Hardware Full HD or HD Ready on a 15.6 inch laptop

[ilman]

I'm planning to buy a new laptop (Lenovo Ideapad Y580, which will be released on the tenth of June) at the end of the month.
There are two versions of the laptop, the Full HD and the HD Ready. The difference between them is ~100 USD. I'm wondering if the Full HD would make a difference. Also I've spotted on some forums on the internet that it's predecessor (the Y570) has had some overheating problems. The Y580 has a powerfull Core i7 and a gtx 660m inside it, which will cause much heat. I'm just wondering since my current laptop had massive overheating issues and I even had to make holes in it(internet guide), so that it doesn't reach 100 degrees Celsius. If the situation is the same, I'm not going to be happy one bit. My primary reason to choose this laptop is because it can play most games at at least medium settings while my current laptop only plays minecraft on minimal settings.










All opinions and help is appreciated.

 

[Rydian]

Link us to where you're seeing "hd ready"? I can't find that in any official documents, and the phrase sounds like bullshit (it makes as much sense as "might have a penis").

If you're going to buy a powerhouse laptop with high specs for gaming, you're going to have to live with heat generation. It's your decision if you want to or not, just know that stuff hasn't magically changed, the laws of thermodynamics still apply and gaming parts still put out a shitload of heat.

 

[ZAFDeltaForce]

Full HD is 1920 X 1080 in resolution. HD Ready is anything between higher than 720p but lower than 1080p and most commonly has 1280 X 720 resolutions.

For a screen size of ~15", there is little discernible difference between 1080p and 720p. Considering the fact that 1080p graphics require more graphical and processing power than 720p, and that you refer to a laptop, I'd get the HD Ready one.

 

[ilman]

Link us to where you're seeing "hd ready"? I can't find that in any official documents, and the phrase sounds like bullshit (it makes as much sense as "might have a penis").

If you're going to buy a powerhouse laptop with high specs for gaming, you're going to have to live with heat generation. It's your decision if you want to or not, just know that stuff hasn't magically changed, the laws of thermodynamics still apply and gaming parts still put out a shitload of heat.

Umm, I thought that I've seen 'HD Ready' on all TVs that support up to 720p, guess I don't remember correctly.
Can an admin change the 'HD Ready' part from the topic name to 720p.
Also about the overheating issues, I'm asking if temperatures will be max at 80 degrees, not going up to 100 or down to 40 while gaming.
I understand that it's impossible to have low temperatures on such a laptop, but I don't want it shutting down because of high temperatures (happened 5 times on my current laptop, still wondering how it isn't toasted).

Full HD is 1920 X 1080 in resolution. HD Ready is anything between higher than 720p but lower than 1080p and most commonly has 1280 X 720 resolutions.

For a screen size of ~15", there is little discernible difference between 1080p and 720p. Considering the fact that 1080p graphics require more graphical and processing power than 720p, and that you refer to a laptop, I'd get the HD Ready one.

Oh, so there is a term 'HD Ready'. I was asking because I noticed some 720p games on my current laptop(Sonic 4 episode 2) being a bit 'pixelated'.

 

[ZAFDeltaForce]

To address your heating issues, I advise you raise the rear of the laptop at an angle, by resting the edge of your laptop on a book or something. It helps with the air circulation.

If anything, it should prevent your laptop from shutting down suddenly.

Games usually allow you to set their resolution. Chances are, the graphics look pixelated because it is set at a resolution not native to your display, i.e. your laptop has a resolution of 1280 x 720 but the game is running at 800 x 600 or something. You might want to fiddle around with the display settings in the game and optimise the graphics

 

[ilman]

To address your heating issues, I advise you raise the rear of the laptop at an angle, by resting the edge of your laptop on a book or something. It helps with the air circulation.

If anything, it should prevent your laptop from shutting down suddenly.

Games usually allow you to set their resolution. Chances are, the graphics look pixelated because it is set at a resolution not native to your display, i.e. your laptop has a resolution of 1280 x 720 but the game is running at 800 x 600 or something. You might want to fiddle around with the display settings in the game and optimise the graphics

Oh, now I set it to max resolution and it looks a LOT better.
Also I always keep my laptop on my cooling pad (although it has only one fan), so keeping it on a book won't be necessary.
So, I shouldn't expect overheating issues on the laptop while it's on the fan. Well, that's good.

 

[Rydian]

Also note that a higher resolution generally needs more power. For example going from 640x480 to 1920x1080 is an increase in over six times the area being rendered. The higher the resolution you're rendering at, the more your GPU needs to work in games, the more heat it'll make... but yes this could be offset by rendering at a lower resolution.

 

[ZAFDeltaForce]

Hence why I recommended 720p for a laptop compared to 1080p.

The increase in resolution for a small screen and greater processing power just isn't worth it

Most cooling pads are pretty inefficient though. I recommend lifting the edge up, but if it's fine for you then it's cool

 

[Pleng]

'HD Ready' was traditionally a phrase that TVs in England were sold with. It meant it had HD (720 or 1080, unspecific) capabilities and HDMI inputs, ready for when we actually had HD feeds to use them with.

That term doesn't really work with Laptops, as you don't plug a video source into it. I wonder if, in this case, they mean that the GPU has the power to drive HD resolutions, but you need to plug it into a monitor/tv to make use or them?

 

[Originality]

I've also heard references that "HD Ready" meant capable of outputting up to 1080i (but not 1080p). This doesn't really apply to laptops because smaller screens makes HD pointless (even my 17" media laptop only natively used 1440x900) and most laptops are capable of outputting 1080p onto a large monitor (at least from the last 10 years) anyway.

The whole emphasis on HD capability only really applies to TVs because, for the longest time, they were not able to output a 1080p stream (you should've seen some of the earlier attempts to plug a PC into a TV... hurt my eyes every time). When it comes to computers and laptops, it's simply a catchphrase used to push more sales.

 

[Alaude]

Full HD....HD Ready.....hmm.........those are terms used for T.Vs. a pc and a laptop do not need em cause they already have it . Probably it refers to the cam in the laptop or something(a wild guess).