Why is SXGA preferred over XGA?

[Thinkpad_T43_Fan]

I've been advised that the SXGA screen is much more desirable than XGA.

I'd like to find out why.

Personally I like the XGA screen better, because the SXGA resolution, while much higher, makes the font too small to read. I usually set my font settings to extra large, but not all apps follow this setting.

And also, how much more of a premium is SXGA worth over XGA?

[christopher_wolf]

SXGA+ you mean, there is no Thinkpad with just an SXGA resolution.

Well, there are quite a few people that still prefer the goold old XGA 1024x768 resolution; this is opposed to those who like the highest resolutions possible giving them more virtual screen space. SXGA+ is a pretty good comprimise between the two extremes and is quite managible on a 14.1" form factor screen.

I can't really say what the premium that you get for SXGA+ on a Thinkpad is, but you will know it when you see it, believe me. You could be looking at a model with great specs and boggling at the price, then you realize only later that it is XGA; invert that shock for SXGA+ Thinkpads with lower specs.

[pianowizard]

And also, how much more of a premium is SXGA worth over XGA?

Typically about $100.

[Thinkpad_T43_Fan]

Thanks guys!

My eyes just aren't cutting it I guess. I hate getting old LOL

I've decided to stick with XGA whever possible.

It'll be cheaper for me too when I buy Thinkpads as well

[Kyocera]

It took me a while to get used to the higher res screen on my t60 (sxga+) but now it is just beautiful. I think I was to used to the XGA and at first was fighting the look but apparently my eyes have adjusted to it.

[smek]

Although I havent used SXGA+, instead it was the WSXGA and I love having the extra screen space. And since its on a laptop which is usually closer to your eyes than a desktop monitor, the smaller text is not that big of a problem. Things like Excel make the extra screen space much more desirable.

[Klaus]

I've been advised that the SXGA screen is much more desirable than XGA.

I'd like to find out why.

Personally I like the XGA screen better, because the SXGA resolution, while much higher, makes the font too small to read. I usually set my font settings to extra large, but not all apps follow this setting.

Well you can increase icon- and font-sizes so you have just a higher resolution (smaller pixelsize and therefore a higher quality of the screen output)

[epbrown]

I'm writing this on a machine with SVGA (800x600), so not everyone prefers high-res displays. But it's the way of the world that surfing the net takes more and more pixels - few web sites re-size properly for my display anymore. Multimedia is the chief reason for going with such displays if you don't already need one for working.

[skitty4gzus]

im definitely digging the uxga display on my t42p. gaming on this is a joy with higher resolution. games like AOE and warcraft love the extra resolution. those games seemed alright on my t30 but on the t42p they are pretty much amazing.

[Utwig]

Both of my babies are UXGA. While text is small with UXGA you can open two browser windows side by side and can have two viewports in AutoCAD. Otherwise increasing fonts and icons tends to break some apps. Best just to leave it at default, we're still years from vector deskops and high density displays.

My main desktop is triplehead 3840x960.

[underclocker]

When an O.S. can properly scale fonts, icons, spacing, etc. on a high resolution screen, there'll be no turning back. Until then, I, too, prefer XGA on a 14" LCD.

I tried a MacBook, and OS X can't scale well either. On a 13.3" widescreen, which is about 2" less high than a 'normal' 14" LCD, you need a magnifying glass to read fonts, unless you supersize them. But everything else is still small and some web pages still render incorrectly.

Maybe Vista will do it.

[pianowizard]

I just picked up a Dell Inspiron 6000 with 15.4" WUXGA resolution (1920x1200). Wow, soooooooooo many pixels! It will be great for working on multiple documents or programs simultaneously. I rarely keep a laptop for more than several months, but this is going to be an exception (like the T43 and X40 that I currently own).

[sickity]

Check out this page for more information about screen resolutions. It talks about them all and shows the difference between them from CGA all the way to HUXGA....

http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/howmanydots/

[pianowizard]

For info about text size (inversely related to dots per inch), this site is great:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/DPI-Finene ... 310.0.html

[tom lightbody]

a good site indeed; earlier in thread, a contributor said

> ...there is no Thinkpad with just an SXGA resolution

perhaps meaning, no current thinkpad: SXGA is 1280x1024: some 770x/z
models have this resolution [9549-7/8AU,9549-7/8BU].

but back on thread, the onboard t22 has SXGA+ and I prefer it to XGA
in three contexts: web-browsing (more on-screen), displaying photos,
and work with command-line text consoles: in graphics mode (vesa) I
get 65 lines of 175 characters each: good for long directory listings,
big READMEs including the manual, and some programming tasks. XGA such
as on this 600e is inferior in those regards--48*128--but equally
acceptable for writing, as I set font sizes in the editor to appear
the same--SXGA+ or XGA--on screen. My only reservation is that the
more complex LCD may not last as well: already on the t22 I have an
inexplicable white smear in top left, not over the keyboard, only visible in X.

