Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Apple Archive

What's More Important, Physical Screen Size or Screen Resolution?

- 2004.03.05

What's more important when it comes to choosing a display size, physical size or resolution?

Some would say it has to be physical size, as a screen that you can't see isn't much good. Others would say that it's got to be the resolution, because even a 19" or 20" screen with a low resolution would be virtually useless.

Laptop screens illustrate some of the best reasons why I believe that resolution is generally more important than screen size.

The first PowerBook I owned, a used PowerBook 140, featured a 640 x 400 screen resolution with a 9.8" screen. Not exactly a large screen physically - and the 640 x 400 resolution made it seem even smaller. Also, since this machine didn't use the standard 640 x 480 resolution, many games and other applications wouldn't display correctly.

PowerBook 100 Series It wasn't until the PowerBook 180c that Apple used a standard resolution (640 x 480) in a PowerBook. However, the 180c's screen size was even smaller at 8.4".

Then again, it was also a lot more useable than the earlier PowerBooks.

It wasn't until the PowerBook 5300ce that Apple decided to use an 800 x 600 resolution on a laptop, and that screen was a fairly respectable 10.4".

The 12.1" screens on the early iBooks didn't appear to be much bigger than those on the 5300ce because of the limited 800 x 600 resolution that they had as well.

While the PowerBook 140's screen was physically larger than the PowerBook 180c's, so many applications weren't even compatible with it that it put the PB 140 (and other early PowerBooks) at a significant disadvantage compared to the 180c.

The 5300ce had a much more useable screen, since it had an 800 x 600 resolution, compared to the 5300c or cs, which had a 640 x 480 screen resolution on the same 10.4" screen.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather have a high resolution than a low one, especially when dealing with a small screen like that.

Some people do prefer a lower resolution on a larger screen. It's definitely easier to see things at 800 x 600 on a 19" monitor, and if you have trouble dealing with small print it can make sense.

These days the minimum practical resolution is 1024 x 768 - on any size screen. You'll find applications like Microsoft Word and even juggling multiple Instant Message windows somewhat difficult to deal with on a screen with a low resolution.

Macintosh LC III I'm glad I'm not using one of the old Apple 12" CRT monitors - they were stuck at 512 x 384 (same as the 10" Color Classic), unless you had an LC III, in which case you could increase it by a few pixels in the Monitors control panel. Perhaps one instant messaging conversation could fit on that screen - or a quarter of the Microsoft Word toolbar.

How useful.

When it comes to my personal preference, I generally choose a high resolution. On my beige G3 I used 1024 x 768, as that was the highest one it seemed to support without flickering or a decrease in the bit depths available. blue & white G3 On the blue G3 I use 1152 x 768 with my 19" monitor. It's reliable, things are still easy to read, and there seems to be a good amount of workspace.

Workspace is very important to me, as I frequently have a lot of windows open at one time, as well as the control strip and application switcher (positioned horizontally) along the bottom. Along with two popup folders that I've got down there, it takes up a fair amount of screen real estate. (For another perspective, see Living Large. ed)

In OS X, anything lower than 1024 x 768 makes it difficult to deal with, because the interface elements in X are larger. I'm glad my PowerBook G4's 12" screen has that 1024 x 768 resolution.

Recent Apple Archive articles

iPods, notebooks, and other modern electronics more readily replaced than repaired, 12.07. Whether it's an intermittent failure or a broken display cable, more often than not it's cheaper to replace a broken electronics device than repair it.
Options for replacing your older iPod, 11.19. Whether you've run out of space on your old iPod or want features it doesn't have, here are your options in new and used iPods.
Could the $200 'green' PC with gOS Linux become a threat to Apple?, 11.14. The low cost, low power Everex desktop comes with a customized version of Ubuntu Linux, has a Mac-like Dock, and sells for $400 less than the Mac mini.
Leopard different, a bit buggy, but worth the upgrade, 11.02. Leopard on a Power Mac G4 and a MacBook Pro: It runs well on both computers, but each has some odd bugs, and some of the changes are a step backwards.
More in the Apple Archive index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: Mac mini Core Solo, Feb. 2006 - The only Mac to use a Core Solo CPU, this model ran at 1.5 GHz, has integrated graphics, and includes a Combo drive
Group of the Day: SuperMacs is for those using Umax SuperMac clones.
November 24 in LEM history: 98: Microsoft's heavy hand - 00: Looking at the iMac - 04: The best Mac for the holidays - Picking the right replacement for a dead mouse - Better battery for 15" AlBook
Support Low End Mac

Recent Deals

Best G4 iMac Deals, 11.24. Used 15" 700 MHz CD-RW, $150; 800 MHz Combo, $229; 1 GHz, $289; 17" 1.25 GHz, $200; 20" 1.25 GHz, $509.
Best MacBook Air Deals, 11.24. Used from $899; refurb from $1,099; new 1.6 GHz/120 HD, $1,150 after rebate; 1.8/64 SSD, $1,150 a/r; 1.86/128 SSD, $1,350 a/r; 2.13/128 SSD, $1,694 a/r.
Best PowerBook G3 Deals, 11.24. Used 233 MHz WallStreet, $75; 266 MHz, $160; 400 MHz Lombard, $199; 400 MHz Pismo, $289; 500 MHz, $350.
Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.23. Used 867 MHz SuperDrive, $348; 1 GHz Combo, $379; SD, $519; 1.33 GHz, $529; 1.5 GHz Combo, $549; SuperDrive, $609.
Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.23. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 4-core. $1,919; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.93 8-core, $4,999; new 2.26 8-core, $2,290.
Best Time Capsule and AirPort Deals, 11.23. Used 802.11g AirPort Extreme, $49; 500 GB Time Capsule, $150; new, $190; 1 TB dual-band, $280; 2 TB, $469; 802.11n AirPort Extreme, $170.
Best eMac Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz Combo, $100; SuperDrive, $269; 1.25 GHz Combo, $119; SD, $319; 1.42 GHz Combo, $289; SD, $498.
Best Mac OS X 10.6 and Mac Box Set Deals, 11.18. "Snow Leopard", single user, $25; 5 users, $45; Mac Box Set, single user, $139; 5 users, $180; Server, $414. Shipping included.
Best Xserve Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz dual G4, $649; 2.3 dual G5, $795; 3.0 4-core Xeon, $1,899; refurb 2.26 4-core, $2,499; new, $2,888; refurb 8-core, $2,999; new, $3,449; more.
More deals in our archive.

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Apple Archive articles copyright ©2000-07 by Adam Robert Guha. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.