Handling Different Resolutions (17" TFT's, Data Projectors,)

[flyinghaggis]

We've been getting an increasing number of people asking for new 17" flat screens to replace their existing 17" CRT monitors. We've look at various ways of scripting setting screens resolutions but we're unsure what the best course of action is. Typically most 17" TFT's run at 1280x1024. Past experience has shown that a lot of users find the text on a 17" flat screen set to 1280x1024 too small to comfortably read.
The 2 'fixes' that spring to mind for this are to either to allow users to set the resolution to 1024x768 (which spoils the picture quality as it isn't the native resolution) or try changing the default font size in windows (which is a bit hit or miss depending on the program you're using). At the moment it seems like a case of picking the lesser of two evils. Does anyone have any other solutions to handling this problem?
Another issue is that all of our projectors run at 1024x768 so we'd also hit image quality problems with resolution if people are using 17" TFT's as they'd be higher. We've managed to get around these issues so far by fitting 15" TFT's to various places which are pretty much identical to 17" CRT's. As the prices of 17" TFT's drop (you can get then for about £100) it's looking like 15" TFT's could become a pretty scarce resource so we're trying to find an easy fix for the above problems.

What is everyone else doing when it comes to TFT's and various resolutions?

[Norphy]

Oddly enough, although it drives me up the wall, I've found that most people don't notice the general fuzziness of a TFT running at non-native resolutions unless you point it out to them. Some have even deliberately reduced the resolution on them.

Let the owner of the monitor make their own descision would be my advice.

I have found the same as Norphy. Even people with 19" TFTs running at 1024X768, and when you set it to the correct res' people complain that the screen is too small.

People are aways commenting on my laptops 1920X1200 res'

[ZeroHour]

Yeh they will probably be amazed at having a tft instead of its quality

[flyinghaggis]

Changing the resolution is the preferred solution at the moment. I'm just concerned that some staff might complain about the loss of quality after doing this. Guess there's not any real way around it other than to leave them with a CRT monitor!

[Ric_]

@flyinghaggis: You are being too kind to your lusers... if they want a TFT, they use the native resolution of the panel. Simple as. Just tell them that the previous resolution was wrong or something!

[indie]

You are being too kind to your lusers... if they want a TFT, they use the native resolution of the panel. Simple as.

Now now, you're not forgetting your special needs users are you? Some NEED the resolutions to be down as low as 800 x 600 sometimes!

[ajbritton]

You can script resolutions changes with MultiRes. It is a freebie.

[flyinghaggis]

Cheers for the replies people,

I guess we'll likely end up setting default resolution with a script and/or giving users the ability to change settings themselves (prob using MS quickres/multires scripts). I'd hoped there'd be a way of getting around this issue as we've just recently got the network to a point where everywhere is running at 1024x768. It just seems like such a step back to the days of Windows 95/98 to have to roll out packages/scripts to PC to cater for different resolutions/colour depths and refresh rates.
With regards to TFT's is there anyway/setting to get video card to auto-detect the native optimal resolution of a monitor and automatically default to that? So,for example, if you have a 17" TFT windows would automatically default to the correct resolution without requiring this to be checked and set manually for each workstation depending on the monitor?

[Dos_Box]

I too have this problem. As many of our staff are mobile and connect to projectors almost every day they seem to use 800x600 by defualt, which really annoys me at times, especially when you have to work on their computers and adjust the resolution every time as you cannot have 2 windows side by side at such a low res.

[indie]

With regards to TFT's is there anyway/setting to get video card to auto-detect the native optimal resolution of a monitor and automatically default to that

Hmm, not sure if you can do it over VGA but using DVI the monitor will tell the graphics card it's capable resolutions, there must be a way to use the res change program to make it go to the highest resolution it can!

[Norphy]

Even a monitor on a VGA connection can tell the PC what resolutions and refresh rates it is capable of. This is why (assuming you have a properly configured PC) you can not select refresh rates or resolutions you monitor can't handle.

I suppose theoretically it wouldn't be too hard to write a script to interrogate the monitor and set the resolution to the highest possible.

[ajbritton]

Sounds like a job for WMI...

[ajbritton]

I have had a look at the WMI reference and tried the WMI scriptomatic but I can't see any obvious way of retrieving the native resolution of the display device. Sorry.