Notebook choice

[smitinbeeld]

I want to buy a new notebook but can't decide. My projector has a native resolution og 1024 by 768, but i think that i will buy an new one, in a year or so with a resolution of 1400 x 1050.

What should i do. Buy a laptop with a resolution of 1400 x 1050? Most of the laptops are Widescreen now or could I buy a widescreen model? How do I now that a widescreen model can show 1024 x 768 and 1400 x 1050. If I b u a widescreen is it always possible to give the second monitor(projector) a different resolution as the notebook?

I hope you can help me with the decision.

Jan

[Lin Evans]

Hi Jan,

You will want to check and be certain that the laptop will suport 1400x1050 resoution. The actual LCD doesn't have to support that resolution but the video card or chip used in the laptop does need to. Most laptop's have a mode which will allow either simultaneous viewing from the laptop and the accessory (projector in this case) or the lcd can be switched off and you see only the peripheral (other monitor or projector, etc.). Since the majority of new laptops are running Vista in one or another iteration, you probably don't need to worry too much about having sufficient video card power to run PTE's more demanding shows, but I've found it's still good to test them. Before you go shopping let me know and I'll give you a link to the couple test shows I created early on which test RAM requirements. They consist of a couple 32 piece "puzzle" shows. One will run on even 32 meg video cards and the other will quickly reveal problems because it taxes even a very good 128 meg card. If you are going to purchase through mail-order or the web I would suggest trying to find the model you will be buying in a retail store and trying the files on it first.

The manufacturer or the sales people "should" be able to answer your question about supporting 1400x1050 resolution mode. As long as the card can handle it you should be able to switch to that mode for the projection. The LCD might look strange, but the important thing is that the projector be given the proper file match. Even though the projectors can usually handle transformation to their own resolution requirements, it's usually better to try and match it with output from the laptop for better performance.

Lin

I want to buy a new notebook but can't decide. My projector has a native resolution og 1024 by 768, but i think that i will buy an new one, in a year or so with a resolution of 1400 x 1050.

What should i do. Buy a laptop with a resolution of 1400 x 1050? Most of the laptops are Widescreen now or could I buy a widescreen model? How do I now that a widescreen model can show 1024 x 768 and 1400 x 1050. If I b u a widescreen is it always possible to give the second monitor(projector) a different resolution as the notebook?

I hope you can help me with the decision.

Jan

[smitinbeeld]

Hi Lin,

Thank you for your answer. What I don't understand is the following. I just looked at an Acer 6463 it has an resolution of 1280 x 800. If I connect a monitor i can chooce 1400 x 1050 so I think the laptop support the resolution. But I can only chooce for clone the display and the display of the laptop cant'handle 1400 by 1050. The other choice is use the second monitor as an extended screen. The videocard is an ATI Radeon X1300.

Regards,

Jan

Hi Jan,

You will want to check and be certain that the laptop will suport 1400x1050 resoution. The actual LCD doesn't have to support that resolution but the video card or chip used in the laptop does need to. Most laptop's have a mode which will allow either simultaneous viewing from the laptop and the accessory (projector in this case) or the lcd can be switched off and you see only the peripheral (other monitor or projector, etc.). Since the majority of new laptops are running Vista in one or another iteration, you probably don't need to worry too much about having sufficient video card power to run PTE's more demanding shows, but I've found it's still good to test them. Before you go shopping let me know and I'll give you a link to the couple test shows I created early on which test RAM requirements. They consist of a couple 32 piece "puzzle" shows. One will run on even 32 meg video cards and the other will quickly reveal problems because it taxes even a very good 128 meg card. If you are going to purchase through mail-order or the web I would suggest trying to find the model you will be buying in a retail store and trying the files on it first.

The manufacturer or the sales people "should" be able to answer your question about supporting 1400x1050 resolution mode. As long as the card can handle it you should be able to switch to that mode for the projection. The LCD might look strange, but the important thing is that the projector be given the proper file match. Even though the projectors can usually handle transformation to their own resolution requirements, it's usually better to try and match it with output from the laptop for better performance.

Lin

[Lin Evans]

Hi Jan,

You might want to go here:

http://compreviews.about.com/od/video/a/NoteVidSpec.htm

scroll down and read about the various video cards used for laptops and their respective performances. The X1300 isn't one of the better rated video cards for performance, so I would be cautious about choosing that one. They are rated approximately according to their top-to-bottom position in the list.

LCD displays really are optimized for a particular resolution and don't display properly at other resolutions. It's pretty much the nature of laptop LCD displays so you will probably not be able to see the show properly on the LCD while using the projector unless their resolutions are matched. But most have a function switch to give you a choice of external or internal display or both. The list above should help you make a choice.

Best regards,

Lin

Hi Lin,

Thank you for your answer. What I don't understand is the following. I just looked at an Acer 6463 it has an resolution of 1280 x 800. If I connect a monitor i can chooce 1400 x 1050 so I think the laptop support the resolution. But I can only chooce for clone the display and the display of the laptop cant'handle 1400 by 1050. The other choice is use the second monitor as an extended screen. The videocard is an ATI Radeon X1300.

Regards,

Jan

[smitinbeeld]

Hi Lin,

Thanks for your answer. I will look for another videocard.

Can you answer another question? How important is it to have a dvi for connecting a projector. Do I see a difference versus normal vga?

Jan

Hi Jan,

You might want to go here:

http://compreviews.about.com/od/video/a/NoteVidSpec.htm

scroll down and read about the various video cards used for laptops and their respective performances. The X1300 isn't one of the better rated video cards for performance, so I would be cautious about choosing that one. They are rated approximately according to their top-to-bottom position in the list.

