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Difference between 1680x1050 on 15.4 and 1600x900 on 15.6 in terms of font size

M

Michal11

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 31, 2011
64
0
Hello guys,

My main computer is currently windows laptop which has 15.6 inch display and 1600x900 resolution. I like the font size and everything however I cannot imaging having computer with even higher resolution because I feel it would be too small. But I would like to buy a new macbook pro with 15.4 display. Unfortunately I cannot stand glassy display which was the reason I got rid off of 13 inch macbook pro which I had for a few days.

I know that apple offers matte version of 15 macbook pro however the resolution is not 1440x900 but 1680x1050 which seems kinda high for me. So I would like to ask what would be the difference between my current laptop with 1600x900 and macbook pro with 1680x1050. Are fonts going to be even smaller? And if yes about how much?

Please do not send replies like "Definitely go to high res" or "once you go to high res you never go back" I just would like to hear about how much smaller everything will be. I found out that that 1680x1050 has about 10 more dpi but I dont know how big difference is it going to make in real usage.

Thank you so much and I am sorry for such a long post
 
Last edited:
It is about the same difference as between 1440x900 and 1680x1050.

http://members.ping.de/~sven/dpi.html

You'd need to simulate a 1800x1000 pixel screen on your screen to see what it is.
Just make screenshots and use a standard image editing program to scale it. It will be fuzzy but you can see what size buttons, fonts etc. have. Peopel just aren't creative enough. You can emulate some way or anyother every resolution it just takes simple math and a couple screenshots.
 
If you do the math, you'll see the 1680x1050 has about 300,000 more pixels than the 1600x900

1,764,000 vs 1,440,000

Also, they are different aspect ratios. 16:9 vs 16:10

Pu2mo.png


The fonts will be a little smaller than on your current screen, but not by a large amount.
 
Michal11 said:
Are fonts going to be even smaller? And if yes about how much?
Click to expand...

The 15.4'' 16x10 has 1764000 pixels on 106.587 square inch
The 15.6'' 16x9 has 1440000 pixels on 103.99 square inch (yes, the larger screen is actually is smaller!)

As far as pixels (or dots) per line is concerned, it goes from 118 to 129, less than 10%.

Please do not send replies like "Definitely go to high res" or "once you to high res you never go back" I just would like to hear about how much smaller everything will be. I found out that that 1680x1050 has about 10 more dpi but I dont know how big difference is it going to make in real usage.

Thank you so much and I am sorry for such a long post
Click to expand...

Ok, now it's getting ridiculous. You ask "will I like it", which obviously we don't know. And then you ask people not to tell you if they like it? What are we supposed to write?
Looking at the numbers, the difference is small but notable. If your current screen is already uncomfortable for you, maybe going for a higher resolution is a bad idea. If your current screen is "just perfect", then I guess you will also get used to the new one. It takes a few days to get used to it however.

Apple has a 14 days return policy, so you can try and send back. That's probably the best solution.
 
Unless you're an old person or have some kind of major sight impairment, you'll have no problem viewing text on a hi-res screen. If it's a major concern for you, then save the money and get a standard resolution display. Personally, I love the hi-res screen on my Mac. But, that's just me. I don't know what you or anyone else will prefer.
 
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