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160

Offer 1920x1200 on the Vostro 1500.

160 points posted to Monitors and Displays, Vostro products, Laptops by winoffice Apr 13

The 1920x1200 resolution is offered on the XPS M1530, why not the Vostro 1500? The two notebooks have the same screen size after all. Please offer a 1920x1200 screen resolution on the Vostro 1500 notebook PC.

cestuila
Apr 13		 Because the M1530 is a multemedia laptop, while the Vostro is a small business laptop.
And businesses can't spend the whole day watching bluray movies...
winoffice
Apr 13		 cestuila I do not use 1920x1200 to watch movies. Obviously you think that 1920x1200 is a "multimedia only" resolution or a "Blue-ray only" resolution, or that 1920x1200 is not a resolution for business use...Not so. I have 1920x1200 on my Dell Inspiron XPS Generation 2 notebook PC, and I use it for business. And by the way, Vostro PCs do not offer Blue-ray.
cestuila
Apr 13		 Well, if you need that resolution for business 2D or 3D, then you might be more satisfied with a Latitude or Precision laptop. And these do offer 1920x1200 ;)

It's like that suggestion where the guy asks the future Latitude E5xxx to be magnesium based (which is what the Latitude E6xxx will have)! If you put all the benefits of a Latitude in a Vostro, who will want to buy a Latitude??
winoffice
Apr 13		 Actually no. I prefer the Vostros to the Latitudes. Even if the Vostro does offer 1920x1200, the Latitudes will still have many benefits. So offering 1920x1200 isn't offering ALL of the benefits.
mdburkey
Apr 13		 Personally, I think having 1920x1200 on ANY 15" LCD is pretty much nuts!

On that small a screen, the extra resolution is basically wasted due to how small things end up unless you increase the font size and/or dpi setting -- both of which largely negate any benefits of running at a higher resolution.

If you are doing CAD/CAM work then maybe more resolution makes more sense -- but for that you should be looking at the Precision line with Quadro graphics anyway. And even for CAD work, the overall difference in appearance of a rendering at 1920x1200 vs 1680x1050 is going to be virtually indistinguishable at that size.

Even for things like BluRay the average person cannot distinguish the difference between 1920x1200 and a well done 1680x1050 version (or even 1400x900 for that matter). The same goes for HDTV -- at typical viewing distances in a group study the average viewer could NOT tell the difference between 720p, 1080i and 1080p clearly enough to identify which was which (and actually -- when working with signals encoded at the standard ATSC bitrates -- the majority usually chose 720p as being the most watchable [smoother motion and less encoding artifacts]).
winoffice
Apr 13		 You obviously have no idea about the Vostro 1500. It has a 15.4" screen, NOT 15"!

And mdburkey, what do you mean by "virtually" indistinguishable???? A 1920x1200 screen has about 31% more pixels than 1680x1050...that is in no way indistinguishable.
stormrider451
Apr 14		 To be honest winoffice I think there are a few computers that should be first in line to receiving the 1920x1200 resultion first than the vostro. For example the M2010 or the XPS One which carry 20 inch screens. As far as I know these do not have this high 1920x1200 resolution capability either. If I am incorrect please let me know. To me they deserve this kind of resolution more tan a 15.4inch vostro. Heck, dont get me wrong, I wish every comp could have the 1920x1200 resolution. But thinking that dell probably wont do that in the immediate future, I think there are a few computers that should be (to me at least) first in line candidates for this type of resolution..
jervis961
Apr 14		 Honestly I can't imagine that resolution in my 15 inch screen. I'm running at 1680 x 1050 and have the fonts and icons at the highest settings. I just don't think that resolution is going to fly on a 15 incher. Dell is trying to make different computers for different uses and the Vostro isn't meant to be a high resolution machine. But since I think people should have options I did promote even though I don't think Dell will do this.
mdburkey
Apr 14		 @winoffice:
I am quite aware of what the Vostro 1500 is and that it has a widescreen 15.4" display. It is simply a matter of semantics -- and most people I deal with tend to refer to laptops as either 15" Widescreen (meaning 15.4") or 15" Standard Ratio.