LCD displays really are optimized for a particular resolution and don't display properly at other resolutions. It's pretty much the nature of laptop LCD displays so you will probably not be able to see the show properly on the LCD while using the projector unless their resolutions are matched. But most have a function switch to give you a choice of external or internal display or both. The list above should help you make a choice.

Best regards,

Lin

[Lin Evans]

Hi Jan,

The DVI connect is primarily important for running large dual monitor LCD systems such as the 30 inch Apple, etc. I don't think you need this but best to check with the projector people to see what their requirements are before making a decision.

Try this link to see which NVIDIA cards are in which computers:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/wtb_notebooks.html

Lin

Hi Lin,

Thanks for your answer. I will look for another videocard.

Can you answer another question? How important is it to have a dvi for connecting a projector. Do I see a difference versus normal vga?

Jan

[cjdnzl]

Hi Jan,

<snip>

Before you go shopping let me know and I'll give you a link to the couple test shows I created early on which test RAM requirements. They consist of a couple 32 piece "puzzle" shows. One will run on even 32 meg video cards and the other will quickly reveal problems because it taxes even a very good 128 meg card.

<snip more>

Lin

Hello Lin,

Just saw your offer of a test show, so forgive me for horning in here. Looks like I'm saddled with finding a new laptop for the camera club, and I would really like to run a demanding test on a machine before I sign for it - so I would appreciate a link to your 'tough' show there.

Kind regards,

Colin

[Gilio]

Jan,Lin,Collin in our camara-club we are use the laptop ASUS A6T AMD Turion 64 x2 chip TL52.

video-card NVidia geforce 7600 256mb 15.4"WXGA 1280x800.

and works fine with PTE 5.0

Cub projector is 1400x1050 native

[Lin Evans]

Hi Colin,

Here are links to two seemingly identical, or nearly identical 32 piece puzzles. One will play on almost all systems, even 32 meg video cards. The other presents a challenge to even the best video cards. If the laptop can play it smoothly, it can play about any PTE show smoothly. The difference is that in one case the PNG files which make up the individual puzzle pieces are relatively tiny with almost all the excess invisible background cropped out. In the other case each puzzle piece consists of an entire rather large PNG file most of which is invisible. When compressed into an executable format, the sizes are very close to each other and only about 4.3 meg. In fact they are nearly identical. But one is "actually" 4.3 meg while the other expands in memory to fill a 128 meg video card's capacity.

The first is the very large RAM model:

http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/puzzle.zip

The second is the small RAM model which will run on nearly any computer:

http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/puzzlesmallRAM.zip

You can distinguish them from one another while playing in two ways. The small ram version ends with a "spinning goat" and the words "TA DA" on the center of the image. The large RAM version ends with the words "TA DAH" (an "h" in 'DAH') at the bottom of the screen. Both have midi music (very annoying - LOL) and there is an extended delay of about 7 seconds before the large RAM version begins to run.

Put them on a USB flash memory card and run the executables on the test computers. Laptop's with the better Video cards will run both. There may be a slight "stutter" with the one puzzle piece which "circles" in the front on the large RAM version even with a decent video card. A machine with no "stutter" at all on this puzzle piece indeed has an exceptional video GPU.

Lin

Hello Lin,

Just saw your offer of a test show, so forgive me for horning in here. Looks like I'm saddled with finding a new laptop for the camera club, and I would really like to run a demanding test on a machine before I sign for it - so I would appreciate a link to your 'tough' show there.

Kind regards,

Colin

[Lin Evans]

Thanks Giel,

The NVidia geforce 7600 is a decent video card - about mid-ways in terms of absolute performance among notebook computer GPU's so apparently capable of handling most any PTE presentation. In the U.S. we probably have an equivalent to the ASUS A6T but not under that brand name. The important thing is that the geforce 7600 can handle the 1400x1050 resolution output. What is the native LCD output? I'm assuming you don't run them simultaneously (LCE and Projector).

Best regards,

Lin

Jan,Lin,Collin in our camara-club we are use the laptop ASUS A6T AMD Turion 64 x2 chip TL52.

video-card NVidia geforce 7600 256mb 15.4"WXGA 1280x800.

and works fine with PTE 5.0

Cub projector is 1400x1050 native

[Gilio]

Lin, puzzle zip test works very nice no stutter at all.

some of my shows are 1400x1050 running fine!

second projector setting 1024x768 as main screen, most of the shows are 3:4

lcd screen is 1280x800.

Jan, i believe you are Dutch if you need help let me no!

[cjdnzl]

Lin,

Thanks for the two test shows, both downloaded, and tried on my desk machine!! The hard one showed a couple of minor stutters most times the largish piece went past the bottom of the screen, otherwise not bad. That's on an Nvidia GO 6600GT.

I'll be confounding a few laptop sale people now, with these.

And you're right about the 'music' - a macerated 'flight of the bumble bee' - horrible!

[smitinbeeld]

Hi,

I am now considering the Acer 5920 Graphics card NVIDIA Geforce 8600 m gt. What do you think about this laptop.

Jan

Lin,

Thanks for the two test shows, both downloaded, and tried on my desk machine!! The hard one showed a couple of minor stutters most times the largish piece went past the bottom of the screen, otherwise not bad. That's on an Nvidia GO 6600GT.

I'll be confounding a few laptop sale people now, with these.

And you're right about the 'music' - a macerated 'flight of the bumble bee' - horrible!

[Lin Evans]

Hi Jan,

That should work very well indeed.

Best regards,

Lin

Hi,

I am now considering the Acer 5920 Graphics card NVIDIA Geforce 8600 m gt. What do you think about this laptop.

Jan