resolution on wife's laptop

[97tbird]

My laptop's (Lenovo ThinkPad R60) screen resolution is 1400 x 1050 and it looks GREAT compared to my wife's (older) laptop - IBM ThinkPad R51, which is 1024 x 768 (high color, 60 Hz), which looks non-sharp and fuzzy in comparison.

I went into het graphic properties and went into the graphics properties of the graphic device, and it has options higher than 1024x768 ...for example, 2048x x 1536 high color.

what will happen if I select that higher resolution?
will it look better/sharper or won't the laptop not be able to display it?
I mean, on the graphics properties, 1024x768 is the max. right on the slider....

Thanks..

 

[Colt45ws]

LCD panels have whats called a "Native" resolution. Because there are actual physical pixels, there is a certain number of them. In order to display a non-native resolution it can either scale to fit or just show it straight. So for instance 640x480 would only take up a small portion of the screen. I suspect your wifes laptop is scaling a non-native resolution, which will look unsharp and fuzzy. If you can find out what the native resolution of your laptops screen is, you can set it to that. If you lost the literature, try bumping the resolution up one notch at a time to see if you can find the native resolution. If it cant display a resolution for some reason, remember windows has a timeout of 15 seconds I think after which it will revert to the previous setting.

 

[97tbird]

well bummer:
it looks like its native res. is 1024 x 768 (s. below):
does this mean that's the max it can display???
weird: google search says max is 1400 x 1050 ...

However, I got THIS from IBM support site:

"...Product: ThinkPad R51 2888-2WU [change]
Operating system: Windows XP [change]

Original description: P M 1.5GHz, 256MB RAM, 40GB 4200rpm HDD, 14.1 XGA(1024x768) TFT LCD, Intel Extreme, 24x24x24x/8x CD-RW/DVD, Intel 802.11b/g wireless(MPCI), Modem(CDC), 10/100 Ethernet(LOM), UltraNav, Secure Chip, 6 cell Li-Ion battery, WinXP Pr..."

I wonder why the on-board graphics software has other (higher) resolution options...
shall I just try it anyway, and see if the options on the "graphic properties" window change??

 

[firemachine69]

If you exceed your maximum, it'll just default to 1024x768 anyways...

 

[ZZman]

Best to stay at Native Res.

 

[SrDriver]

Assume you are running Windows XP on the Laptop. When using LCD on a laptop or desktop, you need to turn on "Clear Type".

Use native resolution and follow the instructions from the Microsoft web site below.

Link to Clear Type

That should fix you up!

 

[97tbird]

clear type was already on.
I was just commenting on the fuzzyness of the images on her lappy compared to mine.
Thanks for all the tips , guys...I think I'm gonna increase the resolution and see what happens...

I can't break it, right?

 

[greenaccord02]

If you increase beyond native, you may start to see the straight edges of type in small fonts start to disappear.

This is because the graphics chip is sending more lines than the LCD panel has, so it will either say "out of range" and display nothing or only display a portion of the screen at a time and you have to scroll around to see the rest (you'll know what I mean if this happens) or the screen will only display, say 4 out of every 5 lines and that's when you'll notice the effect I'm talking about with the text.

This will depend on the chips that the LCD uses to interpret it's input and the graphics chip in your computer and it's corresponding driver. Use the latest version driver for best results.

 

[OVERKILL]

I've had MANY laptops simply display the LCD at whatever res it supports, and then the desktop at whatever res you've set it at. This is when you go beyond the supported res of the LCD. You can move "around" the desktop with the mouse, causing the parts of the desktop not on the screen to move into the picture. Looks funny