Question about LCDs and native resolution...

[Shyatic]

Well, I'm going to bite the bullet. Come friday, I'm ordering the 2001FP with all the coupons from Dell.

I am curious about native resolutions though... what does that mean? I have noticed on LCD monitors that some resolutions seem to be more crisp than others... like on my brother's older LCD if he tries 1280 resolution, the text is crisp and clean, whereas 1024 it's a bit more blocky.

Which leads me to my second question... how will that affect me in gaming? My graphics card won't handle 1600 resolution in my games (9800 pro) and I usually play with a 1024 resolution in the game, maybe 1280 depending on the game. Since the text can be screwy at different resolutions, will the game look 'off' if I don't play it in the native mode of the monitor?

Please let me know all you can. Thanks!

 

[Edward Lee]

Curious.. How much you pay for that thing?

 

[Auric]

It will just be lower quality as in blurry since it must be scaled up when using the maximum size. Another option would be to use only part of the panel for games such as 1280 @ 16". Otherwise consider a smaller panel like a 19" that has a 1280 max. 1600 max dooms you to continuous upgrade hell for the latest and greatest games or reduced quality. It's a question of balance betwixt desktop/game useage and cost of panel and viddy card.

 

[Hikari]

It depends on the display (and possibly the video card?) in regards to how the scaling will work.

On my 2005fpw, if I scale down to something like 1280x768 (whatever the next step down from 1680x1050, 16:10 was), I didn't think it looked blurry really. I mean, it is a bit blockier since the resolution is lower, but it doesn't look all blurred out anyway. Typically, if you stay in the same aspect ratio, things scale ok on a decent LCD in my experience.

 

[techwanabe]

Originally posted by: Scribesome resolutions seem to be more crisp than others... like on my brother's older LCD if he tries 1280 resolution, the text is crisp and clean, whereas 1024 it's a bit more blocky.

Which leads me to my second question... how will that affect me in gaming? My graphics card won't handle 1600 resolution in my games (9800 pro) and I usually play with a 1024 resolution in the game, maybe 1280 depending on the game. Since the text can be screwy at different resolutions, will the game look 'off' if I don't play it in the native mode of the monitor?

Please let me know all you can. Thanks!

Well, that is the sucky thing about LCD's - non native resolution doesn't look as good as the good old CRT. The reason is clear if you think about it. With the CRT, it can actually compress or expand the number of scan lines and horizontal number of pixels using the magnetic harness. So a CRT can with offer a variable number of pixels at different sizes depending on the resolution chosen. If you choose 640x480, you will have exactly that number of pixels but they will be bigger and you will have a "blockier", more aliased looking picture. If you jump up to 1024x768, you will have more pixels at a smaller size, the effect being a less aliased looking picture with a higher detail level. It's crispness depends on the focus of each pixel, which is the dot pitch. Better CRT's have a smaller/finer dot pitch.

In contrast, the LCD has a fixed number of pixels, period. That is your native resolution. In the case of my Dell 19" Flat Panel, it is 1200x1024. That seems like a high resolution but the pixels, while sharp and focused are 0.29 mm in size, which is big enough to see each one more clearly as little squares. That means things look a bit pixelated, even if small sharp pixels.

Now what happens when you are not in native resolution, which is allot of the time for games or even folks using a large LCD but wanting larger fonts? Well, since the screen can't offer a different number of pixels like the CRT, it is forced to recombine pixels in the best way possible to represent characters and or graphics. The result is that things looks a bit "smeared" or distorted, and not nearly as good. I think as LCD flat screens ramp up to significantly higher resolutions for a fixed size, this issue should start going away. Take a 1600x1200 vs 1200x1024 resolution 19" LCD for example, you have more pixels to recombine to create characters or graphics, so the distortion should be less noticable when not in native resolution. Someday computers will be able to gracefully display screens with perhaps many more lines of resolution, like approaching 2000 horizontal lines for example. In that case, running at non native resolution start to be a moot point, since it will be much harder to distinguish native from non-native. That will probably be at least 5-10 years before we see that happen. Until then, 1600x1200 will probably be the best compromise when running a larger LCD.

 

[Shyatic]

Okay, so from what I understand, if I get the Dell 2001FP, the 1024 resolution for games won't look that bad. I have no problem running the desktop at 1600 resolution... I could use the screen real estate

 

[Shyatic]

After all the coupons, and tax... I'm hoping ~$400

I have a $50 gift cert to Dell as well that I will be using.... man I can't wait to bite the bullet.. FINALLY!