Confused about the new PB resolutions

[Greencardman]

Ok, so I've had my Dell (gasp) for a while now, probably about a year. (it was a gift thank you). But I've had my resolution set at 1680 x 1050 this whole time. Since I have an approximately 15" computer, whats the deal? Do 15" PB's just suck it up, or or they just different sizes. Why is my resolution able to be set at the same as for the 17"PB? Nice, i know, but I just thought PB's were top of the line, and my Dell wasn't, so why is mine better? This seems odd, so I guess my real question is are PB's behind, or is my Dell better than i thought?

 

[jsw]

Ok, so I've had my Dell (gasp) for a while now, probably about a year. (it was a gift thank you). But I've had my resolution set at 1680 x 1050 this whole time. Since I have an approximately 15" computer, whats the deal? Do 15" PB's just suck it up, or or they just different sizes. Why is my resolution able to be set at the same as for the 17"PB? Nice, i know, but I just thought PB's were top of the line, and my Dell wasn't, so why is mine better? This seems odd, so I guess my real question is are PB's behind, or is my Dell better than i thought?

PB resolutions have sucked forever now, they just suck less now. My almost 3-year-old 15" (work) Dell has the same specs as the 17", but maybe isn't as bright.

 

[alexprice]

Is it me or has Apple had screen issues with loads of their macs.

eMac - had the shrinking picture fault when it first came out

iMac G3 - I shouldn't even need to go into much detail about the issues with these.

iMac G5 - The distortion problem and inverters failing which gave a half lit lcd.

iPod Nano - Cracking screens.

PowerBook G4 - Illumination uneven white spots and with the titaniums hinges breaking.

iBook G3 - Video freeze, booting to blank screen.

Apple 23" Alu Cinema Display - Pinkish tint.

Hmm

 

[Demon Hunter]

Is it me or has Apple had screen issues with loads of their macs.

eMac - had the shrinking picture fault when it first came out

iMac G3 - I shouldn't even need to go into much detail about the issues with these.

iMac G5 - The distortion problem and inverters failing which gave a half lit lcd.

iPod Nano - Cracking screens.

PowerBook G4 - Illumination uneven white spots and with the titaniums hinges breaking.

iBook G3 - Video freeze, booting to blank screen.

Apple 23" Alu Cinema Display - Pinkish tint.

Hmm

Well it's easy to focus on Apple's problems. It would be fair if you compared the products of other companies, manufactured in the same period.

It has more to do with Apple's GUI guidelines than anything else (and perhaps Steve's take on the subject).

 

[plinden]

Ok, so I've had my Dell (gasp) for a while now, probably about a year. (it was a gift thank you). But I've had my resolution set at 1680 x 1050 this whole time. Since I have an approximately 15" computer, whats the deal? Do 15" PB's just suck it up, or or they just different sizes. Why is my resolution able to be set at the same as for the 17"PB? Nice, i know, but I just thought PB's were top of the line, and my Dell wasn't, so why is mine better? This seems odd, so I guess my real question is are PB's behind, or is my Dell better than i thought?

It depends on your eyesight. I'm 40 years old, and my eyesight isn't what it used to be. Your Dell has a resolution of 133ppi, and I have a 14" IBM Thinkpad with resolution 1440x1050 (127ppi), which is considerably higher than I'm comfortable with. I can work with it for a few hours, but it gives me a headache after a full day's work. Changing the resolution doesn't work of course, since the fuzziness is even worse, and changing the font size just makes things plain ugly (uglier than Windows normally is, anyway).

That's why I connect it to an external 17" LCD with resolution 1280x1024, a resolution of 100ppi, which I'm totally comfortable with, and which was the resolution of the last PBs.

The new PB screens have a resolution of 117ppi. Apple are/were probably waiting for Mac OSX to support fully scalable fonts before pushing the resolution higher.

 

[Greencardman]

I kind of like being ahead of the curve. But I see what you mean about eyesight. I was a designer, so i think i got used to it, but other people come up behind me and wonder how i can see anything at all.

 

[bodeh6]

My bros Dell 8600 has a 15.4 Wide screen 1680x1050 and while it is nice with a lot of real estate, I like using my iBooks 1024x768 14" screen more for daily use. My sister's Dell 5150 with regular aspect 15" screen can do 1600x1200 but she leaves it at 1024x768 since it is much more comfortable. The new Powerbooks are nice screens though especially the 17".