1366x768 and notebook screen resolution in general

[Octopuss]

I am trying to find a notebook suitable for my mother to replace the old one.
I keep seeing tons of them with this resolution and I can't figure out what the point is. It's so small most websites won't fit on the screen at all, giving you all those sexy scroll bars. I once had to do something on one of such devices and it was absolute pain in the arse. Can anyone tell me why do people buy these?

On similar note, how are people able to work on relatively small notebooks, say no larger than 15", which are running 1920x1080? I mean I am not old and despite wearing glasses I can see relatively fine. My father in law has 17" notebook running 1920x1080 and at times I find it borderline annoying. Everything feels small from time to time, so I cannot imagine how people in the age of our parents (I'm 35) would be able to work on something that has under 15" screen with huge (relatively) resolution.
There are tons of such notebooks as well.

My mother's old/current notebook is Lenovo L530, I believe 15,6" 1600x900 display, and I think I had to enlarge fonts by 25% or something for her. My father, he was even worse. That was desktop PC and he simply couldn't see shit on the monitor at the native resolution of 1280x1024 (yeah it was a rubbish bin of a PC ) no matter what I did, and I had to, horrified, set the damn monitor to 1024x768.

So, TL;DR: What the hell should I look for?

 

[Bill_Bright]

Does she need a portable computer? If not, why not get a desktop? Then you can get her a nice 22-24 inch monitor.

Otherwise, you are probably stuck with 17 - 18 inch notebooks.

Do remember Ctrl + and Ctrl - will zoom in and zoom out font sizes too.

 

[Shihab]

Higher resolution doesn't necessarily mean smaller elements, it's just how Windows does its DPI scaling, and it can be "fixed" without reducing the resolution (and the overall quality.)
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5990-dpi-scaling-level-displays-change-windows-10-a.html

Do your mother's eyes a favour and get the highest resolution you can afford.

 

[Octopuss]

Does she need a portable computer?

I wrote notebook for a reason.

Higher resolution doesn't necessarily mean smaller elements, it's just how Windows does its DPI scaling, and it can be "fixed" without reducing the resolution (and the overall quality.)
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5990-dpi-scaling-level-displays-change-windows-10-a.html

Do your mother's eyes a favour and get the highest resolution you can afford.

Whatever I buy will run Windows 7 so I am not sure how it is there.

 

[dorsetknob]

Put HDMI output on the list of spec's you would like !
then providing there is a HDMI enabled TV you can output to a much bigger Screen
helps us old semi blind fogies sort out something we can see

 

[Octopuss]

Yea but the problem is when she'd travel with the damn thing...
HDMI is a standard these days I think (if I ever see modern notebook with VGA connector again I'll lose faith in humanity).

 

[dorsetknob]

Like most things these days " its a compromise " and as such its worth including in your Required/Requested Spec's

 

[Bill_Bright]

I wrote notebook for a reason.

No need to get sassy about it. There are many users who buy notebooks, then park them on a desk - forever.

Good luck in your search.

 

[Shihab]

7's no different (perhaps a little bit less sharper on the fonts department.)
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff629368.aspx

 

[newtekie1]

I'm browsing right now on a 14" 1366x768 laptop. I have no problems with websites fitting. The easy solution: Set Chrome to scale every page to 90%. It's really not that hard, and you can set Chrome so every page you open is scaled, you don't have to manually scale every page every time. At 90% the font is still big enough to read, but websites fit nicely without the need to scroll side to side.

Whatever I buy will run Windows 7 so I am not sure how it is there.

I wouldn't. Most modern laptops run so much better with Windows 10, the manufacturers are simply not focusing on driver support for Windows 7. Some of them don't even provide Win7 drivers anymore, and the ones that do I've found can sometimes be rather unstable. Just run Win 10 with ClassicShell, you'll get a much better experience. Plus the DPI scaling in Win10 is way better than 7, which directly relates to your problems with resolution.

 

[Nordic]

Adjust DPI settings appropriately. No more problems.

 

[Frick]

I did prefer 1200x800, but that is dead. 1400x1050 is glorious on a laptop, but that is even deader.

I agree with newtekie; 1366x768 is just fine. As to the question why people buy them: what else should they buy? 1600x900 is pretty rare (and it jacks up the price), and even that is < 1024 horizontal lines which is what I want.

Also, why run an old OS on a new machine? You don't even need classicshell anymore. And as pointed out, scaling works much better in 10, and apps from the Store should scale very nicely.

 

[Octopuss]

I wouldn't.
...
Just run Win 10 with ClassicShell, you'll get a much better experience

Tell that to someone who is over 60 and computer stuff doesn't come naturally to him/her. These people had difficult enough time adjusting to Windows 7 coming from XP, and that's not whole lot of difference. If you give such person a PC with Windows 10, they will literally be unable to open a file on the disk.

