Monitor Resolutions

[dotdotdot]

Hey All

First MacRumors thread of my own!

I want to get a Mac mini as well as keep my kick-ass WinXP machine. The thing is, my WinXP machines max. resolution is over 2000x1600 (idk the actual numbers) but my monitors max resolution is 1280x1024 (19" LCD)

I was wondering, I like my icons and text REALLY small (can't stand anything less than 1280x1024 on Windows) but I've heard that apples resolutions need to be above 1280x1024 to get the same size... so if I got a mac mini and set the resolution to 1280x1024, would everything look big and off-center (I'm not familiar with Apples resolutions)

Thanks
-dotx3

 

[wordmunger]

Hey All

First MacRumors thread of my own!

I want to get a Mac mini as well as keep my kick-ass WinXP machine. The thing is, my WinXP machines max. resolution is over 2000x1600 (idk the actual numbers) but my monitors max resolution is 1280x1024 (19" LCD)

I was wondering, I like my icons and text REALLY small (can't stand anything less than 1280x1024 on Windows) but I've heard that apples resolutions need to be above 1280x1024 to get the same size... so if I got a mac mini and set the resolution to 1280x1024, would everything look big and off-center (I'm not familiar with Apples resolutions)

Thanks
-dotx3

I think I know what you're talking about here. You can specify your font sizes in many apps so they don't look so big. That should probably take care of a lot of what you're talking about. But it's going to look different. No doubt about that. 1280 X 1024 is pretty low-rez for a 19-inch LCD. Might be time to upgrade your display as well.

 

[varmit]

Hey All

First MacRumors thread of my own!

I want to get a Mac mini as well as keep my kick-ass WinXP machine. The thing is, my WinXP machines max. resolution is over 2000x1600 (idk the actual numbers) but my monitors max resolution is 1280x1024 (19" LCD)

I was wondering, I like my icons and text REALLY small (can't stand anything less than 1280x1024 on Windows) but I've heard that apples resolutions need to be above 1280x1024 to get the same size... so if I got a mac mini and set the resolution to 1280x1024, would everything look big and off-center (I'm not familiar with Apples resolutions)

Thanks
-dotx3

There is no difference between the mac and windows when it comes to resolution, that stuff is standardized i believe. You can however change the font and icon sizes on the mac, so you can have a 1024X768, but with small icons. I personally have my font set for 10pt. for my Mac and 32X32 for the icon size. Lowest font size is 10, and icons can be 16X16. Windows icons are default 32X32 i believe.

 

[dotdotdot]

I think I know what you're talking about here. You can specify your font sizes in many apps so they don't look so big. That should probably take care of a lot of what you're talking about. But it's going to look different. No doubt about that. 1280 X 1024 is pretty low-rez for a 19-inch LCD. Might be time to upgrade your display as well.

LOL i just got this monitor (samsung) in october!

 

[munkle]

LOL i just got this monitor (samsung) in october!

That's like sooo last year! 😉 😛

 

[MarkCollette]

Sorry, I don't mean to go off topic, but I have a screen resolution question too.

On MS Windows, when I change resolution, there's this thing that if the resolution doesn't work on my monitor, it will flip back in 15 seconds. On my Panther system, I see no such thing. Is there some way to safely try out different resolution in Mac OS X 10.3? I got stuck in one resolution and had to reboot to get back to sanity. It's especially a problem since I need to hook up my Power Mac G4 to three different monitors, at different times, all of which support different resolutions. Thank you.

 

[munkle]

Sorry, I don't mean to go off topic, but I have a screen resolution question too.

On MS Windows, when I change resolution, there's this thing that if the resolution doesn't work on my monitor, it will flip back in 15 seconds. On my Panther system, I see no such thing. Is there some way to safely try out different resolution in Mac OS X 10.3? I got stuck in one resolution and had to reboot to get back to sanity. It's especially a problem since I need to hook up my Power Mac G4 to three different monitors, at different times, all of which support different resolutions. Thank you.

I'm sorta confused about what you're asking here. You can switch between resolutions easily by going to system preferences/displays - there should be no need to reboot at all.

 

[MarkCollette]

I'm sorta confused about what you're asking here. You can switch between resolutions easily by going to system preferences/displays - there should be no need to reboot at all.

