Grainy laptop pictures

K

karltimber

Registered User
Messages
94
Hi,

recenlty got a good deal on a dell inspiron with a core 2 duo,1gb and radeon x1400 graphics.
but pictures do not look good at all -very grainy.
I have the resolution at 1280 * 800 and the drivers are fully up to date.

any other sujestions on what to try or run.

it's not just internet but the desktop also looks grainy. not what I expected at all.

k
 
Is 1280x800 the native resolution of the display? If not then you won't get the best results.

BTW - a good tip for LCD displays is to install and enable which can make the display of fonts a lot easier on the eye.
 
Tried this Clubman but no change

just to add - pics within web pages - rte.ie etc are not correct either.
It's not just jpeg that are grainy.

Could the graphics software be not working correctly ??

Thx

K
 
karltimber said:
Tried this Clubman but no change
Click to expand...
Tried what? If you mean ClearType Tuner then that will not fix your problem. It just improves font appearance (by aliasing the fonts to smooth out pixellation) when the display is otherwise working normally. My guess is that you are not running the screen in its native resolution and once you configure the display driver's resolution to match the physical screen's native resolution it will look a lot better. Maybe try running Lavalys Everest on your PC and checking if it tells you what the native resolution of the display is?
 
Can you link to the specific model of Dell Inspiron that you bought on their website or otherwise clarify what the display's native resolution is?
 
ClubMan said:
Can you link to the specific model of Dell Inspiron that you bought on their website or otherwise clarify what the display's native resolution is?
Click to expand...

This is as close as I can get to the exact model as I got it from the dell outlet store.
1280*800 is the max the screen can goto. and any lower settings makes the web pages/icons look way too big.
I will contact dell in the morning and see what they say.

Thx
K
 
Are you sure that the display settings are configured for 32 bit colour and not something lower? If it comes to checking if this is some sort of hardware rather than software/configuration/driver problem you could download, burn and boot from a live/bootable CD such as Ubuntu GNU/Linux or BartPE etc. and see if the same problem arises.
 
I don't think its a resolution issue myself.

Thats model can have a 1680x1,050, 1440x900 or 1280x800 screen. Either can be specified with an optional truelife glossy finish. However Dell use a variety of LCD panels from different manufacturers in their laptops and in my experience the quality varies enormously. Some have inconsistent viewing angles, backlighting, color saturation and some have excess grain as the OP is describing. Do a search on google and you'll see its a common complaint about them.



 Personally I'm quite fussy about my screens and I've returned Dells that I thought the screen was sub par till I got one with a decent screen. Dell sometimes offer to replace the screen.

I should also say its not only a Dell problem. I've seen it on lots of different screens, Apple, Sony, HP etc. I assume its just the variations in LCD screen quality. Most people won't be that picky but if you are, just return it for a better one. Some of the HP laptops seem to have very good screens. Its a bit hit and miss what you get though.
 
Recently obtained an Inspiron 9400 and images were a bit grainy. Sorted by dell support via email. Use the instructions below at your own risk!

Go to Start > Run > type REGEDIT and click OK.

Once in the Registry Editor, click the + signs to navigate to the following key (folder):

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \Internet Explorer \ Main

Click on the "Main" key (folder) in the left pane to highlight it. In the right pane, you'll see the contents. Look near the bottom for a value named "UseHR". If it doesn't exist, you'll have to create it.

To do this, right-click on a blank area of the right pane and choose New > DWORD

Value. Name it "UseHR" (without the quotes). If you just created it, it will automatically have a value of 0 (zero), which is what you want. If it already exists, and has a value of 1 (one), double-click it to edit it (or right-click > Modify), and change the value to 0 (zero). Click OK and close the Registry Editor.

Also please refer to the following link for more information:

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_video&message.id=79881
 
got onto dell today - not too bad an experience !!

so told the guy that I loaded latest drivers and tried out an external monitor -which had a perfect jpeg picture.

so dell bloke told me to lift off the panel above the keyboard and reseat the monitor cable just under the power key.
this worked a treat. the jpegs/web pics were perfect.

done - right - no.

after the call - I moved the laptop and the pic returned to the grainy state it was in. I reseated the cable again and after boot-up the pic was perfect again. but when you tap/move the laptop and obviously move the cable the res turns crappy again.

have to ring tomorrow and they will replace the unit for me.
thx for the help.

K
 
Interesting. Sorry my earlier suggestions turned out to be off track in the end. This sort of thing seems to be common with Dells. My nephew has one which seems to suffer from this problem too (very blocky graphics). My sister has one that sometimes displays garbage on screen when the screen is rotated back/forward on its hinges (presumably moving the screen connector). I have one that very sporadically does the same thing... :(
 
when I had it connected today - the pics I had were fantastic alright.

will see what happens and will update

thx for the help folks.

K
 
To reply to aircobra's comments about the solution only altering the fonts - I can confirm it actually fixes images also.
 
leex said:
To reply to aircobra's comments about the solution only altering the fonts - I can confirm it actually fixes images also.
Click to expand...

Your right, but only in IE as theres a bug with image scaling. That said you should avoid using IE except where you have to.
 
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