Datasheet

Book VIII
Chapter 1
Finding and
Installing the
Hardware You Need
779
Upgrading the Basic Stuff
Smaller and older screens conform to the 4:3 aspect ratio: 800 x 600 and
1024 x 768 resolutions are both 4:3 aspect ratios. (See the nearby sidebar,
“Taking a look at aspect ratio,” for more on aspect ratios.) Typical standard
format (non-wide-screen) 17-inch and 19-inch screens run at 1280 x 1024,
which isn’t exactly 4:3 (it’s actually 5:4), but you don’t notice much distor-
tion when viewing material meant to be seen at 4:3. For wide-screen mea-
surements, see Table 1-1.
Table 1-1 Typical Wide-Screen Resolutions
Diagonal Measurement
(Inches)
Resolution Aspect Ratio
19 1440 x 900 16:10
22 1680 x 1050 16:10
23 2048 x 1152 16:9
24 1920 x 1080 (high-definition
TV resolution)
16:9
24 1920 x 1200 16:10
27 1920 x 1200 16:10
30 2560 x 1600 16:10
I think the easiest way to understand the effect of changing screen resolu-
tion is to consider the effect of screen resolution on a plain-vanilla Excel
2007 spreadsheet:
✦ At 800 x 600 resolution, you can see cells A1 through L19 — or 228
cells — on a virgin spreadsheet.
✦ At 1024 x 768, you can see cells A1 through O27, or a total of 405 cells.
That’s 78 percent more usable cells than the 800 x 600 resolution offers.
✦ At 1280 x 1024, Excel 2007 shows cells A1 through S40, for a grand total
of 760 cells. That’s 88 percent more cells than at 1024 x 768 and more
than three times as many as 800 x 600 offers.
✦ Jump to 1920 x 1200, and you see A1 through AC49, for a whopping
25,921 cells — 33 times as many as with a 1280 x 1024 screen, and very
nearly 100 times as many as a spreadsheet at 800 x 600.