Widescreen laptop with widescreen-unfriendly video card?

December 28, 2006 11:43 AM

Strange problem with a new laptop (WXGA display) and a video card that goes from 1024x768 right to 1280x1024.

The specs:

Laptop: Gateway NX560XL
Video Adapter: ATI Mobility Radeon X1400
OS: Windows XP Professional SP2

How can I get the resolution to a more appropriate 1280x720 or 1280x800? 1024x768 looks pretty bad on the widescreen and 1280x1024 is too much for the laptop's owner.

posted by saraswati to computers & internet (5 comments total)

If I'm not mistaken, 1280x1024 is the native resolution on this model, so you really can't change the overall resolution and still make it legible. What you can do to improve things a bit is make your screen fonts larger.
posted by SteveInMaine at 11:48 AM on December 28, 2006

WXGA is a vague term. It can mean any of several settings.

If the native resolution of the device is truly not listed in your display settings, you need to find the correct display driver.
posted by voidcontext at 11:58 AM on December 28, 2006

According to the spec sheet, 1280x800 is probably what you are looking for.
posted by voidcontext at 12:00 PM on December 28, 2006

Install your vendor specific drivers, or download a hacked ATI mobile driver.
posted by SirStan at 12:54 PM on December 28, 2006

Second SirStan: if you have a widescreen LCD, and you don't have widescreen resolutions in your Settings panel, then you need to find 'drivers' (actually an INF file) that has that resolution in it, so that you can select it, and not have to deal with FatHead Syndrome.
posted by baylink at 9:15 PM on December 28, 2006