Trying to decide on a resolution for 15.6" screen

[Kristi2k]

I'm looking at buying my wife a new laptop for Christmas, It's the same model, but one has a resolution of 1366x768 and the other has 1920x1080. Her current laptop has the same size screen but a resolution of 1440x900, she seems to like that resolution and I think that it fits well.



What are your opinions on the two? She uses the laptop for web browsing, email, documentation if Office and viewing photos.

 

[corkyg]

All other things being equal, take the higher resolution and use the display zoom factor to make it "look" the same for her. When browsing, she can always use a mouse scroll wheel + CTRL to make text the right size for her.

In photos and drawing, she will like the higher resolution.

 

[Ravynmagi]

1366x768 seems barely okay on the 11 and 13 inch laptops. But I really don't like it on a 15, almost 16 inch, screen. Though there are other factors affecting the quality like the panel type. Only reason I'd pick a 1366x768 over a 1920x1080 is if it was using an IPS panel and the other was TN.

 

[crashtestdummy]

All other things being equal, take the higher resolution and use the display zoom factor to make it "look" the same for her. When browsing, she can always use a mouse scroll wheel + CTRL to make text the right size for her.

In photos and drawing, she will like the higher resolution.

As someone with a really high res screen on a laptop (3200x1800), I agree with this but with two caveats:

• Windows doesn't handle UI scaling when switching between monitors of different DPI levels very well. You have to log out and log back in for the scaling to reset to the new monitor. If she doesn't use an external monitor, this doesn't matter.
• Some software, most notably Chrome and Adobe Products, don't use the OS UI scaling. This doesn't show up all that often (I don't use Chrome), but it's a little bit of a pain when it does.

If these things don't matter to your wife, then the above recommendation is a good one.

 

[Enigmoid]

I have a 1080p 15.6" laptop. Resolution is fine. Zoom is set to 125% in windows and in browser. Have not noticed any problems.