WSXGA+ Vs WXGA Question

[SlavicSavage]

I'm purchasing a dell Insprion 8600 with the 128mb radeon mobile card and am not sure which would be better to have. I would like to go with the WUXGA but just cant afford it. If im going to be using this machine for gaming, taking notes, occasionally working on papers, and maybe a wee bit of photoshop or powerpoint work which screen would be more beneficial to have? I've heard the WXGA would be better since i may end up doing quite a bit of gaming on htis machine, but nobody has informed as as to why this is. The other thing is if i get the WSXGA+ it would be a 1.3ghz M processor and the WXGA would be a 1.4 ghz, so not that it seems like that .1 ghz would make a whole hell of a lot of difference, its still something to consider.

I know nothing about laptop components so any assistance in this decision about the screen, or if you know anything about reliability issues with the 128mb rageon mobiles in this system, would be greatly appreciated.

 

[txxxx]

The WUXGA screen's resolution may be too much for your eyes, try someone else's beforehand?

 

[Tiorapatea]

You should register on the Compaq x1000 forums site where there is a lot of discussion of the pros and cons of these three screen resolution options.

x1000 forums

and

Specific thread

Essentially, people with gaming as their top priority seem to favour WXGA because you can run a lot of games at the screen's native resolution of 1280 x 780 and obtain reasonable frame rates. Frame rates should be even better on the Dell because the x1000 does not have the option for the ATI Mobility Radeon 9600. This card has comfortably surpassed previous mobile graphics cards in gaming benchmarks - see, e.g. Anandtech review. If you're really into gaming, you should look at the Widescreen Gaming forums: Widescreen gaming

People also love the WSXGA+ (1680x1050) as a compromise between gaming and the amount you can legibly fit on your 15.4" screen. WUXGA is loved by some, with good eyesight, who just want a lot of screen to work on, especially programmers.

Just be sure not to let Dell sell you an Hitachi screen - they have two suppliers for their WXGA and WSXGA+ screens. Look at the Dell forums to find out about this important issue.

Don't think you'll see much of a difference in performance between 1.3 and 1.4 GHz (5%??). However, as gaming can be marginal on laptops, you may find in some cases you just need that extra speed.

I don't believe there are reliability issues with the Mobility Radeon. But, if you are a Linux user, it might not be the best choice since ATI does not provide Linux drivers for its Mobility range - and Dell won't either.

I've been mulling some similar issues myself. Dell are the only company selling into the UK who have both the WSXGA+ screen and the Mobility Radeon 9600. However, I want to use Linux so I am just hoping Nvidia start (seriously) competing in mobile graphics. I doubt this will happen soon, however.

 

[Accord99]

WXGA is 1280x800 (sometimes 768)
WSXGA+ is 1680x1050

If you were to play games at LCD panel's native resolutions, WSXGA+ would place much more stress on your laptop and especially your video card. In many games, you may not get adequate framerates in WSXGA+. You could scale down, but there maybe a loss of quality. However, for non-gaming activities, I would go for the WSXGA+ screen as you get much more desktop space, though it could make fonts and icons too small (you can increase their size though).

 

[Tiorapatea]

Correct, WXGA is in fact 1280x800.

Also, Accord99 has better explained the issue with gaming on laptops. LCD screens have a fixed number of pixels and therefore only one resolution that they are designed to operate at (known as "native resolution", e.g. 1280x800 for WXGA). However, the design is somewhat flexible in that you are able to display other resolutions; however, they will not look as sharp as the screen's native resolution.

Frame rates when playing games depend on the resolution that you operate at. Higher resolutions require more powerful graphics cards and/or faster CPUs. Therefore, given that people typically like to play the newest games and given that these games tend to be the most demanding on a system's resources and given that the newest laptops (and even some desktops) will struggle to play the newest games at high resolutions, people often prefer a somewhat lower native screen resolution for games than for other uses of a laptop. This will allow them to play newish games at acceptable frame rates at the screen's native resolution . Of course, when you are in a position to plug the laptop into an external monitor, you can choose different resolutions suited to that monitor. CRT monitors can display a range of resolutions with good quality, are typically brighter than LCDs, have more vibrant colours and do not suffer from ghosting during fast action sequences.

See the Anandtech review of the ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 to understand the limitations of even the newest laptops when playing the newest games.

Apologies if this was already obvious to you. I just thought I'd spell it out.

 

[SlavicSavage]

So since i'm going to use it for gaming and am used to 1280x1024 on my computer for my resolution it seems like WXGA would be the better choice of screen for me right? Becuase the WSXGA+ will likely not look sharp in games because its resolution usually isnt one i see supported and is probably too high to run most newer games with adequate frame rates. Does anyone have one of these dells and know that it looks fine if you scale down the resolution of the WSXGA+ model? Or is that a laptop to laptop thing? or a brand to brand thing?

 

[Tiorapatea]

SlavicSavage,

I'm really trying to help you here!

Does anyone have one of these dells and know that it looks fine if you scale down the resolution of the WSXGA+ model?

Yes, lots of people who frequent the Dell forums on Dell's own web site - I'm sure you can find this on the web.

Or is that a laptop to laptop thing? or a brand to brand thing?

Not sure what you mean by this. If you are asking whether laptops of the same specification will exhibit variability in their screen's ability to scale resolutions, then no. But note, as I mentioned above, Dell supplies Inspiron 8600 laptops with screens made by two different manufacturers. You should again check the Dell forums for advice on: a) how to avoid being supplied with the screen made by Hitachi; b) how to check, once you have received your laptop, whether it has the Hitachi screen; c) what to do, if Dell does supply you with an Hitachi screen, to force them to replace the laptop with one that has the better screen (Samsung screen, as I recall).

You should also read the Widescreen Gaming forums, referenced above, so that you understand that only some games are designed to be displayed in widescreen format, that other games can be made to operate in widescreen format, while still others cannot be displayed on a LCD widescreen display at native resolution.

So, as you can see, I recommend some independent research.

 

[Abhi]

Hi

Using an Inspiron 8500 with a WSVGA+ (1650 X 1050)

I am personally loving this screen. The text is sharp and very very readable.

I think its worth a buy...

 

[Abhi]

Link

A desktop snapshot ... from the WSVGA+

The wide screen is actually very useful....