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July 6th, 2009 18:00
Upgrade to higher screen resolution?
I recently purchased a Dell Studio XPS 1640 laptop and I've been extremely pleased with it so far. My only qualm is that I ordered the 1366x768 resolution because the $250 increase for the 1920x1080 seemed steep. This was actually a downgrade from my previous 1440x900 resolution. It's really starting to drive me crazy how much less I can see on my screen at one time. I can tweak this with individual programs and settings, but overall it's dissatisfying. My question is whether there's any way to upgrade this? Would this require a replacement of the entire screen or just an updated video card? I figure replacing the screen of a laptop is no small task, but at this point I'm really regretting not spending the extra $250. Especially since the overall price of the computer seems to have dropped in the 3 weeks since I ordered this one. Any advice is appreciated.
XPS 1640, Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 (2.4GHz/1066Mhz FSB/3M L2 Cache/4GB RAM), Windows Vista Home 64-bit, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3670
Mary G
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July 6th, 2009 18:00
Why don't you contact Dell Customer Service or Support and try to exchange the computer? It's worth a try.
Mastershroom
43 Posts
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July 6th, 2009 19:00
To get a higher resolution display, you will need to swap the actual display panel. Your graphics card is already capable of outputting signal at 1920x1080; you just don't have a display with that many pixels.
The swap can be done, but unfortunately it is one of the trickier procedures you can do with a laptop. It involves pretty much disassembling the entire laptop, down to the motherboard. Have a look at the Service Manual for your particular model and see exactly what the display removal process entails, and judge for yourself whether or not you think you can do it.
That said, if you are within your 21 day return period, you can just return the laptop and order a new one with the 1080p display, although you may take a 15% hit with the restocking fee.
Good luck!