For those who have adjusted up from 1024x768, was it hard?

[manlymatt83]

I'm looking for a new laptop and trying to get one with a decent display, like HD+. Right now, I have a 1024x768 display on my laptop, and it's all I've been used to.

Has anyone adjusted up from it without issue?

 

[blastingcap]

I'm looking for a new laptop and trying to get one with a decent display, like HD+. Right now, I have a 1024x768 display on my laptop, and it's all I've been used to.

Has anyone adjusted up from it without issue?

I made a transition a while back from 1024x768 to 1440x1050, and as I recall, my main issue was that text was a lot smaller. But you can adjust that in your OS... make text look bigger that is. You will love it and not want to go back to 1024x768.

 

[zebrax2]

Went from 1024x768 to 1680x1050. The change in aspect ratio made me feel sick every time i look at it but eventually got used to it (around 3-5 days)

 

[manlymatt83]

Went from 1024x768 to 1680x1050. The change in aspect ratio made me feel sick every time i look at it but eventually got used to it (around 3-5 days)

Are you completely used to it now? Do you prefer the larger resolution?

 

[zebrax2]

Are you completely used to it now? Do you prefer the larger resolution?

No problem now. Will never go back to a lower resolution (that is how much i love it)

 

[manlymatt83]

No problem now. Will never go back to a lower resolution (that is how much i love it)

That's funny. So it made you sick, but once you got used to it, you feel better? Sounds like medication.

I'm trying to decide if I want to do a lateral move (upgrade my T42 to a T60 that has 1024x768), or if I should jump into a T500 (same resolution as you), or perhaps jump into an HD+ T510 (1600x900!).

 

[manlymatt83]

Did you increase font size to make your life easier?

 

[busydude]

So it made you sick, but once you got used to it, you feel better? Sounds like medication.

haha.. LMAO.

On a serious note, I think you are just maybe thinking too much. Do you have any vision problems?

 

[manlymatt83]

haha.. LMAO.

On a serious note, I think you are just maybe thinking too much. Do you have any vision problems?

No.

I do computers for a living, so I stare at my computer for 10+ hours a day. The T42 1024x768 is nice because the text is nice and big, but sometimes it's too big and websites wrap text, etc.

 

[thescreensavers]

1280x800 on my laptop text is fine and web pages always fit just fun.

If you have bad eye sight(my parents) 1680x1050, the text is a bit to small but nothing a little tweaking cant fix.

 

[Ken g6]

The main problem I've had on XP is that icons get smaller and you can't make them bigger.

FYI, on Firefox, Ctrl-Plus (+) makes a site look bigger (text, graphics, and all!), and Ctrl-Minus (-) makes it smaller.

 

[busydude]

I do computers for a living, so I stare at my computer for 10+ hours a day. The T42 1024x768 is nice because the text is nice and big, but sometimes it's too big and websites wrap text, etc.

I too spend similar amount of time staring at computer screens, I am currently using 3 different machines which have a 22' Monitor with 1680 X 1050, a 23' one with 1080p and my laptop with 13' at 1280 X 800. I have no problem looking at any of those screens while reading texts.. and I read a lot of articles and publications.

I think you should have no problem migrating to a screen with higher res.

 

[Arkaign]

Imho, resolutions look best depending on screen size. 1024x768 is fine for 4:3 13"-14" screens, then you get into widescreens

14" wide, 1280x720/800
15.4" wide 1280x800
15.6" wide 1366x768
16" wide 1366x768
17" wide 1440x900
17.3" wide 1600x900
etc

I've had some notebooks with much higher resolutions : eg : 1920x1080 at 15.6", and it was just too much imho to be useful. I was constantly scaling things up a bit to look at text comfortably. For example that's a whole lot more pixel density than a 30" 2560x1600 screen.

 

[ther00kie16]

Love my 17.3" 1920x1200 but I'm sure many people would go blind using it. So much real estate and works great (plenty of real estate for each window) with the snapping features of windows 7. I went from 1280x1024 17" lcd to 24" 1920x1200 with the $250 Soyo deal Black Friday of 2007 and it took me a good week to get used to everything, especially gaming. Office & web browsing wasn't hard to get used to with the increased real estate (side by side pages in word and pdfs was awesome off the bat) but CoD4:MW at 1920x1200 melted my brain the first couple of days. So did some hi-def videos.

 

[blastingcap]

The main problem I've had on XP is that icons get smaller and you can't make them bigger.

FYI, on Firefox, Ctrl-Plus (+) makes a site look bigger (text, graphics, and all!), and Ctrl-Minus (-) makes it smaller.

