Scott Hanselman

Update on dual monitors. Don "luddite" Box comments about how much he likes the larger 1024 x 768 pixels on his Thinkpad x30. Hey - how many pixels do you need to run emacs and type all those angle brackets anyways? :) [IUnknown.com: John Lam's Weblog on Software Development]

Withholding any barbs against Don's choice of editor...I run 1600x1400 (120dpi) on my laptop and 1280x1024 (96dpi) on my laptop.  When people say they don't dig the ultra-high-res you get on a 120/130dpi laptop (like Tablet PCs, that require 120) I say, two words: Large Fonts.  I run large fonts and large icons.  I run my fonts in VS.NET in 14 point bold Lucida Console.   The ratio of the size of the fonts in relation to the physical dimensions of the screen higher, but what to I get with all my "extra" pixels?  Resolution, Baby.  ClearType, clarity, the feeling of staring at Paper not an LCD or CRT.  And personal preference aside, anyone who doesn't believe in ClearType (ClearType Online Tuning Wizard here) needs to think twice.

Someone still running 800x600 or 1024x768 happily because they didn't want to take the time to scale their screen elements on a higher-res screen is probably renting those "special" Full Frame DVDs because they think they are missing information covered by the black bars. ;)

Product Tip: There's another great Screen Scaling for the technologically challenged who like "big pixels" and want that 1024x768 feel on a 1280x1024 screen - LiquidView from Portrait.  (It's arguably 100% necessary as XP includes a plethora of support for sizing things, but it scales EVERYTHING) 

I also use their Pivot software RELIGIOUSLY.  (They'd sell more software if their website didn't suck egregiously) When you're editing a giant doc, it's nice to view it like paper on a portait oriented display.  Even better, Pivot is smart about multi-monitors and having a pivotable LCD next to a non-pivotable one. 

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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