Are Hi-Res Screens worth the upgrade?

[Yano]

I'll be purchasing a 15' MBP shortly and was curious to know if the Hi-Res screen is worth paying the extra $100+.

I spoke with a sales rep at Apple store and she couldn't give me a clear answer to the advantages. She mentioned that hooking the MBP to a LCD TV will elimate a black boarder with the HI-RES option??

Furthermore, does the HI-RES option improve picture quality much like 720p to 1080p on a TV would?

I will most likely hook my MBP to a 22' monitor and occationally a LCD TV when stationed at my office.

Any thoughts?

 

[spinnerlys]

What BS is that?

The internal resolution (1440 x 900 on the normal model, or 1680 x 1050 on the high-res version) has nothing to do with the resolution of any external display or TV connected to the Mac.

Whatever model (normal or high-res) you choose, the options of connecting a TV or LCD will stay the same. Nothing is better or worse in that regard.

PS: If you leave the MBP settings to mirror the internal display onto the external, you will get less resolution of course, but since the MBP is able to handle another external monitor or TV quite fine, there is no need for that.

With going from 1440 x 900 to 1680 x 1050 you get smaller fonts and more density, but you get more screen real estate. I had the 1440 x 900 display, and it was too small, so when I had the chance I got a 17" model with 1920 x 1200 pixel, but that is only because of my needs. So in order to determine what kind of display you want, you might get down to what your needs are.

Also if you browse the MacBook Pro / PowerBook sub-forum you will find plenty of threads discussing the high-res version. Maybe that can help you.

 

[Yano]

So if I purchase the normal resolution, it won't effect the picture quality when projecting to a TV or larger LCD monitor. The only effect will be the real estate on the screen will get smaller.

Is that what you're saying?

 

[spinnerlys]

So if I purchase the normal resolution, it won't effect the picture quality when projecting to a TV or larger LCD monitor. The only effect will be the real estate on the screen will get smaller.

Is that what you're saying?

The real estate on the internal display (the one attached right to the MBP via the hinge, the one on the image below) will be lower with the normal resolution version, due to the lower resolution.

The external display or TV has its own native resolution, so that is what the maximum is.

If you use MRoogle you will find plenty of threads about connecting a TV or display to an MBP.

 

[tuna]

Bottom line: the high end screen option has ZERO to do with connecting to external displays in any way.

I always want more resolution so I would always take the screen upgrade.

However, I have a 70 year old family friend apparently with vision problems because he has me set up his monitors at below their native resolution to make everything bigger.

There's no issue of not being able to read text with higher resolution. There are options in the OS to adjust the size of both the text and icons. Higher resolution gives you more real estate, how you use it is completely up to you.