Laptops are becoming increasingly popular, and many people are paying attention to their configurations and prices. Among the configurations, the LCD screen is the most important component of a laptop and is therefore highly valued. Resolution is a crucial indicator of LCD screens; however, many manufacturers only provide screen sizes and terms such as VGA, SVGA, etc., leaving some less knowledgeable individuals confused.
Below, I will clarify the meanings of these terms for everyone.
VGA: The full name is Video Graphics Array. This type of screen has generally become extinct in modern laptops and was used in very old models. It supports a maximum resolution of only 640×480, which is quite outdated for laptops today, but some small portable devices still use this screen.
SVGA: The full name is Super Video Graphics Array, which is a replacement for VGA screens, supporting a maximum resolution of 800×600 pixels, with a screen size of 12.1 inches. Some laptops still use this type.
UVGA: The full name is Ultra Video Graphics Array. This screen is used in 15-inch laptops and supports a maximum resolution of 1600×1200 pixels, and is relatively expensive.
QVGA: The full name is Quad Extended Graphics Array, which is a product primarily for professional fields and is not commonly encountered in household use, so I will not elaborate further.
XGA: The full name is Extended Graphics Array, which is the most common laptop screen, with over 80% of laptops using this type. It supports a maximum resolution of 1024×768 pixels, which is generally sufficient for daily requirements. If there are no special needs, XGA is the most suitable option. XGA screens come in sizes of 10.4 inches, 11.3 inches, 12.1 inches, 13.3 inches, and 14.1 inches.
SXGA: The full name is Super Extended Graphics Array, which is an extension of SXGA specifically designed for laptops. Its display resolution is 1400×1050. For the same 14-inch size, SXGA can display 87% more content than XGA. If you need to do a lot of text processing or graphic design and require more content on the same screen, SXGA will be very efficient for you. Due to the increased resolution, the text and images displayed on the screen will be smaller, but this can be adjusted by changing the system font size.
UXGA: The full name is Ultra Extended Graphics Array, with a resolution of 1600×1200, which can be considered a higher resolution version of SXGA. It can display more content on the same screen, but laptops with this type of screen are generally professional machines and are relatively expensive. Unless you have professional needs, this type of screen is generally not necessary to consider.
WXGA: The full name is Wide Extended Graphics Array, which features a 16:10 aspect ratio for wider laptop screens, making it suitable for the aspect ratio of DVD movies. Therefore, there are no issues with image distortion or parts of the image not displaying when watching DVDs. Wide screens usually have a larger viewing angle compared to traditional 4:3 screens.
WSXGA: The full name is Wide Super Extended Graphics Array, which has a display resolution of 1680×1050 and can be understood as a high-resolution version of WXGA. Besides most laptops with screens larger than 15 inches, many currently popular large-sized LCD TVs also use this type of product.
WUXGA: The full name is Wide Ultra Video Graphics Array, which can be considered a high-resolution version of WSXGA. WUXGA screens are very rare, with a display resolution of up to 1920×1200. Due to their high price, very few laptop manufacturers use this type of product. Currently, only workstation-level laptops such as the DELL Inspiron 8600 and Apple PowerBook G4 adopt this resolution.
After reading the above, do you now have a basic understanding of the classification of laptop screen resolutions? With this knowledge, find the laptop that suits you!