Laptop Display Resolution questions

[Sttesuhc]

Hi folks-
My first post...yay! I was planning to get an iBook to use at college and home, and I read a member of the forum mention that between the 12" and 14" iBooks there is no extra space gained from the 14"-- everything just looks a little bit larger. Is that true? If so, what are some reasons to go with the 14" anyway? Easier to read the screen? Doesn't the extra space make it easier to resize windows and place more of them around the desktop?

I'll be making the switch to a laptop (my first) from a G4 400mhz with a 17" 1024x768 so I'm a little concerned that I'm going to hate the change. It's a change I want to make, for various reasons.

Also...for my home setup I'm planning to plug in a keyboard, mouse, and probably my old 17" display. Is there any reason the 12" or 14" would influence this kind of external display setup?

Last question: is there a benefit to the PowerBook line between the 12" to 15" and the possibility of extra screen space between those?

Thanks for your advice!

 

[ITASOR]

Yes, it's true. The 14" is useless unless you have bad eyes. If you have good eyes, you will notice the big pixels and get annoyed. It's also too big. I have a 14" sitting on my iCurve right now and it's ugly!

 

[mrgreen4242]

Yes, the 14" will just 'look bigger'. The only advantage to the 14" is when you are playing games or watching movies. The extra screen size is nic there, but teh lack of extra resolution isn't really noticable.

That said, I say that the 12" is better, basically the same machine, but smaller and lighter. You can, as you plan, always use an external display when at home.

 

[mkrishnan]

Well, the iBooks (both of them) have the same screen resolution, as pointed out -- 1024x768, just like your current 17" monitor. The 14" iBook will look closer in size of pixels to the monitor than the 12" -- they all have the same resolution, but if you're used to that resolution on such a large monitor, the 12" might seem small....

The only real reasons to get the 14" iBook are:
- You like the bigger physical size because the screen is easier on the eyes, etc, or you find the small form factor unwieldy (although I don't think the iBook 12" keys are any bigger -- some 12" notebooks have reduced key sizes, but AFAIK, the iBook and PB 12" are pretty much full size keys).
- You want the superdrive model (since there is no iBook 12" Superdrive config)

I personally wouldn't touch a 14" iBook either, but I wouldn't go so far as to say the display will look terrible. I have an old 15" LCD around that runs at XGA and it doesn't look all that horrible. I just vastly prefer the 12" because of its small size and light weight.

 

[Sttesuhc]

Just wanted to say thanks for the input everyone! I think I'm going to play around with the 12 and 14 to see what I think of both. At this point I've ruled out a PowerBook since I'm more interested in the iBook anyway.

🙂