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Comment by devy | Hacker News Reader

One of the BIGGEST drawbacks using a Chromebook with 11.6 inch screen that nobody here talks about yet, is the grainy and crappy 1366 x 768 screen resolution! I've been a long time Macs guy anything inferior than RetinaDisplay will considerably straining my eyes before I am used to it. Dell XPS 13 included.

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If you're going to compare to a Mac, it's better to look at the higher end Chromebooks like the Pixel 2, HP Chromebook 13, and Samsung Chromebook Pro. They all have screens with pixel density and quality that's on par with the 15" MacBook Pro I have.

> They all have screens with pixel density and quality that's on par with the 15" MacBook Pro I have.

Alas, they also have price tags more on par with a Macbook.

Exactly! With a comparable price tag, Chromebook doesn't have advantages (if any), let alone of the Chrome OS's less user friendly stack (GUI based apps and whatnot).

Interesting. (But the Pixel 2 was discontinued 11 months ago, and there is no replacement, i.e., no Pixel 3.)

> [...] will considerably straining my eyes before I am used to it. Dell XPS 13 included.

You do realize the Dell XPS 13 has QHD as an option?

In fact I do! QHD is 1440p (2560x1440)[1] whereas Retina Display on a 13inch MacBook Pro is at 2560×1600, therefore Dell XPS 13 with QHD is still inferior.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_display_resolution#QH...

In fact you dont.

I use dell xps 13 for half a year and I have 3200x1800 resolution. When buying a xps you have two screens to choose from.

1366 x 768 can look quite sharp on an 11". You were probably just looking at a bad screen.

AFAICT the reason than even expensive 11" laptops generally don't run higher resolutions is that at that size you can't tell the difference.

Scaling the same pixel density up to 13" and 15" yields 1614x908 and 1862x1047, respectively. So that's equivalent to arguing that there's no need for a better-than-1080p screen on even 15" laptops. Certainly many people are satisfied with 1080p, but there's a reason that modern high-end laptops offer (much) higher-resolution displays.

I have the Samsung Chromebook 3 (same size and resolution). I don't mind it at all. By comparison, the 14" Lenovo from my employer has the same resolution and looks worse. The Chromebook is no retina display, but it's not that bad in my opinion.

Not really an issue for me. Almost all of my work can be done through the terminal and through Emacs. For maximum visibility, I run a full screen terminals with large font and good contrast. I really wouldn't have it any other way, as I'm not a fan of GUIs. Of course, I still retain the ability to spin up a GUI if I am forced to do so. The only effect the screen has is that it does not entice me to watch videos (which is a great feature for a work machine).

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