advertising of laptop resolution vs scaling

throwaway4372 · 26 Dec 2023 at 13:49

I bought a laptop in the black friday sale, it had a broken screen so ended up going back, but the experience was interesting...

The laptop was advertised as 1920x1200, 13", and whilst that's technically true, it shipped with 150% scaling. 150% scaling was a reasonable choice, any smaller and stuff was tiny, but it means the resolution in reality wasn't 1920x1200, it was 1568x980. Consequently various websites and apps didn't work well. So the laptop wasn't fit for purpose and would have gone back anyway.

The point of this thread is to see what other people think about the advertising aspect of it. They advertise 1920x1200 but what you get is 1568x980. Do you think this situation is OK to continue or should it be changed and if so how?

throwaway4372 · 26 Dec 2023 at 20:30

PaulM said:
If two manufacturers sold the exact same 1920x1200 screen, one set the default scale to 125% and one set it to 150% should they advertise the resolution differently?

Yeah I was thinking of something like this:

Resolution: 1920x1200 (1568x980 at recommended scaling of 150%)

The point being to help the customer understand what they're buying.

throwaway4372 · 26 Dec 2023 at 21:21

PaulM said:
Are you meaning purely for when it's on display in a retail shop (in person / not online), so if somebody uses it in the shop they know it's not showing at 100% scale?

I was thinking about online, but the same applies to a shop, so: wherever the resolution is advertised.

throwaway4372 · 26 Dec 2023 at 22:30

Using your laptop with scaling, or just apply scaling in windows, then go to a website like this: https://www.whatismyscreenresolution.org/

You obviously notice when you apply scaling that everything gets bigger, less stuff fits on the screen. Thus the resolution advertised is not the resolution you are using.

throwaway4372 · 26 Dec 2023 at 22:37

Seriously? You want to nit-pick about that and derail the thread? Go touch grass.

throwaway4372 · 26 Dec 2023 at 23:08

Zefan said:
:edit2: I think changing the browser zoom level (the exact same thing this scaling is doing, really) in the opposite direction to the scaling should solve the webpages not working issue.

Yeah of course, browser zoom out would make stuff smaller and make it fit on the screen. Only applies to web browsers though, this thread is about all apps. The problem though is that the content in the web browser is too small, hence scaling it to begin with.

This isn't about eyesight, or preference, or whether scaling is good or bad, or about getting what you paid for.

For example I'm tech-savvy but generally don't use laptops so didn't know if the laptop would require 125% or 150%, easy to solve by just writing the recommended scaling on the spec sheet.

My laptop was even worse because they advertise 16:10 as being great so you can see more stuff on the screen! Of course it's better than the equivalently scaled 16:9, which is how they get away with the marketing, but the laptop is absolutely not good for people who want more stuff on the screen. If the advertising was clear the consumer would know to choose a laptop with more inches, and be able to compare models to choose a model with the combination of resolution and recommended scaling that works best for them.

Phones are different because people understand that if a website is designed for phones it'll work, otherwise it won't. I half expected the websites on the laptop to go into phone mode but they didn't because the resolution wasn't small enough to trigger that. So it was some awkward middle ground that just wasn't designed for.

Bluecube said:
The screen resolution is 1920x1200 pixels. That‘s what you get and that’s what is advertised. Screen scaling is a software issue and is solely dependent on the user. You’re not being short changed in any way whatsoever as your screen will always be displaying 1920x1200.

Thread isn't about the monitor hardware, everyone understands that isn't changing. Thread isn't about getting short-changed.
Screen scaling is not a software issue, it's a judgement based on average human ability vs the dpi. They recommend certain scaling level for a monitor based on knowing the range of average human ability. This thread isn't about the rights or wrongs of that, only the absence of communicating it.

throwaway4372 · 27 Dec 2023 at 00:00

Bluecube said:
Hi res screens have been around for yonks on Apple laptops and iPads (Retina screens) and nobody has been whining about native resolutions and scaling

Had a quick google out of curiosity, tons of people asking for help with apple scaling, and some complaining about it. Seems to me like the mac folks have their fair share of scaling issues, they just congregate on mac forums so the rest of the world doesn't hear about it.

Plenty of complaints and asking for help on Windows too ofc.

throwaway4372 · 27 Dec 2023 at 11:17

The recommended setting is recommended in windows, it's already recommended, I'm just suggesting it would be helpful to write it on the spec sheet.

I'm saying this thread isn't about eyesight. Obviously people can adjust scaling as they prefer, and they will factor their eyesight into that. This process happens after the purchase, I'm talking about what info should be provided at the time of purchase.

I noticed on apple's spec sheet they don't list "resolution" they list "native resolution at x ppi", a nod to this issue without being helpful enough to explain the scaling options recommended or available.

throwaway4372 · 27 Dec 2023 at 11:54

Oh well, nobody at all agreeing even slightly, I give up.