SXGA+ or ULTRA UXGA

[Clocker]

One has a res of 1400x1050 the other has a res of 1600x1200. The Ultra has gotten good reviews at anand. But alot of users complain of the samll text size. I already have a dell 8100 and enjoy the SXGAs res.

I have went to bestbuy and compusa to check out a screen with 1600x1200 but other brand lappys at these stores simply dont have them.

What are your expereinces. I hear the Ultra is brighter and I would like to watch movies on the lappy once in a while?? But I tend to read alot and do some word processing and soem adobe??

Clocker

 

[RossMAN]

Before buying my 15.0" SXGA Compaq Presario 1500T laptop, ATers had suggested comparing a 14.1 XGA vs 15.0 SXGA in person. So I went to CompUSA and what I saw blew me away. So I think you should go to CompUSA or another computer retailer and compare both these displays side by side for your own eyes to judge.

I have never seen a UXGA display but I think the text would be too small at normal resolution. It doesn't matter though since SXGA is perfect for me (I consider it on par with a 19" CRT running at 1280x1024).

 

[SSP]

Why can't you just increase the font size?

 

[RichieZ]

Originally posted by: SSP
Why can't you just increase the font size?

You can but the icons are still fricking tiny! My friend has a Dell Inspirion 8200 1600x1200 res, and I used to have a Planar 17.4" LCD and now on the way is a Dell 1900FP. I can't get used to using such a small screen with such a high res. I find 1024 x 768 is perfect on my Thinkpad T20 (14.1" LCD)

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: RichieZZZZ

Originally posted by: SSP
Why can't you just increase the font size?

You can but the icons are still fricking tiny! My friend has a Dell Inspirion 8200 1600x1200 res, and I used to have a Planar 17.4" LCD and now on the way is a Dell 1900FP. I can't get used to using such a small screen with such a high res. I find 1024 x 768 is perfect on my Thinkpad T20 (14.1" LCD)

Nice laptop, what are the specs and how much does it weigh?

When I was looking at the specs, I didn't think my 1500T's 7 pounds was a lot but it is.

 

[ElFenix]

the uxga is nice if you're watching movies or if you're giving a presentation... the viewing angle on the non-ultrasharp is standard notebook fare, while the ultrasharp is about as good as a lesser desktop one.

 

[RichieZ]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: RichieZZZZ

Originally posted by: SSP
Why can't you just increase the font size?

You can but the icons are still fricking tiny! My friend has a Dell Inspirion 8200 1600x1200 res, and I used to have a Planar 17.4" LCD and now on the way is a Dell 1900FP. I can't get used to using such a small screen with such a high res. I find 1024 x 768 is perfect on my Thinkpad T20 (14.1" LCD)

Nice laptop, what are the specs and how much does it weigh?

When I was looking at the specs, I didn't think my 1500T's 7 pounds was a lot but it is.

Its getting a little old, got it about 1.5 yrs ago off IBM Ebay direct for about $1200
P3 700E
384MB RAM
8X DVD
8MB S3 Savage IX (what a POS, but I don't play games anymore)
30GB IBM Travelstar 40GN (this thing is silent! I can't even tell the laptop is on)

other assorted goodies I"ve got:
OrangeMicro PCMCI firewire card
Dell Truemobile 1150
100GB WD SE in Firewire/USB 2.0 combo enclosure

Weighs about 5lbs

I decided to not bring my rig back to school with me, and I've been more than happy with my thinkpad. Next year I will probably get a new thinkpad and hopefully it will have a DVI interfcae.

PS: I paid for all this stuff, last summer at worked at IBM and this summer hopefully I'll get an internship at Sun Micro (waiting to hear back)

 

[RossMAN]

RichieZZZZ - Nice laptop, maybe my next lappie will be an IBM ThinkPad T or R series. Do you know if they're ever going to offer a touch pad instead of the nipple head eraser button?

Yes those specs are outdated by AT'er standards but for real life applications it should be good for at least another 3 or so years.

I also have a Dell TrueMobile 1150 card, very very nice.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
RichieZZZZ - Nice laptop, maybe my next lappie will be an IBM ThinkPad T or R series. Do you know if they're ever going to offer a touch pad instead of the nipple head eraser button?

Yes those specs are outdated by AT'er standards but for real life applications it should be good for at least another 3 or so years.

I also have a Dell TrueMobile 1150 card, very very nice.

the eraser button owns the touchpad... i've never found an accurate touchpad... trackballs pwned both though.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: RossMAN
RichieZZZZ - Nice laptop, maybe my next lappie will be an IBM ThinkPad T or R series. Do you know if they're ever going to offer a touch pad instead of the nipple head eraser button?

Yes those specs are outdated by AT'er standards but for real life applications it should be good for at least another 3 or so years.

I also have a Dell TrueMobile 1150 card, very very nice.

the eraser button owns the touchpad... i've never found an accurate touchpad... trackballs pwned both though.

I honestly don't know why I care since I use a Logitech Optical USB mouse with my laptop 99% of the time.

 

[RichieZ]

Probably not, since the little red nub is part of their trademark. Maybe they'll go the dell route and put both on?

But ya I like the eraser head so much more, i find it faster and more accurate. The only thing is after a while my finger will start to get kinda raw on the bottom (well not raw but its not so comfortable to use anymore).

And ya most of the time my laptop sits on my desk with a MS explorer 3.0 and a MS Natural Elite keyboard.

When I need some power I go to the media lab and use the Dell Xeon systems w/ dual 2000FPS's . Its nice they have firewire jacks in front and DVD+RW drives hehe

 

[manly]

There was a similar thread not too long ago without a definitive answer.

I did manage to check out a 16 inch UXGA widescreen LCD on a higher-end Sony VAIO laptop at Best Buy running at 1600x1200. While everything was surprisingly readable, it was definitely on the small side. I'm almost positive that large fonts and other UI tweaks were enabled so that things were readable. Based on that viewpoint, I'd stay with SXGA+ unless there's something else you need from UXGA.

The bottom line is still that current operating systems do not adequately scale ALL of their elements (fonts & widgets) to properly accomodate super high resolution modes, even on CRTs but particularly on laptop LCDs. WXP probably does the best job of the lot (I don't know how MacOS does to comment).

The trackpoint is great compared to any touchpad. The main reason touchpads came into vogue was because they are much more reliable (no moving parts). Notebook vendors had fewer warranty service repairs to make; even though PowerBook owners, for example, overwhelmingly loved their excellently-designed trackballs of the early 1990s.

I could have sworn IBM also has a dual trackpoint/touchpad on some models now, but I could be wrong. Trackpoints have better responsiveness and accuracy IMO and they win hands-down in efficiency since you can keep your fingers on the keyboard and still use the pointing device.

Thinkpad T series IMO are the best value/weight machines of all, but a bit pricey. I don't know what the current specs are, but the only thing lacking in the past was adequate video performance for 3D gaming. The T series is targetted at business users, so this wasn't a problem for IBM anyway.