Widescreen Gaming Forum

Hello,

I am currently deciding between the Asus w3j (1280x768) and the Asus a8jm (1280x800). I am wondering if there is a difference between 1280x800 and 1280x768 when it comes to gaming. Is 1280x800 more often supported? or is 1280x768 more often supported? Or is it about equal?

I'm leaning towards the w3j, but I want to make sure I won't have problems playing games at that resolution. If, for some reason, the 1280x800 happens to be supported in a lot more games, then I could always go with that.

And if it makes a difference: I am interested in mainly new games.

Thanks

The only game I've seen that supports 1280x800 but not 1280x768 is Half-Life, Steam version. And I've tested a LOT of games.

You should get a 1280x768 screen and play games in either 1024x768 or 1280x720....

Set ATI driver to centered timings... in 16:9 games there will be miniscule black borders at the top and bottom and 4:3 will have bars on the sides obviously...

1280x720 is more supported than either of the other 1280 widescreen resolutions, and every game that supports widescreen supports 16:9... some games that support widescreen only support 16:9 (like GTA, although you gotta zoom out to compensate for vert-)...

Anyway, 1280x768 is perfect for games (especially with an X1600 because XGA and 720p are optimal resolutions for a card of this power level)... you get both 1024x768 and 1280x720 support at 1:1 with the screen's pixels...

Besides, the W3J is much hotter :P though I'd prefer a 7600, but whatever... only for nvidia's drivers... ATI's notebook drivers allow aspect scaling (which you actually won't need since with 1280x768 just use centered)...

Wow. You guys know your stuff. Very informative. This is an excellent forum. I wish I had found it earlier, I've been agonizing over these little details for awhile now and havn't found much help on this issue in other forums.


The W3J it is then!

Thanks m8s.


P.s. Thanks for the heads up about the center timings with 1280x720. That sounds like a very practicle catch-all to any problems I might have. I would also like the 7600 because of Nvidia, but in the end I will be using this everday for law school so I think I will appreciate the form factor most of all.

Yeah I've been thinking about this too. I want a W3J too, but I did look at the A8JM because of its nvidia card (and a few other things like more USB ports and DVI port).

I have a very powerful desktop computer with a widescreen and surround speakers which got for college last year... but I'll need a notebook soon (entering sophomore year Georgia Tech, where you pretty much need a notebook in class once you get past intro classes) and since I already have a desktop for the best quality entertainment, the main things I'm looking for in a notebook are looks, build quality, small size, and a widescreen. The W3J has all of these and good power to boot, just in case I want to play something when I'm bored somewhere.