New Toy - High Resolution - Text Too Small

[Will Rickards WT]

Posting from my new 'toy': work laptop Dell Centrino 1.6 winxp pro sp1
Anyway, the native resolution is 1400x1050.
So I'm using that when docked as well but now all the text is tiny.
Some programs work fine others have text too tiny.
I tried messing with the appearances settings but I can't seem to make it better only worse.
Anybody know how to fix it?

Screenshot

 

[sechs]

CENTRINO IS NOT A PROCESSOR


Please continue about your business....

 

[Will Rickards WT]

Yes I know it is the Pentium M.
I'm also trying to figure out which wireless types the card supports.
I think it is just b.
It is listed in Device Manager as Intel PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3A.

 

[Mercutio]

Display Properties > Settings > Advanced > General Tab > DPI Setting

120dpi is probably fine. You can try custom sizes but they tend to make the various windows widgets look funny.

 

[Will Rickards WT]

Thanks but that made my icons in the quick launch look chunky.
I keep the quick launch bar always on top and auto hide on the left side of the screen. I use it to get to programs rather than clicking the start menu. But the icons are small - 16x16.

I think I am getting used to the small text and higher resolution.
I go to use my desktop at home and everything looks big.

Now if only I could get my parents and in-laws away from 640x480 and 800x600 and into at least 1024x768.

 

[Pradeep]

Damn when you said hi-rez I was thinking of 1920*1200......

Intel is having some probs with their .g chipset I believe. However you could get a tri-mode mini-PCI card (.a, .b, .g) from another manufacturer.

 

[Tea]

There is only one answer, Will. Buy a bigger monitor to use when you are docked. I'd be comfortable with that res on a 21 or 22 inch screen, just a fraction uncomfortable about using it on a 19.

Buy a Mitsubishi 22" CRT.

It's only money. :wink:

 

[time]

Bugger that (the Mitsubishi Electric)! Get a Samsung 21" - it's exactly the same viewable area and now costs only US$500 down under (so imagine how cheap it is in the US).

Alternatively, ditch the lasptop and get a decent laptop that doesn't cause eyestrain (see, now I'm being really constructive).

Seriously, I don't understand your problem. Why don't you just change the resolution to suit?

 

[Tea]

We bought about 10 Samtron (that's the same as Samsung) 17 inch monitors sometime late last year when our favourite Deltas became unavailable. At least 4 of them have required service since then, and two of them have been blank-screen dead three times each! Samsung's monitors, it seems, are as bad as their hard drives are good.

 

[flagreen]

Posting from my new 'toy': work laptop Dell Centrino 1.6 winxp pro sp1
Anyway, the native resolution is 1400x1050.
So I'm using that when docked as well but now all the text is tiny.
Some programs work fine others have text too tiny.
I tried messing with the appearances settings but I can't seem to make it better only worse.
Anybody know how to fix it?

Screenshot

Right click anywhere on your desktop - select "Properties" from the drop down menu - Select the "Appearence" tab at the top of the Properties menu - Look for the "Font Size" window on the bottom left side of the Appearence menu - Select large or Extra large.

 

[Buck]

I went out on a limb and bought an AOpen F70PS 17" LCD for a customer. Nice little monitor with a decent price.

 

[Tea]

AOpen LCD screens are pretty good. We are more-or-less exclusive Mitsubishi these days, but we sold quite a few AOpen TFTs in 15 inch days and were always happy with them, Buck.

 

[time]

Samsung's monitors, it seems, are as bad as their hard drives are good.

Well, they're not brilliant, but what else is these days in the world of budget CRTs? (apart from Philips, if you get the joke ...)

Having seen more than 10 Samsung/Samtron monitors, I'd venture to say they're a little better than Tea suggests. In fact, we've had more trouble with the limited number of Mitsubishi Electric that have passed through our hands. For example, the last midrange 19" had pieces of solder rattling around inside it and a screw missing (and something else that I can't remember), not to mention inferior picture quality.

Please remember that outside Oz, Mitsubishi Electric does not exist. It is purely a rebadge label.

However, I'm certainly not suggesting that Samsung monitors are reliable - unless you're comparing them to LG, for instance.

 

[Tea]

SamSUNG monitors are probably perfectly OK, Time. It's the SamTRONs that are crap. I'm sure that their high-end producs are good. I was just being grumpy about the incredible crap that their low-end units seem to be.

