I bought a new laptop -

Gateway MX6455 Platinum. AMD Turion ™ 64 mobile technology ML-37, 2Ghz | HyperTransport™ Technology up to 1600MHz | 1MB L2 cache, Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center Edition 20051,1024MB DDR (1 x 512MB) (PC2700) Expandable to 2GB.

I wanted a notebook for several reasons. One reason is to take it with me when I take pictures for customers at parties, weddings, etc. That way I can download the pictures from my Nikon D70 to the laptop and show the customer at the party. They can decide right then and there if they want another shot or if what I have already taken is acceptable.

I haven't downloaded Photoshop on the new laptop yet so maybe editing with this "widescreen" feature will be okay, but I hate it when viewing 4 : 3 aspect ratio photos in fullscreen (the way a customer will see them). It makes people look short and fat. I don't think I'm going to be able to get used to this "widescreen" feature. Why are they going in this direction? I wonder if I can get used to it. I'm trying to decide if I should take it back. I like everything else about the notebook except this. It is a shortened view compared to the normal 4:3 view, offered by most CRT’s and full sized LCDs. The lateral resolution is so wide and thus offers a decent amount of working space when editing in Photoshop, but I don't know if I can get used to everything being short and fat when viewing photos in fullscreen.

Anyone else gone the notebook "widescreen" route? I guess this is for folks that want to watch movies on their laptop? I think I made a big mistake by buying this thing.

I bought this thing at Best Buy and I wonder if they will let me trade it in for a "normal" aspect ratio screen laptop.

I bought the extended warranty.

James.

If you pictures are stretched out then you have the laptop set to the wrong resolution. Widescreen laptops have a few extra resolutions not found on standard screen laptops. Play around with the resolutions untill you find one that doesn't stretch the screen incorrectly.

A sample range of possible resolutions are 1280 x 800, 1280 x 768 and 1680 x 1050.

But your main problem is that your camera takes pictures in a different aspect ratio to that displayed on the laptop. Unfortunately laptops will not natively display with bands down the side to give you the correct ratio - you may be better off posting the question on one of the dedicated photographic web-sites as I'm sure you're not the only one with this problem & there is probably a software fix for it somewhere.

"I know that I'm mad, I've always been mad"

Not to be rude but Johns statements above are not true, Just because the camera has a different ratio doe not mean it won't display properly on a laptop, you just need to resize the picture to get it to fit but it has nothing to do with stretching the picture incorrectly. If your pictures are stretched, it means you don't have the proper resolution set, period.

I edit my pictures all the time from both my digital cameras. One camera outputs at 1280x1024 and the other outputs at 3002x2000. Both display perfectly fine on my widescreen laptop.

When I set the resolution on the laptop to 1280 x 800 pixels (that is highest) then the pictures have the same aspect ratio in fullscreen as my 800 x 600 lcd monitor. They look the same height and width (not fat and short people, lol). The only thing that is different is that it leaves blank bands at the top/bottom, or left/right, depending on how the photo is cropped. And that is exactly what it should do.

My camera is a Nikon D70 and pictures come out of the camera at 3008 x 2000. I usually crop these to a 4 to 3 ratio so they will stretch out and fill the lcd monitor completely when my pictures slideshow is running.

1280 x 800 is not available on my desktop lcd computer setup. So I believe that mboto and Kurt S have it right.

Anyway I can reset the resolution when I need it to display pictures. And run it at 800 x 600 for surfing the web.

Thanks to all for helping me solve the problem. I'm keeping the laptop! lol.

James.

By the way Kurt S, you did not mention what you have your resolution set at. If I have this correct in my mind now, you are also setting it at 1280 x 800 when it gives you the "perfectly fine" display on any size of photo, right?

James.

Hi James, I'll have to verify the resolution tonight when I get home but it's much higher then that.

If the highest you can set it at is 1280x800 then something is wrong. A new widescreen laptop should be able to handle resolutions upwards 1400x? or even 1600x? (sorry I forget the height resolution) you might have a look at Gateways site to see if there are newer video drivers for your laptop.

Kurt,

Yeah, you are right again. I have to learn more about this laptop because in "display properties" there is a drop down menu (1 & 2) for multiple monitors. I was only using #1 drag slider. When I drop down to #2 and then drag it goes up to 2048 x 1536. I am not sure why there is 2 screen settings. Maybe you can run 2 monitors off this? Like I said, I better read the book. Now I have to play around and see if the 2048 x 1536 is better. lol.

Thanks,

James.

Nope, I'm wrong again. It won't let me adjust it to #2 setting of 2048 x 1536. It jumps back to screen #1. So now I'm all screwed up again. lol. I have to go to work now and I'll wonder about this all night!

James.

Don't use screen two, that's reserved for the second monitor which you don't have connected right now. I'll post more tonight when I get home and can verify the resolution I'm using.

Hi James, I checked my screen resolution and it is running at 1920x1200.

Here's a good rule of thumb to check if your running the proper resolution. A standard latop and desktop screen has a ratio of 1.333 to 1. For example let's take a standard resolution of 1024x768. If you multiply the hight of 768 by 1.333 it will give you the width of 1024. If you take the width resolution of 1024 and divide by 1.333 it will give you the hight resolution of 768.

Wide screens have a resolution of 1.6 to 1. So with this calculation you can figure out which resolutions you have available will give you the correct aspect ratio.

Thanks, Kurt. That would make sense because my 1280 x 800 would come out the same as your 1920 x 2000. 1.6 times 800 equals 1280. I knew it was correct just by putting the same jpeg up on the laptop and looking at the same jpeg on my desktop's lcd and doing a side by side comparison and just looking at them you can tell the aspect ratio is dead on correct. I am going to keep the widescreen just because it's more of a hassle taking it back than keeping it. And since you've helped me set it up I believe I will be able to live with it. I'm also setting my 2 desk top computers up to 1024 x 768 (up from 800 x 600). I guess most people set their display there nowdays. It's so hard for me to change after I get used to something. LOL! I don't know if I'll ever really need the widescreen feature on this laptop, but I guess it's something I might find a use for. Thanks a million!

By the way, I can't get a higher resolution than 1280 x 800 on my new laptop. I thought it was "top of the line" but maybe not. Anyway, this resolution is higher that I've ever used before so it will be all right. I just like to have the option of going higher though. Maybe I'll call Gateway and ask them about it. This is an expensive laptop.

James.