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XGA versus TFT?

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dringer

MIS
Jul 16, 2003
81
US
I'm thinking of buying a laptop, I have a choice of an XDA screen or a TFT screen. Which is betteer, why, and would it make a big difference?
Thanks
 
Hi !

XGA is short for extended graphics array, a high-resolution graphics standard introduced by IBM in 1990. XGA was designed to replace the older 8514/A video standard. It provides the same resolutions (640 by 480 or 1024 by 768 pixels), but supports more simultaneous colors (65 thousand compared to 8514/A's 256 colors). In addition, XGA allows monitors to be non-interlaced.

TFT:
Short for thin film transistor, a type of LCD flat-panel display screen, in which each pixel is controlled by from one to four transistors. The TFT technology provides the best resolution of all the flat-panel techniques, but it is also the most expensive. TFT screens are sometimes called active-matrix LCDs.

//Soaplover
 
SXGA: Short for Super Extended Graphics Array, a display specification that is capable of displaying 1280 x 1024 resolution, or approximately 1.3 million pixels.

UXGA: Short for Ultra Extended Graphics Array, a display specification that is capable of displaying 1600 x 1200 resolution, or approximately 1.9 million pixels.

So UXGA is best 1600x1200 resolution with 1.9mill pixels.
SXGA is second best 1280x1024 1.3mill pixels.
XGA is third best 1024x768.

SXGA and UXGA is what is most used today.

//Soaplover
 
thank you for your help. woulf tft be better than xga so then?
 
I think there is a confusion here.
TFT is a display technology, XGA is a display resolution technology. In other words, XGA defines the number of pixels, while TFT defines a certain manner of displaying pixels (and is hardware restricted on the max number of pixels available).
You can display an XGA resolution on a TFT screen, or on a CRT.
For the moment, S/U/XGA is capable of defining much greater resolutions than TFT is capable of displaying (anyone seen a 2048 x 1536 TFT screen ?). I think it will stay that way.

Now, there is palmtop called XDA, are you talking about that ? If so, you are asking for a choice between a palmtop and a laptop. Such a choice cannot possibly be counselled by people who do not have a clue what your requirements are, or what you intend to do with your purchase.
A laptop is much more powerful in many ways than a palmtop, but a palmtop can be very good for a few select applications and is much easier to transport.
Without more info on what you want to do, nobody can give you an informed opinion.

Pascal.
 
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