But you are mistaken about Mitsubishi Electric. They are huge, and global. You've heard of a little monitor maker called NEC? Well Mitsubishi ownNEC. Take a look at http://global.mitsubishielectric.com for more detail.

 

[time]

Okay, I didn't explain myself properly.

Mitsubishi Electric is of course a global company that has many subsidiaries. Mitsubishi Electronics makes computer monitors.

Internationally, Mitsubishi CRT monitors are badged Mitsubishi and the LCD monitors are badged NEC, doubtless reflecting their heritage.

In Australia, there is a subisidiary called Mitsubishi Electric Australia, which I think uses its own name to rebadge imported goods (I can't be certain about air conditioners, for example. A completely unrelated company, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, really does make air conditioners and sells them under their own name).

What I am certain about is that Mitsubishi Electric Australia sells a variety of computer peripherals rebadged as Diamond View. Note that this is quite distinct from Mitsubishi 'Diamond Plus' and 'Diamond Pro' monitors, which use DiamondTron tubes. :roll:

The Diamond View stuff includes monitors, keyboards and CD drives, and is exclusive to Australia and New Zealand. I'm not even certain that their LCD screens are NEC, for instance (but it's likely - just different model with older specs).

You can identify a Diamond View monitor because it is badged 'Diamond View' rather than 'Mitsubishi' or 'NEC'.

 

[Tea]

And this is why they badge them "Diamond Data" or "Diamond Whatever", ignoring their perfectly good and well-respected Mitsubishi brand? OIC. I always wondered that.

Rebrandings or not, over the years Tannin and I have come to have a great deal of respect for Mitsubishi/Diamond Whatever products. In fact, off the top of my head, I can't think of a single product category where I don't trust Mitsubishi/DW gear.

Over the years we have gradually come to use more and more of their stuff:

CD-ROM drives: more-or-less exclusively quite often.

CD Burners: Lite-On at present, but no complaints about the Mitsubishi ones

DVD: Mitsubishi, Lite-On and (believe it or not) Samsung, more or less at random.

DVD burners: Mostly Mitsubishi. Early days yet.

External Modems: Once our wonderful X-Streamas suddenly went to pot (about a year ago), we switched to the delightful little Mitsubishis, and love them.

Keyboards: Mitsubishi Professional heavy-duty model. About $18 or $20 ex in carton lots. Solid, no gimmics, an excellent feel.

Cordless keyboard/mouse kits: Switched to Mitsubishi from Logitech. Cheaper, as good or better feel, no problems at all so far.

High-end monitors: Simply the best things money can buy. Switched to Mitsubishi about 3 years ago from Hitachi, and various others before that. Love them! Just bought a new 22 inch CRT for the office. Perfect!

Low-end monitors. I liked the Velta/Videocom ones best (re-badged Deltas). But these are no longer available so we have tried: Samtron (complete unreliable crap), Phillips (poor picture quality), Acer (decent, cheap, reliable, but a bit lack-lustre), Hyundai (very nice, a touch expensive, but no longer imported), LG (very nice, no complaints), and Mitsubishi. Pretty happy with the Mitsubishi/Diamond Whatever ones. Good price, no failures yet (but it's early days), fair presentation. (i.e., they look niicer sitting on the shelf switched off than the Acers do.) I'd still rather Veltas, but these wil do.

Floppy drives: not sure if they make these. They used to. But we always use Panasonic. Tannin is a creature of habit.

Scanners. Ordered a cheap entry-level one today (for an insurance job where we are price-limited). Haven't tried it out yet. Mostly we use Canon scanners.

Errr .. did I forget anything?

 

[time]

I used to recommend the Mitsubishi Electric Diamond Touch Professional keyboards exclusively, but then the feel seemed to go off. Then I had one or two bad ones (that we got stuck with - intermittent keypress reliability), and the neighbour has never been happy with his Diamond Touch Multimedia keyboard.

I'm typing this on a Samsung SDK5000 - noisy but very reliable keystrokes. Highly recommended, but I found cheaper Samsungs weren't so nice.

The only keyboard (that I can still find) that has really impressed me is the Logitech Elite. Head and shoulders above anything else from Microsoft, Logitech, or anyone else that I have tried. Personally, I haven't been able to justify spending the money ...

 

[Tea]

We used to use Samsung keyboards for quite a while. Then the nice model was discontinued, and the two other Samsung keyboards we tried were cheap crap. Maybe they have a new new model now?

I'll see if I can find a Logitech Elite to try out. I don't mind about the money.