[AdamWill]

wodgy: really? Holy cow, I never found that, and never read about it either. Can you give more precise directions? I've always thought Windows was still stuck with 'small or big', those are the only two settings I ever found...

 

[Wodgy]

Go to the Advanced display tab where you would select small/large fonts and choose "Other" or "Custom" (I can't remember exactly which). The funky ruler appears. Hold a ruler up to the screen and adjust appropriately. System controls (widgets) and dialogs and fonts will then appear at the new size. (All Windows dialogs are measured in virtual units called twips -- this was even true way back in Windows 3.1, though you're right, in those days, there were just two possible settings for the mapping between twips and pixels.)

 

[swiego]

1. I agree. Without a doubt, this is part of the problem. Then again, high resolution 20" panels have been around for quite some time.

2. I do not necessarily agree with this reason. Some modern laptop panels are simply superlative. My aforementioned Dell seems to manage a 160-170 degree viewing angle without a problem... on top of the 1920x1200... and with good brightness and contrast to boot.

3. I agree. This is too bad. Panels these days are pretty good at scaling to a lower resolution, and the various OS flavors are getting better at providing UI in a high resolution environment. This is one reason I still use CRTs in some situations - I like driving my LaCie Blue IV to 2048x1536 if I need the 3MP workspace in Photoshop, then back down to 1600x1200 if I'm going to use it for anything else. I couldn't possibly do that with a LCD, at least not under $2,000.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Helter Skelter There are a number of possible reasons. 1. Yield. It may not be as easy to maufacture a panel of that size and resolution with no/few defective pixels. 2. Response time, contrast ratio, and viewing angle. Funny thing, people seem to be a lot less picky about these when it comes to laptops or, in the case of viewing angles, are generally looking at the screen head-on, where it's not so much of an issue. Good thing too, because these laptop panels aren't always so great in these regards. 3. The resolution/size ratio. I love having 1400x1050 on my laptop's 15" screen. I'd probably not like it so much on a 15" desktop monitor. Why? Simple, things would likely be too small. It works well on laptops because people are generally a LOT closer to the screen than they are at their desks. Back up two or three feet more than usual from your laptop and see if you can still read text as easily.

 

[AdamWill]

wodgy: neat - I never noticed that. Have to play around with it a bit and see where it breaks. Thanks!