Solved Native Resolution questions

nathal

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I was always taught that switching from the LCD monitor's native resolution guaranteed a blurry or distorted picture. My last laptop had a max resolution of 1366 x 768, and I found lowering the resolution on that machine was problematic, as predicted. However, with my new Dell, which has a native resolution of 1920 x 1080, lowering the resolution does not cause a degradation of picture quality (so long as I maintain the proper aspect ratio). I have it set to 1366 x 768 now and it looks great. I increase the resolution for some games, and none of these choices causes me problems.

So...is the advice about native resolution something that only applies to machines that have few choices, when it wouldn't be generally advisable to lower resolution on a widescreen aspect laptop or desktop LCD? Or, to put it another way, I'm not sure I can discern why it's been shouted from the rooftops never to change the native resolution for fear of a terrible picture.

I'm truly surprised and pleased with my new laptop's Full HD resolution flexibility. :cool:
 

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It's likely not as big a deal with high resolution displays, ones that have more pixels per inch. The key is matching the aspect ratio. Also what looks fine to you may bother someone else. There is nothing that says you can't its just usually not a good idea to do it. Most of the time when you see that advice given, its because someone is complaining that their display doesn't look right. ;)
 

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Yeah, so LCDs produce the sharpest picture when used at its so-called native resolution. However, we agree that changing that resolution may not look terrible after all, despite all the warnings to the contrary, provided the the monitor has a high maximum resolution. It's funny how many web sites promise that the result will cause "fonts and images [to] be blurry and everything will generally look lower-quality and less-sharp".

I find it's really no problem when playing video games on my laptop (max 1920x 1080). Using the max resolution makes things too small, especially text (at 1080), so I typically play using 1280 x 720. It still looks fantastic that way.

I don't know why I find that interesting, but I do. :orb:


 

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I still think running your LCD at its native resolution is the way to go and is a good recommendation. How it looks at another resolution really depends on the monitor and what resolution you use. If it looks fine then go for it. If you start getting headaches or eye strain you may want to rethink it. ;)
 

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    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
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Right, it is easy to make it distorted if forgetting to consider aspect ratio. Also, if the max resolution is something like 1366 x 786, lowering it will probably not look good. I wonder if the difference in quality, assuming the correct aspect ratio for the screen, has anything to do with pixel density? I've read there's a big difference between pixel density and resolution, though the two are often used interchangeably, and it gets confusing.
 

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The way I look at it is, the Pixel density is essentially the physical orientation of the LCD elements in the screen. You can't change that without changing the monitor. The recommended native resolution will match how many pixels the monitor has horizontally and vertically. The displayed resolution can be changed to what ever you want it to. If you change it to something where the displayed pixels don't match the physical pixels in the monitor the image gets distorted because some pixels end up being the wrong color and or the outline of the image gets ragged.
 

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    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
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    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
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    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
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    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
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A related question: I have a 15.6 display. The game Dragon Age gives me the following resolution choices:

1280x720 16:9

1280 x 600

1280x720 16:9

1360 x 768

1366 x 768

1600 x 900 16:9

1920 x 1080 16:9

Are all of the above resolutions the ones that likely best "match the physical pixels in the monitor" and the aspect ratio? Why do only some of them list the aspect ratio? Is there a simple mathematical way to figure out the aspect ratio that corresponds to any given resolution?
 

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  • OS
    Win8
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    Dell Inspiron 7520
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3632QM CPU @ 2.20GHz
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    8 GB
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    Intel HD Graphics 4000 and AMD Radeon™ HD 7730M 2GB
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1366x768 is prob closest to your native resolution, try it and see how it looks, you can try the 1280x720 also, really comes down to what you think looks best on your monitor... :thumb:
 

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    1600x900
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    120Mb/s
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    HP A12 R7 17074
A related question: I have a 15.6 display. The game Dragon Age gives me the following resolution choices:

1280x720 16:9

1280 x 600

1280x720 16:9

1360 x 768

1366 x 768

1600 x 900 16:9

1920 x 1080 16:9

Are all of the above resolutions the ones that likely best "match the physical pixels in the monitor" and the aspect ratio? Why do only some of them list the aspect ratio? Is there a simple mathematical way to figure out the aspect ratio that corresponds to any given resolution?

If it is the Dell listed in your system specs its Display: 15.6 inch, 16:9, 1920x1080 pixels, glossy: yes
So you want to use 1920x1080
Dell Inspiron 7520 - Notebookcheck.net External Reviews
I don't know why some list the aspect ratio and some don't.
 

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    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
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Yes, I know the recommended. I actually prefer use it on 1366 x 768. I guess I'm just weird. To each his own, right? I'd increase to max resolution if I were using a paint program or editing photos, but for regular web browsing it's not ideal.
It's interesting that the video game lists resolution options that I can't switch to in the windows options. I guess that's because dedicated graphics cards have modes that the integrated graphics does not. Anyway, it's nice to have options. :D

A related question: I have a 15.6 display. The game Dragon Age gives me the following resolution choices:

1280x720 16:9

1280 x 600

1280x720 16:9

1360 x 768

1366 x 768

1600 x 900 16:9

1920 x 1080 16:9

Are all of the above resolutions the ones that likely best "match the physical pixels in the monitor" and the aspect ratio? Why do only some of them list the aspect ratio? Is there a simple mathematical way to figure out the aspect ratio that corresponds to any given resolution?

If it is the Dell listed in your system specs its Display: 15.6 inch, 16:9, 1920x1080 pixels, glossy: yes
So you want to use 1920x1080
Dell Inspiron 7520 - Notebookcheck.net External Reviews
I don't know why some list the aspect ratio and some don't.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win8
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 7520
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3632QM CPU @ 2.20GHz
    Motherboard
    HM77
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics 4000 and AMD Radeon™ HD 7730M 2GB
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@ nathal , What Windows shows for available resolutions is usually determined by what the video card can do versus what the monitor will show. There may be resolutions the video card can produce but that the monitor doesn't like, they get removed from the list. Also not in the list are any monitor resolutions that the video card doesn't support. That's assuming Windows has ID the Monitor correctly. The game on the other had is going to try and cover as many basses as possible. It's likely going to have some normal 4:3 screen sizes and some wide and super wide screen resolutions. If you had multiple monitors with eyefinity for example you'd need a super wide screen resolution. By default it likely just lists all the resolutions it can use so you will end up with some that won't work on your setup.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
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