notebook if you can get a good deal on it. You get 30 days to return it. But look out for flexing keyboard (d800 and i8500) problems. Also I've heard quite a few have a problem with the display comming back on after closing the lid or going into standby or hibernate. I am also bothered by the heat produced. This thing gets pretty hot. I get really hot and sweaty when using it on my lap, and my hands sweat like crazy from the heat on the left side.

 

[the FooL]

Thanks RiceBoi.

Question.
Are those options from the game or are they options with the laptop's display drivers?