Run monitor on 1440x900 resolution when native is 1920x1200

Question

I have a Dell Inspiron E1705 running Windows XP. It has Intel 945GM graphics. When I bought the computer, I got it with a native resolution of 1920x1200. However, this resolution is far too small to use, in my opinion. I have tried adjusting DPI settings, but it's not the same.

Under Display Properties, there are many resolution choices, but the only one that is 16:10 is 1920x1200. I would like something like 1440x900, as I don't want to stretch the screen. I tried re-installing the driver listed on Dell.com, but it didn't help. Any ideas?

Solution 1

I know this isn't exactly what you're asking for, but may I suggest increasing the font size in your display settings if they are too small to read? Running at native resolution is generally optimal if you can at all stand it.

Solution 2

Dell drivers seem to only ever include highest resolution. I fixed on my Dell monitor via Nvidia control panel and adding custom resolutions. Check if there's any options in the 945GM driver to allow modes not reported by display or some such. Or if there's option to add a custom resolution.

Comments

[Franz Wong]

I've done this in the past, but a lot of programs don't obey the windows DPI sizes, or things go a bit whacky.

[Hyppy]

Understandable. I just felt the need to chime in with that :-)

[brandon]

As Farseeker said, a lot of programs don't follow the DPI sizes. Skype, for example.

[brandon]

I tried PowerStrip but I couldn't seem to get it to work. Now I'm trying the registry settings...on that link, it says to change the XResolution and YResolution to what I want it to be (1440x900), but the numbers that are there are 800x600, which is not the resolution I am currently using. Should I still try to change it?

[iivel]

Try that key with the settings you'd like (as is noted in the link, some video cards will not let you change settings). If that doesn't work see if there are any other keys under the video cards to work on. Realistically though if powerstrip can't change it - your card just may not allow custom timings.

[Ian Boyd]

This is the correct solution. Run your LCD monitor at its native resolution. Then you can adjust the DPI setting to match your viewing preferences. Yes, many developers don't "pay their taxes" and write their software to properly handle large fonts. In Windows Vista and Windows 7 you can enable a workaround for those buggy applications: "DPI Scaling". Any application that doesn't specifically say that supports high-dpi will be scaled up by the video card.