Ultra Hi Res Laptop screens - do they work on win 8??

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › Ultra Hi Res Laptop screens - do they work on win 8??

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#132320 17-Oct-2013 12:02

I have a win 7 15" 1080p laptop. I can't read anything on it unless I enlarge the page. When videos in browsers are in standard resolution it is about 2cm x 3cm large - sometimes zooming the page works sometimes only the words get bigger and video is tiny. Sometimes there is an option to click full screen video sometimes there is no full screen option.

I have been looking at Toshiba Kira (ultra hi res) and Asus UX301 (ultra high res) on 13" laptops ...

1) Will I be able to read anything?
2) If there is an option to enlarge things will they look pixelated like the older windows or will they look awesome still?
3) Can I pinch zoom in web browsers to make the video box bigger?
4) Can I pinch zoom anything and everything should 1 + 2 be a problem?

Thanks

(I would love to see it for myself but I can't find any shop in Dunedin that stock these things)

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#916582 17-Oct-2013 13:30

I have the same question. Windows 8 seems to really play havoc with font kerning. If the fonts are made larger then they go fuzzy in some windows. It is frustrating.

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.

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#916586 17-Oct-2013 13:42

Nope, the Kira's that' I've seen still have the same issue with the high res screens and Windows 8, in desktop mode.
In the new Start screen / App mode it's fine, however I didn't try browsing the internet with the IE app and watching videos.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

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#916598 17-Oct-2013 14:18

Interesting thread. I must admit, it would be extremely annoying to have an almost unusable ultra res laptop due to non-optimized ultra-res apps.

Perhaps it's a just a migration issue which isn't severe enough (yet) to warrant ultra-res optimized software updates?

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#916609 17-Oct-2013 14:30

Which is why even though i dislike apple i think their ipad large - ios 7 beats the competition hands down. If you look at raw specs you can make humiliating ads ... But pick one up and you will see why those ads are clutching at straws

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#916610 17-Oct-2013 14:30

But there are things i just can't do on non windows ... Maybe i'll get a standard hd screen laptop

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#916627 17-Oct-2013 15:06

joker97: But there are things i just can't do on non windows ...

Yeah, that's a deal breaker.

Fortunately for us, the only native Windows package of any concern was Office 2010 (I'm still not convinced Mac Office plays nice with Windows Office documents). So, we just got Parallels, installed a Windows XP VM, then Office 2010. Office is used in Coherence/seamless mode. Seems to work okay, only the window dragging is not as smooth (as a native app).

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#927497 5-Nov-2013 11:02

joker97: But there are things i just can't do on non windows ... Maybe i'll get a standard hd screen laptop

Hmmm...

Have you considered purchasing one of the 3200x1800 laptops then running it at 1600x900 (to avoid bad scaling/pixelation issues) while Win 8.x applications catch up? When they do (at some not too distant point in the future) you can then switch the res back to native.

Just a thought.

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#927562 5-Nov-2013 12:30

Isn't this issue taken care of 8.1?

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#927620 5-Nov-2013 13:53

i actually went to harvey norman and they had a toshiba kira super hi res screen

the guy couldn't put my onto say stuff video or youtube but it seems it it possible to pinch zoom ... so i'm considering the new dell XPS 15 super hi res :D

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#927640 5-Nov-2013 14:12

NZtechfreak: Isn't this issue taken care of 8.1?

I believe the scaling may have been improved.

However, I think the issue is still that (third-party) apps need to be up updated to support ultra high res screens. I think for Mac OSX they've had to update screen assets, in addition to layout. I recall reading an article about this problem somewhere (can't find it now), but, the scaling looked quite bad.

Apparently Layout Managers do exist in Windows now (at some level). But, I'm not sure to what degree they're actually employed, or by which apps.

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#927905 5-Nov-2013 22:10

I have only just found this thread. Admittedly it never occurred to me that ultra high res screens may have issues. I am just returning to the the dark embrace of Windows, having been a MBP user for the past 5 years. My QHD+ XPS 15 is now "With local carrier". I imagine I should have it some time this week. Will report back on Win 8.1 and the high-res screen.

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#927918 5-Nov-2013 22:57

Windows 8.1 definitely has a lot more scaling options.

You can actually scale your screen up to 500% now!

Although, be careful playing around with that. It is is possible to zoom the screen so much, that you can't see the buttons to click and revert changes. Unless you know your hotkeys, it can be a PITA.

Apparently, it is also possible to have different screen scalings in a multi-monitor setup.

Unfortunately, I haven't had much success with that- probably because of my graphics graphics card/drivers.

Pinch to zoom works pretty much like an iPad.

I would think that the ultra high notebook screens should be fine with 8.1.

However, I haven't had a chance to play with that either yet.

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#927921 5-Nov-2013 23:07

dpw: I have only just found this thread. Admittedly it never occurred to me that ultra high res screens may have issues. I am just returning to the the dark embrace of Windows, having been a MBP user for the past 5 years. My QHD+ XPS 15 is now "With local carrier". I imagine I should have it some time this week. Will report back on Win 8.1 and the high-res screen.

Awaiting yiur report!

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#928040 6-Nov-2013 10:37

This isn't the same article as I mentioned earlier. But, it basically says the same thing.

http://techreport.com/review/23631/how-windows-8-scaling-fails-on-high-ppi-displays

As I understand it OSX get's around legacy issues by presenting a 2800x1800 retina display as 1400x900 to non-retina aware apps. So for legacy apps the available/used screen real estate is actually the same as previously (i.e. they don't "look" smaller). Retina aware apps take advantage of the full 2800x1800 resolution (i.e. they look sharper/nicer).

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#928420 6-Nov-2013 22:45

Thanks for the link ... vindicates my frustrations

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