I tried Windows Vista for a while, and was uncomfortable with it. But I know for a fact that it renders 1280x1024 (120dpi) better than XP does, and that's my native resolution. But doing that under XP makes everything look...awkward.

So I'm sitting at 1024x768, at the standard DPI. I know this is incorrect, because everything is disproportionate - vertically elongated. But with the native resolution of 1280x1024, I can't get the screen elements so that they're easy to see. For example, the icon titles and menu font size. And Times New Roman in the browser in that native resolution is HUGE.

Moving up to the native resolution, though, I must increase the DPI as well. My eyes aren't that great. Can anyone provide me with a comfortable XP configuration of 1280x1024 at 120dpi? Any info is appreciated. Thanks!

possibly a compromise of sorts would help.

My resolution is 1152x864. I know it is a odd resolution but it offers more resolution than 1024x768 at basically the same aspect ratio as your other 2 options. It also is slightly larger which I found helpful for the times when I dont have my glasses on I can still read it.

Also under properties|settings|advanced there is a option for custom DPI. Possibly fiddling with that will offer a little help.

Oh, yeah, I'm definitely using the 120 DPI with the native resolution of 1280x1024. But it's just that I can't get the sizes of all the XP screen elements to a comfortable viewing level. I'd really like to use that resolution, but all the numbers (icon size, menu font size, etc.) are just painfully wrong...

I trust that you have tried the custom DPI settings.

Im not currently on a laptop but if memory serves there is a prog called smooth fonts that you can dowload (possibly from msoft) that is designed for making lcd (laptops) easier to read by making the fonts a bit bolder. Perhaps that is built into Vista

When I had my laptop that was the answer