I know there are probably a zillion other posts on the subject, but I was in probably the rare position of receiving two I9300's on consecutive days, with the only main difference between the two being the screens.

Anyway, the WUXGA's screen is pretty much flawless (no light leakage, sparkles, etc.). The WXGA (which arrived first by one day) looked absolutely fine until today when it was placed right next to the WUXGA with the same DVD playing (Finding Nemo). The WXGA does seem to suffer from a bit of light leakage in the lower right hand corner and is generally not as sharp or bright as you'd expect.

So, if anybody is on the fence between the two (like I was when I ordered them so I got one of each and gave the other to an employee), I'd pony up the extra $100 for the WUXGA and skimp if necessary somewhere else on the machine.

How about if the choice is between WXGA+ (1440x900) and WUXGA (1920x1200) and you'd have to pony up anywhere from 250-500 dollars more to get the model with WUXGA? What then (and let's imagine I'm looking for a DTR-notebook which is going to be my only computer for 5-7 years)? Is WUXGA worth all that cash?

5-7 years? That's hard for me to imagine considering the longest I've kept a computer was about 3 years. Anyway, I'm not sure where you're getting the 250-500 price difference (are you comparing an I9300 to a cheaper model without the WUXGA?), but at $500, I'd be perfectly content with the WXGA screen. After all, I only paid $1200 (before tax and shipping) for the whole machine.

It's your money, and 5-7 years is a long time to keep a computer so I can understand you want to do it right. If it were me, I'd pay the extra $100 that it cost me. $250? Maybe. $500? Most likely not. Like I said, the WXGA looked perfectly acceptable, just inferior sitting right next to the WUXGA.

Good luck!

aye that seems excessively long anyhoo, if you were to place a piece of glass over any matt finish LCD panel, things will look sharper. Now overall you cannot compare the two in the same review so to speak because they are two completely different beasts. ie: not the same panel, finish, resolutions or specs. the best you can get is opinions and that is subjective. The best possible ? you can ask would only be preference. Also there are different panels to consider within both screens too. As the one you talked about the WXGA may be a samsung as the LG tends to be less leaky.

You can find the WUXGA screen for as little as $350 on ebay. It is a hefty price to pay for a panel if you ask me.

-D

Yep, I am talking about different notebooks (Fujitsu Amilo M3438/4438), and yes, the extra cost for a WUXGA would be that much. Don't get me wrong, I don't want any other brand than Fujitsu, but this is a hard choice. The reason why WUXGA would be so much more expensive is that my country doesn't sell it at all so the shipping costs (from ordering it from another country), additional costs and new OS (that has my native language; I live in Europe you see), the price difference could be as high as 500 dollars, maybe even a little bit more.

Also, I'd like ask you to put that '+' symbol at the end of the 'WXGA' if you mean 1440x900 resolution. I've noticed that some people are typing 'WXGA' when they are talking about 'WXGA+' so it gets kinda confusing.

Maybe this helps (for those who don't understand the different screen types and the + sign in it ):

http://www.tigerdirect.com/static/ht...n-article.html

(takes too much time to type over and make up nice and pretty )
One typo in there, in the table it shoud be WSXGA+ at the resolution of 1680*1050

Cheers

The DVD should look the same on wuxga and wxga because it's formatted for old CRT resolution (low).
Is this clarity and vividness something that could be enhanced and sharpened with software?
There's a gazillion freewares out there that will change the colors and contrast of your screen, including the plane-Jane video driver.

I mean, something to consider if you're wieghing 350-500 bucks, right?

When I go to Best Buy, etc, I go into the video properties and try and get all the colors of all the notebook screens to be equally saturated, and then take some steps back to see what they look like. ([i]Provided they aren't all locked with that stupid Best Buy adware program that keeps you from entering the OS. )

if you are planing on keeping a comp for 5-7 years i would save as much money on the laptop you are buying now so that is 3 years you have the money sitting around to buy a new one.

Well, this is the Dell 9300/XPS2 forum so I stupidly assumed that between the two screens my abreviations were clear. Ooops! Anyway, considering you're not even considering the Dell, I'd just get whichever monitor comes with the laptop you choose. From my perspective, the choice between the two different screens when I ordered them was $100. I went with one of each, kept the one I liked better and gave the other to an employee. Good luck!

^^^^^^ X2! A low/mid priced new notebook is usually better than a 3+ year old notebook.

Amusingly, I did the exact same comparison of my 9300 WXGA with a mate's 9300 WUXGA with the exact same DVD (cute little Nemo) and found that the WUXGA was light leakage city in comparison to the WXGA. I think a lot depends on who makes the displays and, even then, what batch you score. 9300 screens seem to be an extreme case of YMMV.

Noody

I would assume the + is not an official reference other than maybe to denote (ultrasharp) which is in the description of the 17" WXGA wich only means wide screen XGA resolution. If the W wasnt there it would most likely be 1280X1024 or 1024X768 XGA screen anyway oh yeah with the + hehe. ok to be honest I dont know dell only shows two screens for the laptop available WXGA+ and WUXGA no reference to a WXGA so I would assume we are all talking about the same beast

whats the kit/model number for your wuxga screen?

You're right on YMMV! My WUXGA looked great. The WXGA+ was the one showing a little light leakage. Perhaps it truly is a crapshoot?

Will check it tonight and get back.

My WXGA+ screen has a little light leakage along the bottom edge of the screen which I hope would lessen with time. It isn't as bad as some of the other screens I have seen though and I am perfectly content witt the system. If I weren't on a budget, I would have opted for the WUXGA screen though.