The image of the laptop screen appears stretched, distorted, or shrunk.
Possible Cause of Perceived Display Problems on LCD Screens
The Dell laptops with high-resolution displays are optimized for specific resolutions. As a result, using display resolutions that are different than these optimal settings can result in visual distortions on the screen.
For example: If a computer has a 15.0+" SXGA+ screen with an optimized resolution of 1400x1050 and the screen's current resolution is set to 1280x1024 pixels, the display shrinks resulting in a black border surrounding the edges of the screen. Also, all other lower resolutions may be stretched to fit the screen. No border is visible, but fonts may appear slightly fuzzy.
Since the resolution settings vary from system to system, you must determine what type of LCD screen you have before adjusting your display resolution. To verify which LCD screen you have installed on your computer, you must view your invoice. Depending on your system model, your invoice should contain an entry similar to this:
220-2838 I8100,15 UXGA,PIII,1GHZ,T
Notice that the highlighted section above, while this example is for a Dell Inspiron 8100 computer, shows that the size of the screen is 15 inches and that the format of the screen is UXGA.
Adjust the screen resolution, color depth, and refresh rate in the Windows operating system.
Table 1 and Table 2 specify LCD and flat-panel monitor types with associated native resolutions:
The native resolution of an LCD is in which the screen looks best. Operating Systems and programs often give various selections of resolution. If possible, it is advised to select a native resolution.
| Type | Aspect Ratio | Resolution | Number of Pixels |
| VGA | 4:3 | 640 x 480 | 307,200 pixels |
| SVGA | 4:3 | 800 x 600 | 480,000 pixels |
| XGA | 4:3 | 1024 x 768 | 786,432 pixels |
| WXGA | 16:10 | 1280 x 800 | 1,024,000 pixels |
| QVGA | 4:3 | 1280 x 960 | 1,228,800 pixels |
| SXGA | 5:4 | 1280 x 1024 | 1,310,720 pixels |
| SXGA+ | 4:3 | 1400 x 1050 | 1,470,000 pixels |
| WXGA+ | 16:10 | 1440 x 900 | 1,290,000 pixels |
| WSXGA | 16:10 | 1440 x 900 | 1,290,000 pixels |
| WSXGA+ | 16:10 | 1680 x 1050 | 1,764,000 pixels |
| UXGA | 4:3 | 1600 x 1200 | 1,920,000 pixels |
| WUXGA | 16:10 | 1920 x 1200 | 2,304,000 pixels |
| QXGA | 4:3 | 2048 x 1536 | 3,145,728 pixels |
| QSXGA | 5:4 | 2560 x 2048 | 5,242,880 pixels |
| QSXGA+ | 4:3 | 2800 x 2100 | 5,880,000 pixels |
| QUXGA | 4:3 | 3200 x 2400 | 7,680,000 pixels |
| Size | VGA | SVGA | XGA | SXGA+ | UXGA | QXGA |
| 10.4" | 77 | 96 | 123 | 168 | 192 | 246 |
| 11.3" | N/A | 88 | 113 | 155 | 177 | 227 |
| 12.1" | N/A | 83 | 106 | 145 | 165 | 212 |
| 13.3" | N/A | N/A | 96 | 132 | 150 | 192 |
| 14.1" | N/A | N/A | 91 | 124 | 142 | 182 |
| 15.0" | N/A | N/A | 85 | 117 | 133 | 171 |
| 16.5" | N/A | N/A | N/A | 106 | 121 | 155 |
| N/A | WVGA | WSVGA | WXGA | WSXGA+ | WUXGA | QXGA |
| 15.4" | N/A | N/A | 98 | 128 | 147 | N/A |
If adjusting the resolution or font size did not resolve your issue, the problem might be the video driver. For information about downloading and installing video drivers, see the Dell Drivers and Downloads section of the support site.
Browse to the Dell Online Diagnostics tool which can run tests on your Dell system, identify issues, and offer a resolution.
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