laptop low resolutions not taking up full screen

zskillz · March 4th, 2006, 09:13 PM

can anyone help me out here... the only way I can get to use my whole screen is when the resolution is set to 1450xsomething else i can't remember,

but I actually want to be running on 1024x768 because it's easier on my eyes... however -- when i adjust the display settings to only use 1024x768, it just shrinks the picture down and leaves a black (unused) border around it. instead of resizeing the 1024x768 image to use the full screen.

help please?

thanks
-z

osprey4 · March 4th, 2006, 10:23 PM

Are we going to play a guessing game as to what system this is?

There is usually a hot-key combination on the laptop to change whatever resolution you're using to full screen. On my Latitude C600, it's Fn-F5.

DanU · March 5th, 2006, 01:40 AM

There should be a setting in your display properties to scale non-native resolutions to full size.

Peter M · March 5th, 2006, 04:03 AM

... and besides, why don't you simply tell Windows the screen's physical size (in Display Properties) so that the fonts scale correctly? Then check "big icons" and that's it.

Non-native resolutions on LCD screens cannot possibly look good, because pixels to be displayed won't hit the LCD's pixels. You'll always get something aliased and interpolated.

SeanC · March 5th, 2006, 10:23 PM

Exactly, I found when using 800x600 on my 1024x768 screen it looks really bad. It's readable but it ain't too pretty.

zskillz · March 6th, 2006, 08:56 PM

I understand the non-native resolution explaination, but I know that it looks fine at 1024x768. I don't know what I changed so that I can't use it full screen anymore, but it's annoying...

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanU

There should be a setting in your display properties to scale non-native resolutions to full size.

-- I'm not finding this, can you be more specific? I'm betting that this is a graphics card specific thing, but maybe not...

other thoughts?
thanks
-Z

oh yeah -- it's a Dell inspiron 8100 from a few years ago

osprey4 · March 6th, 2006, 09:28 PM

Then the key combination I provided above should work (had you bothered to read my post).

Peter M · March 7th, 2006, 04:42 AM

It doesn't look "fine", it'll look awful. 1024 pixels scaled onto 1400 dots is 1.367 dots per pixel, how's that going to be anywhere near sharp and crisp?

zskillz · March 9th, 2006, 01:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by osprey4

Then the key combination I provided above should work (had you bothered to read my post).

look man -- what's the point of the surly attitude? there's no sense in helping someone out if you're going to be difficult about it. For the record, I did read your post, and I did try the combination. nothing happened. I'm not sure why, maybe something else is wrong..

and Peter .. though I appreciate what you're saying. it's not the point really - I know exactly what I want to do, and why I want to do it. Although I appreciate your opinion (techIMO

), I do not share it.

so I'm still stuck with the problem. thoughts?
thanks
-Z