Resolutions

Video Resolution is a concept that can initially be frustrating for many people, though it is actually quite intuitive. While the video cards and monitors (both contribute to the available number of "resolutions") that ship with standard retail computer systems have steadily improved over the years, consumers are often hesitant to take full advantage of their system's capabilities--due to there being precious little explanation of how the video subsystems work.

Simply put, "resolution" is the measurement of the precision of a computer's display, which is made up of many small squares called pixels. Various resolutions are then measured by how many such pixels construct the final image that is displayed. They are usually listed by counting how many pixels there are on each axis (X, being the horizontal multiplied by Y, being the vertical):

A resolution of "640x480" would then mean that the image is composed of 640 pixels across, while there are only 480 from top to bottom. By dividing those two numbers, one sees the "aspect ratio" of the resolution, 4/3--for every 4 pixels across, there are three up.

Aspect ratio is important because there are many resolutions that are non-standard (such as the inexplicably popular 1280x1024), meaning they do not have an aspect ratio of 4/3 (as 1280x960 does). This is often a problem because they display the same information differently than standard resolutions, meaning that images appear thicker or thinner than normal, which can have surprising effects if users are not aware of what is causing them.

As the resolution of a display increases, meaning that there are more pixels (which logically shrink in size, as the physical size of the monitor's screen does not change), certain things begin to occur, namely, many things appear smaller. This is because most images on computers are a fixed size. A JPEG photo that is 100x200 pixels in size (meaning that it would be taller than it is wide, by a factor of two), when viewed in a web-browser, will still be 100x200 pixels no matter what the resolution of the display is set at. As 100x200 pixels take up far less physical space at a higher resolution, the image would then appear to be much smaller, though the exact same level of detail is still preserved.

Not everything is a fixed size, however. Things such as fonts, window title bars, and more, can all be changed in the "appearance" section of Window's display properties. However, many users not knowing this often try increasing their resolution and find the results unsatisfactory, in that things are too small to be easily legible. This tends to prevent many users from taking advantage of their computer's full abilities. After all, a higher resolution with an increased font size uses more pixels in the creation of those fonts than that of a corresponding font at a lower resolution--meaning that there is far more detail to them, giving them a sharper, crisper appearance.

640x480 has long been the default resolution for Windows, though that has changed with the release of XP, which increased the default to 800x600 (640x480 is no longer available as a desktop resolution in XP, without using a third-party "tweak," though games will still run at that resolution without any issues).

There are two significant drawbacks to increasing your resolution, however. The first is speed. While under normal "desktop" use, a higher resolution is not likely to impact the speed of a computer to any great degree, depending on the capabilities of the video card. However, in situations such as DVD playback or 3D games, where the card has to generate many more pixels than it otherwise would, performance can decrease significantly.

resolution     number of pixels     factor of 640x480

640x480         307200              x
800x600         480000              1.6x
1024x768        786432              2.6x
1280x960       1228800              4x
1600x1200      1920000              6.3x

A display of 1600x1200 has over six times more pixels than one of 640x480. This naturally translates into roughly six times more work for the video card, taxing its abilities perhaps more than it can handle. Gamers, especially, have to balance the need for maintaining a high frame rate against the desire for high resolution by tweaking their drivers and games to settings that make the appropriate trade-offs between the two.

The second drawback is that as resolutions increase, the refresh rates tends to go down. "Refresh rate" is how many times per second the image on the screen is redrawn (measured in Hertz or Hz), which affects both frame rate in games as well as the overall stability of the image--if it does not refresh fast enough, the image will appear to flicker and cause eyestrain.

Different monitors have different refresh rates for different resolutions, where they tend to be able to refresh less quickly at higher ones (more expensive monitors tend to be able to have higher overall refresh rates). However, they can only refresh as fast as video cards can send them new information--though this is seldom an issue today as video cards have made great progress in the past few years while monitors have not kept pace. Again, users need to balance the need for an acceptable refresh rate against the desire for high resolutions. Like most things, a good measure of experimentation is required.

Though most people are aware that having a higher resolution is "better," not everyone is able to fully describe what "better" means. As pixels get smaller, things such as "jaggies" or "pixilation" tend to decrease as well, as does the need for corrections such as FSAA, because the pixels themselves are less noticeable. Textures become sharper; lines become more defined and text more legible--in short, better.

However, there are also less intuitive benefits as well. For example, in a 3D first person shooter, there might be an object far in distance that is comprised of three pixels at 640x480. At 1600x1200, that exact same object would be rendered with 18 or 19 pixels (remember the factor of 6.3), and might be recognizable as an enemy soldier; arms, legs, feet and all (indeed, the classic game Lemmings was created on a dare to see what the smallest size in pixels--only eight tall--a recognizable animated character could be). Thus, a higher resolution can be a distinct advantage for gamers in all genres due to the increased level of information provided to the player.

Located below is a relative comparison of the sizes of many popular resolutions. Click on it to view them full size to compare with your current resolution: