The solution to the 4K display"problem" people always talk about with notebooks of this size is really simple: Game at 2560x1440. That's easily within the grasp of a 1060, looks WAY better than a native-res 1080p display and what little softening there is from scaling ends up acting like a freebie FXAA at such high pixel densities.
I have done this numerous times even on weaker hardware (Quadro M1000M!) with older games like Payday 2 / eSports titles and it works an absolute treat. Textures just look sharper at 2.5K. Worst case scenario, if you want the latest titles running with high details, back off to 1080. It really doesn't look significantly worse and the 4K displays often have better colour/contrast characteristics, too.
The fact that display drivers still don't offer exact multiple pixel scaling with the popularity of super-high resolution displays seriously boggles my mind... Being able to scale a 4k screen down to 1080p with 2x2 pixels or 720p with 3x3 would increase the utility of a 4K screen by leaps and bounds.
From what I've seen linear scales do seem to have a sharpness advantage, regardless of if the monitor and drivers are aware of how best to take advantage of linear scales.
I don't think it would take so much extra plumbing that the battery would have to shrink by a third. By the teardowns on the old model, there's plenty of space between the cooling and battery.
We'll have to see new teardowns to know why they did that.
"Meanwhile, Dell has done away with the previous model's entry-level 1080p TN panel, and instead the laptop's base configuration now starts with their 1080p IPS Anti-Glare LED-backlit panel"
Thank goodness. The Inspiron was a great budget gaming value except for that godawful TN panel, not just for being TN but for being the bargain basement of TNs.
Hopefully they make it easy to confirm the base is now IPS on the updated site when it's up.
Frankly just happy that the default TN panel is gone on this budget laptop. A 120Hz screen would probably push it to midrange gaming laptop pricing, not budget as it is.
Question to the author: did Dell mention anything about keeping the old model in stock? Nice as this systems looks, the previous one was quite a good bang for the buck, something this one is not, well, not as much.
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Spunjji - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 - link
The solution to the 4K display"problem" people always talk about with notebooks of this size is really simple: Game at 2560x1440. That's easily within the grasp of a 1060, looks WAY better than a native-res 1080p display and what little softening there is from scaling ends up acting like a freebie FXAA at such high pixel densities.I have done this numerous times even on weaker hardware (Quadro M1000M!) with older games like Payday 2 / eSports titles and it works an absolute treat. Textures just look sharper at 2.5K. Worst case scenario, if you want the latest titles running with high details, back off to 1080. It really doesn't look significantly worse and the 4K displays often have better colour/contrast characteristics, too.
tuxfool - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 - link
"Game at 2560x1440. That's easily within the grasp of a 1060"That is reaching. Easily within grasp isn't quite right.
tipoo - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 - link
Nice thing about 4K is it's an integer scale to 1080p. It'll still look great on this screen size without any non-integer scale extra fuzziness.
lefenzy - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 - link
That's not how monitor scaling works unfortunately.lewisl9029 - Thursday, August 31, 2017 - link
The fact that display drivers still don't offer exact multiple pixel scaling with the popularity of super-high resolution displays seriously boggles my mind... Being able to scale a 4k screen down to 1080p with 2x2 pixels or 720p with 3x3 would increase the utility of a 4K screen by leaps and bounds.tipoo - Thursday, August 31, 2017 - link
From what I've seen linear scales do seem to have a sharpness advantage, regardless of if the monitor and drivers are aware of how best to take advantage of linear scales.Vepsa - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 - link
My issue is, its announced but you can't buy it yet.TheinsanegamerN - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 - link
Would much rather have the bigger battery then faster charging. It seems the smartphone scourge has hit laptos now :/I wonder if they will ever bother updating their 930mx/940mx laptops to the new MX150 GPU.
tipoo - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 - link
Huh, did not notice the battery downgrade at first read...That's puzzling. No way to get back up to 74Wh with upgrades?
DanNeely - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 - link
Probably a casualty of the increased cooling needed to support the 1060; and only having a single chassis config for cost reasons.tipoo - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 - link
I don't think it would take so much extra plumbing that the battery would have to shrink by a third. By the teardowns on the old model, there's plenty of space between the cooling and battery.We'll have to see new teardowns to know why they did that.
tipoo - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 - link
"Meanwhile, Dell has done away with the previous model's entry-level 1080p TN panel, and instead the laptop's base configuration now starts with their 1080p IPS Anti-Glare LED-backlit panel"Thank goodness. The Inspiron was a great budget gaming value except for that godawful TN panel, not just for being TN but for being the bargain basement of TNs.
Hopefully they make it easy to confirm the base is now IPS on the updated site when it's up.
tipoo - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 - link
Thunderbolt too...Now is this a full 4x connection or is Dell still skimping on a ~3 dollar difference with a 2x connection?nerd1 - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 - link
1080p is welcome but no 120+hz?tipoo - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 - link
Frankly just happy that the default TN panel is gone on this budget laptop. A 120Hz screen would probably push it to midrange gaming laptop pricing, not budget as it is.
ajchop - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 - link
Question to the author: did Dell mention anything about keeping the old model in stock? Nice as this systems looks, the previous one was quite a good bang for the buck, something this one is not, well, not as much.tipoo - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 - link
Yup, the old model will be sold at a discount for at least 6 months, from other sites