Is 1920x1200 on a 17" notebook worth it?

[morkus64]

Or is 1680x1050 fine... I'll be doing CAD work, 3d modeling and gaming.

 

[MichaelD]

"Worth it" is a subjective question. It really depends on a few different factors.

I have a 24" widescreen for my desktop system; it has a 1920x1600 res. That's a little higher res than 1920x1200 but there's a WHOLE LOT more screen real estate to fill w/roughly the same resolution.

I personally think that's too high a res for a 17" widescreen...and costs roughly $250 more, depending on what manufacturer you're looking at. 16x10 will be perfect for a 17" screen IMO.

Sure; you can make the icons LARGE and increase font sizes etc...but why?

Take the $250 and get a better videocard. For CAD/CAM you want a QUADRO series card, if available.

 

[morkus64]

What if the difference is $85?

 

[Brainonska511]

You should go to a store and see what kind of screens they have on the 17" models. They may have none with WUXGA, but they may have a few WSXGA screens that you can use as a baseline.

 

[Rockinacoustic]

CAD and 3D modeling is where you'll love to have the higher resolution screen. I'd say go for it, and if you find it too small for certain tasks then just lower the resolution. However, since your gaming make sure you have a beefy video card to handle that extra screen real-estate.

 

[morkus64]

Well, i'll have a 7950gtx (which i'll hopefully upgrade to an 8800m after more daring (and financially stable) people try it out), so hopefully that should handle it just fine. I've been looking around and most people seem to agree that with that resolution, there is no need for AA in games.

 

[secretanchitman]

Originally posted by: morkus64
What if the difference is $85?

hell yes. if its that cheap to upgrade to 1920x1200 then by all means GO FOR IT!

unfortunately my 15" macbook has yet to be upgraded to 1680x1050. hopefully in the next revision they will do that and give 1920x1200 exclusively to the 17" model.

 

[corkyg]

With native res of 1920x1200 on a 17-incher, have an easy to use magnifying glass handy.

 

[Ichigo]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
"Worth it" is a subjective question. It really depends on a few different factors.

I have a 24" widescreen for my desktop system; it has a 1920x1600 res. That's a little higher res than 1920x1200 but there's a WHOLE LOT more screen real estate to fill w/roughly the same resolution.

I personally think that's too high a res for a 17" widescreen...and costs roughly $250 more, depending on what manufacturer you're looking at. 16x10 will be perfect for a 17" screen IMO.

Sure; you can make the icons LARGE and increase font sizes etc...but why?

Take the $250 and get a better videocard. For CAD/CAM you want a QUADRO series card, if available.

I'm confused.

 

[Emulex]

definitely get a FX or higher series quadro card. most of the reasons autocad crashes or just doesn't work so hot is not using qualified autocad drivers.

quadro fx autocad drivers are way faster and use the extra precision/overlay features than the same NV chipset as the same geforce.

matter of fact if you had an AGP FX geforce you can hack them into quadro's and get mad performance and stability increases. but they ended that i thought with PCIE.

in some cases the FX AGP hacked to quadro with the appropriate driver will smoke a geforce in both speed/quality of display/stability.

 

[Ruptga]

Originally posted by: Ichigo

Originally posted by: MichaelD
"Worth it" is a subjective question. It really depends on a few different factors.

I have a 24" widescreen for my desktop system; it has a 1920x1600 res. That's a little higher res than 1920x1200 but there's a WHOLE LOT more screen real estate to fill w/roughly the same resolution.

I personally think that's too high a res for a 17" widescreen...and costs roughly $250 more, depending on what manufacturer you're looking at. 16x10 will be perfect for a 17" screen IMO.

Sure; you can make the icons LARGE and increase font sizes etc...but why?

Take the $250 and get a better videocard. For CAD/CAM you want a QUADRO series card, if available.

I'm confused.

Different aspect ratios, box instead of widescreen

 

[shortylickens]

I have the HP L2335. Its claimed to be a 24 inch but really a 23. 1920x1200 looks great on it.
On a 17 incher I should think the lower resolution would be fine.
Though if you are serious about the CAD and modeling, I would think 17 inches isnt enough for you.

 

[corkyg]

After reading the last several replies, I can only shake my head and wonder. Do these people read the OP's note? He's talking about a 17-in NOTEBOOK with two choices of resolution. That's it! There is no option for changing video cards.

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: corkyg
After reading the last several replies, I can only shake my head and wonder. Do these people read the OP's note? He's talking about a 17-in NOTEBOOK with two choices of resolution. That's it! There is no option for changing video cards.

HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW?

Well, I'm not shaking my head or wondering.
I know you arent thinking.

Instead of running off at the mouth and trying to look cool, I actually did some investigating this afternoon.
Dell, Alienware, Gateway, Falcon Northwest, Prostar, Toshiba, Sony, and Voodoo all have 17 inch laptops with choich of resolution AND video card.

 

[corkyg]

Sorry, Shorty - I wasn't thinking. My thinking was he was looking at a specific brand of laptop that had two choices - too bad he didn't specify.

A thousand pardons.

 

[Ichigo]

Originally posted by: ADDAvenger

Originally posted by: Ichigo

Originally posted by: MichaelD
"Worth it" is a subjective question. It really depends on a few different factors.

I have a 24" widescreen for my desktop system; it has a 1920x1600 res. That's a little higher res than 1920x1200 but there's a WHOLE LOT more screen real estate to fill w/roughly the same resolution.

I personally think that's too high a res for a 17" widescreen...and costs roughly $250 more, depending on what manufacturer you're looking at. 16x10 will be perfect for a 17" screen IMO.

Sure; you can make the icons LARGE and increase font sizes etc...but why?

Take the $250 and get a better videocard. For CAD/CAM you want a QUADRO series card, if available.

I'm confused.

Different aspect ratios, box instead of widescreen

It's not even widescreen, as he claims. Is there a link to this monitor? It's not even 5:4...

 

[erwos]

There are no LCDs with 1920x1600 resolution. Period. MichaelD almost certainly has 1920x1200 LCD.