Screen Resolutions

By Merle Nicholson, President, Tampa PC users Group

You really don’t ever do one thing at a time do you? No, absolutely not, and Windows was designed for doing multiple tasks as well. As Windows was developed over the years, it’s gotten better and better at that. My own screen right now has a window on the Internet , sized pretty small in the top left hand corner. It’s waiting for someone else to pop up into the TPCUG online Chat window. But I’m really concentrating on what I’m writing right now. I have a clock going at the top of my screen, and I’m kind of tracking the time, hoping to get this article together before bedtime. I have Outlook Express minimized also, because I’m hoping my son will send a note to me by e-mail. I’ll hit send/receive a couple of times during the evening, and maybe print out the note for my wife if something interesting comes in. That’s it for the moment. Sometimes I have more going on, but this is a night that I have to concentrate on this article.

What the computer is doing (and my brain also) is called "multi-tasking", and for those of us brought up on technologies of the past; Apple and Atari and Commodore and DOS, we’re really living luxuriously. So what does this have to do with screen resolution? Screen resolution has to do with how much you can see on the screen at once.

So if your brain is capable of multi-tasking and your computer is also, what about the computer’s ability to present that information to you? It’s all through the screen (and also sound to a limited degree). So how do you know what you have? Start with the monitor specs. What size is it? Common sizes are 14", 15" and 17". There’s a new 19" size becoming popular, and 21" has been around for quite a while if you have lots of money. This is a diagonal measure. My own 17" monitor has an actual diagonal measurement of 15-3/4 inches. Now for the resolution. Right-click on your desktop and select properties, or go to Start, Settings, Control Panel, Display. Select the Settings tab, and on that panel, look at "Desktop Area". At the moment, mine is set to 1024 x 768 the "intended" resolution of a 17" monitor. (We’ll debate this in a moment). In one sense, "desktop area" is a good description of resolution.

Slide the pointer back and forth, and you’ll see - depending on your monitor specs and your computers’ video card - just what your system is capable of. The resolutions that you’ll see are:

640 x 480 - called VGA

800 x 600 - called Super VGA, and sometimes SVGA

1024 x 768 called 1024x768 and sometimes XGA.

1152 x 864 is rare, but some video cards support this (mine does)

1280 x 1024

1600 x 1200

The specifications for my monitor says that it’s built to a maximum of 1280 x 1024. As a rule, the larger the monitor, the higher the resolution. All monitors that I’ve heard of will handle from 640x480 up to some maximum, depending on how expensive and how big the monitor is. I have an older 14" monitor in my computer room that handles 1024x768 (and did this terribly, even when it was new). Certainly all newer 14" monitors will do that. 15" monitors will do 1024x768, and sometimes 1280x1024. 17" monitors will all do 1280x1024, and sometimes 1600x1200.

What does this do for us? The higher the resolution, the more "things" we can put on the desktop at once. It’s that simple. I very often switch my resolution to 1280x1024, mostly when I’m programming in Visual Basic where I must have six or so windows up at the same time, and still have my e-mail and appointments on-screen and handy. I’ll switch it down - usually to 1152x864 when the demands of what I’m doing are lower.

By the way, you’ll see both 14" and 15" monitors sell with the same resolution capability, and also many 15 and 17’s have the same specifications. What do we gain? Easy - the bigger the screen, the easier it is to see, given the same resolution.

I’m writing this because I’ve been amazed to see that people do not experiment around with their settings. I’ve seen dozens of people with expensive 17" monitors with the resolution set at 800x600, a resolution that any 14" monitor will do with ease.

So here’s Merle’s middle-of-the-road guidelines given ,say, mid-life capable eyes and then (young eyes) in Parenthesis

14" - 640x480 (800x600)

15" - 800x600 (1024x768)

17" - 1024x768 or 1152x864 ( 1280x1024)

19" - 1280x1024 (1600x1200)

You obviously need to modify this depending on the quality of the monitor; the real need you have to juggle many windows on the screen at once; the age of your eyes and also how well your glasses or contacts - if any - are "tuned" to the distance to the screen.

Because of my age, I went to "computer glasses" many years ago that have the upper part prescribed for a distance of 22 inches from the screen. That allows me to use a very high 1280x1024 with very little fatigue.

Sit down at your computer, don’t be afraid to change it to see what the effect is, and work with each one for a few days; you may discover something you like. u