Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
Most flat panel displays have a default or native resolution at which they are best. If Windows uses a different resolution, the display compensates.
I have this nice new laptop, but the display is smaller than the screen. What I would normal see across the entire screen is smaller than it should be, and it's surrounded by a black border. How do I get rid of the border and use my whole screen?
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Most flat displays, like the LCD screen in your laptop or an LCD monitor for your PC, have what's called a "native" resolution. That's the resolution at which they give you the best display.
If Windows is configured to use something other than the native resolution, things get ugly.
Often quite literally.
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Native resolution
An LCD monitor is made up of a fixed number of pixels - those tiny colored dots that are individually lit up and set to various colors to form an image on the screen.
Let's say that I have an LCD monitor that has a native resolution of 1280x768 pixels; that's 1280 pixels across and 768 pixels up and down. You'll often see that listed as the maximum resolution because that's the limit of the display - it can't display more pixels than it actually has.
Higher-than-native resolutions
If you try to display at a higher resolution than the monitor's native resolution - say we try to set our 1280x768 monitor to a resolution of 1600x1200 - you're effectively trying to cram more pixels onto the screen than it has. As I mentioned above, that doesn't work - the monitor can't display more pixels that it actually has.
Often, Windows will simply not present the higher resolutions as an option. If it does and you set it to display a too-high resolution, your monitor may go completely black, or display wavy lines, noise, or other gibberish.
That's why Windows has the 15-second timer after you change resolutions. If the screen goes "wonky" when you try a new resolution, just wait and Windows will revert to the old after the timeout.
Lower-than-native resolutions
You can set Windows to display at a lower resolution than the monitor's native resolution. For example, you might tell Windows to display at 800x600 instead of 1280x764.
It generally should work.
But the monitor has to compensate for being asked to display something other than its native resolution. It'll do one of two things:
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It stretches the 800x600 image that it's been given to fill the 1280x764 physical display. While everything might appear bigger, it's not uncommon for proportions to be wrong and displayed characters and figures to be fuzzy or worse.
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It centers the 800x600 image in its 1280x768 screen, leaving the rest - the border - black.
The solution: always use native resolution
The solution is very simple: Always configure Windows to use a display at its maximum or native resolution.
Always.
That way, it'll use the entire screen and be as sharp and clear as possible.
If you're trying to "make things bigger" by choosing a different resolution, try changing the DPI setting instead. That can change the overall appearance of what Windows draws on screen without forcing the monitor to center, or worse, stretch.
If the native resolution doesn't appear, then either of two things is the case:
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Your video card doesn't support the resolution. The only solution here is to get a different video card. (This almost never happens in a laptop - laptops come with video cards that support their built-in screens.)
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You don't have the proper drivers installed for your video card. This is probably most common, particularly after building out Windows on a new machine, or after installing a new video card. Go to the card or computer manufacturer for the latest drivers for your video hardware.
Article C5008 - December 9, 2011
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
Every so often there's some little bit in the computer world that for some reason passes me by. I always knew my screen could go a lot better than 1024x768, so I thought I'd give it ago. I need my glasse's, but the clarity is amazing. I also didn't know it was called negative resolution.
14-Dec-2011
Although Leo has covered the likely option, there is also a possibility that you have set a screen background (wallpaper) that is smaller than the screen can display (if this is the case then icons can appear in the black area, and when you maximise a window, it still fills the whole screen). In this case you need to amend your display settings if you want to change it (though it does no harm as it is).
Posted by: Peter B at December 13, 2011 1:19 PMAdjusting the dpi on a Dell e1705 laptop (17" screen with 1900 x 1200 native resolution) to enlarge the text didn't offer a large enough increase in text size, so I set the display at a lower resolution than the laptops LCD native resolution to help 80+ year old users more easily read the screen.
The laptop displayed a message stating the 1900 x 1200 native resolution should be used for optimal viewing (a message that can be disabled). What I was wondering is if forcing a lower resolution than the native resolution stresses or damages the video system on the laptop. Does anyone have any expertise they can share on this question?
Posted by: Ken at December 13, 2011 1:38 PM@Ken
Posted by: Mark J at December 13, 2011 2:41 PMUsing a lower resolution won't put any strain on your video system, in fact it's a bit the opposite. It uses fewer resources and may make allow your computer to run a little faster, probably not very noticeably, though.
Mark
Thanks for the information - I won't worry about going against the recommended resolution. The screen looks good at the lower resolution, not as sharp as a higher resolution, but having everything appear larger is a big help for older eyes.
Thanks again
Posted by: Ken at December 15, 2011 2:15 PM