There are TONS of people who are half such age and computer literate, who just cannot adapt to Windows 10 and stay with 7, so I won't even try to force W10 onto my mother who is still barely able to do basic stuff.

 

[newtekie1]

Tell that to someone who is over 60 and computer stuff doesn't come naturally to him/her. These people had difficult enough time adjusting to Windows 7 coming from XP, and that's not whole lot of difference. If you give such person a PC with Windows 10, they will literally be unable to open a file on the disk.

There are TONS of people who are half such age and computer literate, who just cannot adapt to Windows 10 and stay with 7, so I won't even try to force W10 onto my mother who is still barely able to do basic stuff.

I did, with ClassicShell, and about 5 minutes of minor settings adjustments for them(like configuring Explorer to open to This PC instead of Quick Access), for what they use a computer to do, using 10 is not really different from using 7. If my computer illiterate grandma can do it, anyone can.

And those people that "cannot adapt" really just refuse to even try in my experience. They hear that Windows 10 is so hard to use, and just believe it. With ClassicShell installed(and I only install the start menu portion), explorer set to open This PC instead of Quick Access, and the shortcut to Edge removed and replaced with Chrome/Firefox(or IE...yuck), the experience of using 10 is not really different from 7.

 

[Octopuss]

Well, anything important you'd like to add to the notebook resolution discussion?

 

[newtekie1]

Well, anything important you'd like to add to the notebook resolution discussion?

Yeah, I already did. 1366x768 is perfectly fine, use scaling in your browsers, and if you go with a higher resolution use Windows DPI scaling which works best in Win10.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Well, anything important you'd like to add
Tell that to someone who is over 60 and computer stuff doesn't come naturally to him/her.
I wrote notebook for a reason.

Gee whiz. People are here ONLY TO HELP YOU yet it sure seems you only want to hear what you want to hear and are ungrateful to anything else!

You expect us to be mind readers and automatically know the exact needs of your mother, the budget for this notebook and the intended purpose for this notebook - even though you didn't bother to tell us any of those things. Well this should meet any requirement. I don't know the color of her other luggage so a notebook bag will have to be bought separately. A spare battery might come in handy as well.

Newtekie1 offered sincere and sound advice and pertinent information about modern hardware, W10 and ClassicShell yet it is clear you didn't even bother to see what ClassicShell does. If you had, you would have seen you can use ClassicShell (or my favorite, Start10) to make W10 look and feel almost exactly like Windows 7. Instead, you come back with, "tell that to a 60 year old". Well I'm just shy of 65 so your comments are even more abhorrent.

Newtekie1 is 100% correct. Modern hardware is designed to run Windows 10 just as Windows 10 is designed to run on modern hardware. Windows 7 is obsolete, superseded (twice over!), is over 7 years old. Windows 10 is more secure right out of the box and Windows 7 "mainstream" support from Microsoft expired almost 2 full years ago.

BTW, based on my own experience and on the experience of my senior clients (many of whom are in their 70s and 80s and expect their computers to just work like any other appliance in the house) the learning curve going from XP to W7 is considerably greater than W7 to W10 (for those who never migrated to Vista). In fact, with Classic Shell or Start10 installed, W10 was totally intuitive to those senior users, including my 92 year old aunt.

So how about showing some respect to those who have graciously volunteered to donate their limited spare time just to help you! Heed the advice (or at least don't just blow it off! ) about how current hardware is designed for W10 and W10 for current hardware. Check out the "free" and very capable ClassicShell and actually see how it (or Start10) makes the transition to and use of W10 simple - even for those who don't like computers.

And how about getting an understanding and appreciation for how volunteer-staffed tech support sites work.

Merry Christmas!

 

[Octopuss]

are ungrateful
you didn't even bother
so your comments are even more abhorrent
how about showing some respect to those who
how about getting an understanding and appreciation

Holy shit. That much rave about not being thankful enough for offtopic comments and suggestions that are clearly the opposite of what I asked about ("a notebook" vs "get a desktop instead" for example).

/thread

 

[Bill_Bright]

Nobody asked for your thanks. Thanks are always nice, but we don't expect them.

And nothing was OT, not even me asking if she "needs" a portable computer because YOU FAIL, and have still failed to tell us what she needs beyond being able to see. We still don't know budget or what this computer will be used for - except "travel". So you just illustrated my point that you only want to hear what you want to hear, then just expect everyone know what you want. And if you don't hear what you want, you say to give you "important" information instead.

You threw a little tizzy with me, then again with newtekie1 when his excellent advice was not only totally on-topic and applicable, it was "important" too - in spite of what you then implied. We can only give totally applicable advice when we totally understand the requirements - which you refuse to provide.

So I am done wasting my time. I just hope your mother gets a safe computer that will meet her needs now and well into the future rather than what you want her to have. Good luck with that.