Screen Resolution Question

[AndyH97]

I'm looking at these two laptops:

http/www.cclonline.com/product/153109/NX-MHMEK-001/Laptops/Acer-Aspire-E1-772-34004G50Mnsk-17-3-inch-Notebook-PC-Core-i3-4000M-2-4GHz-4GB-500GB-DVD-Writer-WLAN-Webcam-Windows-8-1-64-bit-HD-Graphics-4600-Silver/NOT00333/

http/www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/laptops/acer-aspire-e5-571-15-6-laptop-black-10011066-pdt.html

As you can see I'm only willing to spend under £400. The Aspire E1-772 has a screen size of 17.3 inches with a resolution of 1600x900. The Aspire E5-571 has a screen size of 15.6 inches with a resolution of 1366x768. However, I'm unsure about what the screen resolution actually means.

I'm not very educated on computers and graphics and such, so on the E1-772 there are more pixels but the screen is bigger. However, on the E5-571 there are less pixels but the screen is smaller. So what I want to know is, will there even be the slightest difference in quality between the two because to me it looks like there needs to be more pixels in the bigger screen to make it full screen?

I doubt this is even going to make any sense...

 

[jaguarskx]

Screen resolution refers to the number of pixels on the screen. Basically the higher the resolution the more pixels there are which means more text and images can be displayed on the screen at a time. Probably the best way to see the difference is to go to a computer store and compare two laptops with different solutions.

Basically if you were to simply go to www.tomshardware.com on both laptops you will notice that you will see more information displayed on the 17.3" laptop with 1600x900 resolution compared to the 15.6" laptop with only 1366x768 resolution. Because more information is displayed you need to scroll less. I would never touch a laptop with 1366x768 resolution because I like to be able to see a lot of information on the screen at one time as long as it is easy enough to read.

The higher the solution the smaller text will be. If you have poor eye sight then going too high can mean the text is too small to read. However the size of screen does play a role so the larger the screen size the larger the text will be. If both laptops were 15.6" then you will definitely see that the text is smaller on the laptop with 1600x900 resolution. However, since the laptop with that resolution is larger, the size of the text should more or less be the same as with the 15.6" laptop.

If you are worried about image quality, then as long as you are setting the resolution to max (native), then image quality is pretty much the same. If on the 17.3" laptop you were to decrease the resolution to 1366x768 you will notice that image quality is a little softer but still legible.

In terms of specs the 17.3" laptop is better because it has the Core i3-4000m which is 600MHz faster than the Core i3-4030u. The i3-4000m also has the faster Intel HD 4600 graphics core vs. the Intel HD 4400 for the other CPU. For average daily use you will not really notice much of a difference. If you were to play games then the Core i3-4000m with the Intel HD 4600 will provide a little better performance assuming the resolution is the same on both laptops.

Current generation Intel graphic cores should be able to play many games that are not very graphic demanding with decent performance. For example both should be fine to play Skyrim at 1366x768 with low graphic settings. My laptop has the Intel HD 4400 and I have played Mass Effect 3 and Star Trek Online at 1600x900 resolution with a mix of low and medium graphic settings and the games plays decent enough.

 

[AndyH97]

Screen resolution refers to the number of pixels on the screen. Basically the higher the resolution the more pixels there are which means more text and images can be displayed on the screen at a time. Probably the best way to see the difference is to go to a computer store and compare two laptops with different solutions.

Basically if you were to simply go to www.tomshardware.com on both laptops you will notice that you will see more information displayed on the 17.3" laptop with 1600x900 resolution compared to the 15.6" laptop with only 1366x768 resolution. Because more information is displayed you need to scroll less. I would never touch a laptop with 1366x768 resolution because I like to be able to see a lot of information on the screen at one time as long as it is easy enough to read.

The higher the solution the smaller text will be. If you have poor eye sight then going too high can mean the text is too small to read. However the size of screen does play a role so the larger the screen size the larger the text will be. If both laptops were 15.6" then you will definitely see that the text is smaller on the laptop with 1600x900 resolution. However, since the laptop with that resolution is larger, the size of the text should more or less be the same as with the 15.6" laptop.

If you are worried about image quality, then as long as you are setting the resolution to max (native), then image quality is pretty much the same. If on the 17.3" laptop you were to decrease the resolution to 1366x768 you will notice that image quality is a little softer but still legible.

In terms of specs the 17.3" laptop is better because it has the Core i3-4000m which is 600MHz faster than the Core i3-4030u. The i3-4000m also has the faster Intel HD 4600 graphics core vs. the Intel HD 4400 for the other CPU. For average daily use you will not really notice much of a difference. If you were to play games then the Core i3-4000m with the Intel HD 4600 will provide a little better performance assuming the resolution is the same on both laptops.

Current generation Intel graphic cores should be able to play many games that are not very graphic demanding with decent performance. For example both should be fine to play Skyrim at 1366x768 with low graphic settings. My laptop has the Intel HD 4400 and I have played Mass Effect 3 and Star Trek Online at 1600x900 resolution with a mix of low and medium graphic settings and the games plays decent enough.

Ok thanks, one more thing, if the two laptops were the same size at 15.6 inches, would you be able to notice the quality change then?

 

[jaguarskx]

Generally speaking, the higher the resolution the better the quality will be because the pixels are smaller and will make text look finer an sharper. When it comes to something like watch a 1080p video the quality will look about the same but if you examine the video on both laptop, the one with the higher resolution will look slightly sharper with more details. However, you would need to have both side by side and you need to examine the video displayed on both laptops.

Best thing to do is go to a computer store to check out laptops.