And when I say virtually indistinguishable -- I mean it! Yes, 1920x1200 offers a lot more pixels than 1680x1060 -- but for most CAD work, when rendering an object at the same APPARENT size to the viewer (i.e. it shows up the same actual size on the display) then the difference in resolution only aids in making "jaggies" disappear on diagonal lines. While getting rid of jaggies is nice, the net effect on a 15" screen is not that apparent unless you get REALLY close to the display. Yes, you can get more individual items on a screen at that resolution -- but these items become much smaller, the text becomes much harder to read, and the most users end up increasing the font size or base DPI and negating the benefit anyway.

For watching movies, the benefit of super high resolution displays is even more questionable -- especially with the source material that is currently available. I have seen the results of focus group studies that were done that show that even on a 42"+ display the results can be quite surprising and counter-intuitive. When comparing two identically sized and similar displays at a typical viewing distance (10') -- one full HD 1920x1080 resolution and the other a well implemented, well filtered 1366 X 768 -- most people preferred the 1920x1080 set for STATIC IMAGES (though a lot said they couldn't tell the difference). However, when either a typical ATSC or HD-DVD video clip was displayed, most people preferred the 1366x768 set -- because it's slightly lower resolution and filtering tended to average out some of the block artifacts inherent in the MPEG2 compression process. I personally spent over 10 years working in the TV industry and high resolution, sharpness, and color purity are NOT all they are cracked up to be. The aged CRT, for all its flaws, makes a wonderful low-pass filter and can hide a multitude of sins in the input signal. Given adequate source material, higher resolutions DO look better when scaled up to a large enough size -- unfortunately, unless you increase ATSC (Mpeg2) bitrates to 30+Mbps you just can't really take full advantage of your display. If Bluray manufacturers start encoding more material with the AVCHD/H.264 codecs (*AND* keep the bitrate up rather than just using it to cram more stuff on a disc) then we may actually see stuff that really looks good on a large hi-res display.
jervis961
Apr 15		 I guess this is a moot point with the new Vostros coming in May. http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4366
winoffice
Apr 22		 @mdburkey:
When you mean "virtually" indistinguishable -- no you do not mean it! I can distinguish the two on my Dell Inspiron XPS Generation 2 notebook PC by the number of items that I can put inside the screen.

"but for most CAD work"

You are saying CAD, CAD, CAD, CAD...as if that is the only thing that I am doing. In any case CAD and movies are apparently the only things that you can think of when it comes to bashing 1920x1200. And when it comes to CAD -- no, 1920x1200 is better than 1680x1050. I do CAD myself, and I can find 1920x1200 to be a better screen resolution than 1680x1050, be it CAD or otherwise.
mdburkey
Apr 22		 @winoffice:
Did you actually READ my post?
(apparently at 1920x1200 the text is too small for you to read it!)

First off, the XPS Gen 2 has a 17" screen -- the Vostro 1500 has a 15". This makes a VERY big difference in apparent size.

Secondly, yes, I even stated that you "can get a lot more individual items on the screen at that resolution".
So, yes, your desktop can have lots more items or your spreadsheet can have a lot more cells. I don't argue this at all.

However, the point I was trying to make is that the AVERAGE user can barely READ the standard text size on a 15" screen that is running at 1920x1200! Even on a 17" screen the default text size is small enough to give most people eye fatigue if viewed for long periods of time.

Which is why I also further stated that the AVERAGE user is going to end up increasing the default font size or DPI for Windows to make the text readable -- which also increases the size and grid spacing of items on the desktop and/or items in a spreadsheet -- so you end up back where you started in terms of usable screen area. The end result is that there is no NET benefit to the higher resolution in MOST cases!
winoffice
Apr 23		 @mdburkey:
Do you actually have a conception of the "average" user? There is no such thing as an "average" user.
mdburkey
Apr 26		 @winoffice:
My concept of AVERAGE user means the average human being with eye sight that is no better than 20/20 (which in and of itself is exceedingly rare in anyone over 40 without correction).
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