Most of the time, this screen or screen resolution question is often overlooked when a potential buyer is considering a gaming laptop. Everyone is concerned about the type and performance level of the graphics and processor or the amount of RAM that the laptop has installed. However, if your laptop doesn’t have the best or the right resolution, your viewing enjoyment can be greatly affected.
Screen resolution
Screen resolution means the number of actual pixels that can be displayed in each dimension and is quoted as width by height, the unit obviously being pixels. For example, on laptops, a common resolution is called XGA (extended graphics adapter) and is 1024 by 768 pixels. Just to put this resolution into some context, an XGA resolution device has around 796,432 total pixels or almost 1 megapixel.
Standard LCD screen resolutions:
VGA 640×480
SVGA 800×600
QVGA 1280×960
XGA1024x768
SXGA 1280×1024
SXGA+ 1400×1050
UXGA1600x1200
QXGA2048x1536
QXGA+ 2800×2100
QUXGA 3200×2400
WXGA 1280×800
WXGA+ 1440×900
WSXGA+ 1680×1050
WUXGA 1920×1200
In the above lists, S = Super, U = Ultra, Q = Quantum, W = Widescreen, and as mentioned before, XGA = Extended Graphics Adapter, while the lower resolution VGA = Video Graphics Array.
aspect ratio
Another very important factor to consider when talking about resolutions is the aspect ratio. This ratio tells or gives you the proportional “ratio” between the width and height of your screen. Take for example, a VGA screen will have a resolution of 640×480 pixels, but it has an aspect ratio of 4:3; this picture ratio is often referred to as the old television format, while another very common aspect ratio, 16:9, is generally known as the widescreen film format.
native resolution
One of the most important factors of your gaming laptop is its native resolution. This is the absolute maximum resolution of your laptop screen. The native resolution is very important because it determines the actual quality of the image/display screen on your laptop. Don’t confuse your laptop screen with a CRT monitor that can adjust the resolution to match the incoming signal. However, on your laptop’s LCD screen this is not the case as it has a fixed raster (bitmap) and optimal or better picture quality reception will only be achieved when the input signal matches perfectly. with the native resolution of your laptop.
Therefore, knowing the native resolution of your laptop is extremely important if you want to get the best display quality when playing games and watching movies. The native resolution will usually be stated in your laptop’s specs or specs list. If it’s not listed, don’t worry, you can always check the native resolution yourself.
How to find the native resolution of your laptop?
Just check by clicking
home –> control panel –> screen
You will usually get information on adjusting your laptop’s screen resolution from this location and your laptop’s native resolution will be the maximum displayed. You can also modify your resolution from here, but you may need to reboot your machine before the new changes take effect.
Why is your screen resolution so important?
One of the main reasons, other than image quality, why the resolution of your laptop screen is so important has to do with the “amount” of material that can be displayed on the screen. Remember, a higher resolution will allow you to see much more material on your screen, this is important for running/viewing numerous applications at once. However, one of the drawbacks of having this “larger real estate” sometimes means that the font and text are too small for many people to read comfortably.
The best resolution for games?
Gamers are very demanding, they tend to want to play their games on the highest settings possible. Gamers also want a high-definition screen, which usually means at least a 720p screen, but more likely a 1080p screen (while the p stands for progressive scan and is primarily for streaming formats, this has more to do with televisions and monitors than with the LCD screen on your laptop). Now a Full HD 1080p display has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Many high-end gaming rigs on the market today have a WUXGA (1920 x 1200) resolution or higher.
There’s nothing better than checking out your laptop’s screen first-hand to see if it lives up to your expectations, but if you’re looking for an HD screen, then you could use the general guide below. We are giving resolutions to screen size and these resolutions are high, especially for smaller screens.
Smallest laptop with 11 to 13 inch screen – 1366×768
Medium laptop with 14 to 15 inch screen – 1600×900
Largest laptop with a screen larger than 15 inches – 1920×1080
If you find these resolutions too high and your text too small to read, here’s a helpful tip on DPI scaling. You can adjust this scaling by right-clicking on your desktop computer and then clicking on the “customize” section to find an “Adjust font size or DPI” link. The usual default setting is 96 dots per inch; now you can enlarge it to make everything bigger and much easier to read. Again, this will affect the appearance of your screen, but keep in mind that whatever is recommended, the best resolution for your laptop is one that you are comfortable viewing and using.
There you have it, hopefully this information on screen resolutions will come in handy when shopping for your next laptop, gaming or otherwise. Keep in mind that technology never stands still. These resolutions, even the highest Full HD, will continue to increase in the future. Just look at what Apple is doing with its Retina Display on the iPad 3 with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 on a 9.7-inch screen, that’s about 264 pixels per inch. Even more impressive is the new Retina MacBook Pro which has a 2880×1800 resolution on a 15-inch screen, that’s over 5 megapixels. One would expect other laptop manufacturers to follow Apple’s lead in the future.