There are some options to make ALL fonts bigger or smaller, inside and outside of browsers. That may not be what you want though, so use with caution.

http://www.xp-tips.com/change-font-size.shtml

 

[Arkaign]

Love my 17.3" 1920x1200 but I'm sure many people would go blind using it. So much real estate and works great (plenty of real estate for each window) with the snapping features of windows 7. I went from 1280x1024 17" lcd to 24" 1920x1200 with the $250 Soyo deal Black Friday of 2007 and it took me a good week to get used to everything, especially gaming. Office & web browsing wasn't hard to get used to with the increased real estate (side by side pages in word and pdfs was awesome off the bat) but CoD4:MW at 1920x1200 melted my brain the first couple of days. So did some hi-def videos.

I hear ya, I have a Samsung 25.5" 1920x1200 for my main PC display. Upgrading now from a stand-in 1366x768 notebook to a 17.3" 1600x900 screen. 1920x1200 for me at 17.3" would definitely drive me crazy at default font scaling. It's defintely a person to person thing

 

[yh125d]

I went from a 15" 1024x768 desktop off to a 15.6" 1920x1200 laptop monitor without issue. you get used to it within a couple days.

 

[jackstar7]

For those who have adjusted up from 1024x768, was it hard?

That's what she said.


*snort*

 

[bryanW1995]

Higher res is much better, you'll get used to it in a few days.

 

[Scali]

Biggest adjustment for me was the widescreen aspect of it.
Since the days of 800x600/1024x768/1280x1024, I was used to run most of my applications fullscreen...
In widescreen it often doesn't make sense to do that (with a browser or mail client for example, what's the point? Generally they are oriented as portrait-layout pages, so it's more about the height than the width)...
So I started using more and more applications in windowed mode, with more or less the same 4:3 dimensions as before. This allows me to use the extra space on the sides of the screen for IM programs and such, or for undocking certain windows and having them float to the side of the main application etc.
I'd say it's pretty cool, once you're used to it.

 

[CurseTheSky]

IMO, it's always better to have more resolution and adjust the text / icons to fit your needs than it is to be stuck with a lower resolution and not much room for adjustment.

1024x768 is small enough to cut into productivity, IMO. For example, it would be difficult to open two documents side by side so you can read from one and write to the other. Looking through a spreadsheet would be murder. Even some websites just wouldn't look right.

1366x768 or 1280x800 are the minimum resolutions I'd consider these days. Even those seem a bit small to me, and I'd never buy a 14-15" or bigger laptop with such a poor resolution. 1440x900 and 1600x900 are the sweet spot, IMO, and 1920x1200 or 1920x1080 should be standard for any larger screens.

 

[Cogman]

I went from 1024x768 -> 1680x1050. It was awesome. Never made me feel sick or anything. I distinctly remember thinking "Wow, I have so much screen space now!". Though, it was also an upgrade from a 15" to a 22" monitor.

My current laptop has a 1920x1080 resolution, I'm not to big of a fan of the 16:9 aspect ratio, I kind of liked my 16:10 aspect ratio better. Either way, having lots of space is quite nice for a vast amount of situations.

 

[manlymatt83]

Thanks for all the good replies. I'm currently trying to decide whether or not to stick with my T42 (1024x768), or go to a T500 (1680x1050), or go to a T510 which has HD+ at 16:9.

*shrug* Such hard decisions. I do want a new laptop and know I'll have to get used to it all sooner or later.

 

[CurseTheSky]

Thanks for all the good replies. I'm currently trying to decide whether or not to stick with my T42 (1024x768), or go to a T500 (1680x1050), or go to a T510 which has HD+ at 16:9.

*shrug* Such hard decisions. I do want a new laptop and know I'll have to get used to it all sooner or later.

That's the way to look at it. Your old laptop will eventually break, replacement parts will eventually become scarce, and you'll eventually have no choice but to get something newer with a higher resolution. Might as well join everyone else now while you can still fall back on your current laptop just in case than get a big shock later on.

There'll be a period of a few days or perhaps a week or two where you'll have the "WTF?!" feeling from the higher resolution. It's the same feeling as typing on a new (different) keyboard or a mouse with a different shape and feel. Eventually you get used to it, and a bit later on you'll wonder how you ever made do with the old hardware.

 

[manlymatt83]

It's true I agree. I bet you're right. I should just jump into the T510 HD+ and get used to it. I bet you I'll be so used to it after a while that my T42 will look horrible.