The problem was that the resolution I tried, in the preferences pane, was not actually supported by the monitor, so the screen went black, so I could not turn it back without rebooting.

I'm asking if there's some keyboard shortcut or mouse click or something that can be done to return a system to a known good screen resolution, once it's gone all wonky, trying out a new resolution.

 

[jackieonasses]

The problem was that the resolution I tried, in the preferences pane, was not actually supported by the monitor, so the screen went black, so I could not turn it back without rebooting.

I'm asking if there's some keyboard shortcut or mouse click or something that can be done to return a system to a known good screen resolution, once it's gone all wonky, trying out a new resolution.

Yes there is. It asks if you would like to revert (it knows it isn't a supported display) and when it is done it will pop up a dialog box telling you if you want to keep this - If it goes black press enter, and that should trip the "revert" button. Or, just go to preferences and check the box where it says- only supported resolutions.



And to answer the original posters question, I have a samsung (19 inch like yours) and mine will sky to 1920 x 1440, So check the preferences pane for changes. It *will* get higher than 1280 x 1024.... ( the monitor is spanned on an extended desktop on my 12"pb running fine at 1600 x 1200 at 75 hertz)


kyle

 

[MarkCollette]

Yes there is. It asks if you would like to revert (it knows it isn't a supported display) and when it is done it will pop up a dialog box telling you if you want to keep this - If it goes black press enter, and that should trip the "revert" button. Or, just go to preferences and check the box where it says- only supported resolutions.

I went back to the Display screen, and took a screen shot, so that you guys could see what I see, in case we're running different versions of Panther (I have 10.3.7 I believe). If I click on a resolution in the list on the left called "Resolutions:", then it changes right away, and never pops up anything. Same with selecting a Refresh Rate. No popup with a revert button or anything, it just changes immediately, and stays.

Any ideas?

 

[baby duck monge]

I think1280 X 1024 is pretty low-rez for a 19-inch LCD. Might be time to upgrade your display as well.

not really... it is the same rez as on a 17", but that is kinda how it works with LCDs. i don't really know of (m)any 19" LCDs with a higher rez; for that you have to jump up to 20". this is from my experience of getting an LCD earlier this month...

 

[wordmunger]

not really... it is the same rez as on a 17", but that is kinda how it works with LCDs. i don't really know of (m)any 19" LCDs with a higher rez; for that you have to jump up to 20". this is from my experience of getting an LCD earlier this month...

Wow... you're right. I was basing my statement on the fact that 17-inchers are widely available at that rez. So someone who likes their text *tiny* is going to be disappointed with a 19-incher with the same resolution. 20-inchers are readily available at 1600 X 1200. Seems like the 19-incher is a bit of a waste, especially if you don't mind small text.

 

[MarkCollette]

When you first use a brand new installation of Mac OS, the icons are made to be quite large, compared to a windows system. But, it's trivial to change the settings to make the icons and text smaller. In the Finder select "View" and then "Show View Options". My friend wears glasses, so on her machine I made the fonts and text large, but on mine I made them small.

I think that historically Windows had icons in two sizes: small (16x16 pixels) and large (32x32 pixels). The majority of the time the system defaulted to the large icons, but it would use small icons for things like the start bar. And it had that option to use large or small fonts, system wide.

In OS X, all icons are 128x128 pixels, but they're never really shown at that resolution, it's just that when you make them 40x40 or whatever, then it can do nice scaling. Since the icons are so detailed, you'll see that many people leave them a bit larger than on a windows system, especially since the icons on the Dock can show a scaled down image of the contents of a minimised window. So, if you were writing your resume, you see an actual small representation of your resume, in the icon.

Hey All

First MacRumors thread of my own!

I want to get a Mac mini as well as keep my kick-ass WinXP machine. The thing is, my WinXP machines max. resolution is over 2000x1600 (idk the actual numbers) but my monitors max resolution is 1280x1024 (19" LCD)

I was wondering, I like my icons and text REALLY small (can't stand anything less than 1280x1024 on Windows) but I've heard that apples resolutions need to be above 1280x1024 to get the same size... so if I got a mac mini and set the resolution to 1280x1024, would everything look big and off-center (I'm not familiar with Apples resolutions)

Thanks
-dotx3