[pianowizard]

perhaps meaning, no current thinkpad: SXGA is 1280x1024: some 770x/z
models have this resolution [9549-7/8AU,9549-7/8BU].

Did those screens have a 5:4 aspect ratio?

[christopher_wolf]

a good site indeed; earlier in thread, a contributor said

> ...there is no Thinkpad with just an SXGA resolution

perhaps meaning, no current thinkpad: SXGA is 1280x1024: some 770x/z
models have this resolution [9549-7/8AU,9549-7/8BU].

Yes, no current Thinkpad has SXGA as an offering and, in general, one would be quite hard pressed to actually find a current laptop of any brand that did have an SXGA screen alone.

[Esben]

Higher resolution is absolutely preferable.
XGA on a 14" monitor is a leftover from year 2000.

If your eyes can't handle the evolution in 7 years, then it's not the laptop that's at fault, nor the operating system to blame.

Any monitor will do for basic text editing or webbrowsing, but when you push the boundary, such as making layout across several pages in Word, or having multiple windows open at the same time, XGA is pushing it.

The same can be said for CPUs, anyone with a XGA screen likely doesn't need more than a Pentium-M, while a superuser would take advantage of a SXGA+ screen and a dualcore processor.

[brainpicker]

... XGA on a 14" monitor is a leftover from year 2000.

If your eyes can't handle the evolution in 7 years, then it's not the laptop that's at fault, nor the operating system to blame. ...

Who SHOULD I blame? God? When I was 15-20 years younger I guess I felt the same. Now that age and disease have had their say I think the ability to scale would be wonderful. I mainly use XGA, but use others too depending on what I'm up to. Until the hardware and/or software manufacturers figure this out I have to own several monitors so that I can use what fits my needs at that moment.

You said it yourself, that XGA was from (at least) back in 2000. My UGXA R52p was built in 2003. Well, what the hell have the software and hardware folks been doing on the monitor front for the past 4 years?!

Oh, and reading glasses haven't improved all that much either!

- Yak

[pianowizard]

Until the hardware and/or software manufacturers figure this out I have to own several monitors so that I can use what fits my needs at that moment.

Vista has figured it out, allowing one to use resolutions lower than the native one without distorting the images. This is mostly good news, but can be bad for some people because there's now one less excuse for owning multiple computers/monitors!

You said it yourself, that XGA was from (at least) back in 2000.

The oldest XGA laptop I've used was a UMAX 233MHz MMX 13.3" laptop made in 1997.

[brainpicker]

darn. I was hoping not to have the need for Vista until 2011.

- Yak

[anthean]

If your eyes can't handle the evolution in 7 years, then it's not the laptop that's at fault, nor the operating system to blame.

Humans develop technology to serve us appropriately. Some of us aren't 20 anymore, and it is my bet that you (Esben) have plans to get older too--consider, afterall, the alternative.

[dr_st]

Vista has figured it out, allowing one to use resolutions lower than the native one without distorting the images.

Doesn't make sense to me. Distortion as a result of interpolation at non-native resolutions has nothing to do with the operating system. What I understood is that in Vista the font and graphic scaling is better implemented, and so on any given resolution they can be scaled to a desired target size without inconsistencies and aspect distortions.

[kamaleon]

So does Vista vectorize the fonts and icons or what?

I'm asking as i've never seen a Vista in front of me.

I've had a compal cl56 and i sold it partially because of its definition.

Anyway, this issue really does my head in. I'm "only" 28 but my eyes can't cope with small fonts. I'm really gutted, as i'd love to be able to use some nice display, and have a lot of pixels - but everytime i set fonts to 120 dpi or bigger, hell breaks loose, only a few windoze boxes are scaled, not even the whole GUI! not to mention firefox or other applications, and i definetly don't like to see websites going pear-shaped!

Personnally, a good compromise would be wxga+ 1440x900 on a 15.4" display... it's slightly bigger than 1440x1050 on a 4:3, and my eyes don't start aching!

Could one hope that lenovo will one day (next generation tpads please!) offer this as an option?

[RealBlackStuff]

I too prefer the XGA resolution.
Even on my desktop's 19" monitor I use 1024x768.
I do web-design for a living, and it's perfect for me.
Me being over 60, it makes it friendly on my eyes as well.

[Paul Pavlik]

The only reason that I replaced my provious Sony Laptop with a ThinkPad (T60) was because Lenovo was the only maker (almost) that would provide a 15" XGA dsplay. Even so, I set the DPI setting to 130 (135%) to provide a (Text) size increase.