XP looks blurry! Help!!

[Jason]

Hello, I was wondering if Windows XP is generally not as
sharp looking as Windows ME, maybe because it's more
graphic intensive or somthing. I just switched computers
from a Sony running ME and just bought a Dell with XP and
it doesn't look nearly as sharp as the sony. If I didn't
have the sony I wouldn't know the difference; it's not
that bad, and just may be what xp suppose to look like.
But the web pages and desktop look so much clearer and
sharper on the sony I was wondering if it had something to
do with the computers? Is that a sony thing? I tried
that "clear" whatever option on the microsoft site and
didn't help at all. And of course I triple checked all the
settings. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Rob Schneider]

Hello, I was wondering if Windows XP is generally not as
sharp looking as Windows ME, maybe because it's more
graphic intensive or somthing. I just switched computers
from a Sony running ME and just bought a Dell with XP and
it doesn't look nearly as sharp as the sony. If I didn't
have the sony I wouldn't know the difference; it's not
that bad, and just may be what xp suppose to look like.
But the web pages and desktop look so much clearer and
sharper on the sony I was wondering if it had something to
do with the computers? Is that a sony thing? I tried
that "clear" whatever option on the microsoft site and
didn't help at all. And of course I triple checked all the
settings. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I think the root-cause change here is the difference between:

Sony running ME (with drivers for Sony hardware and Microsoft ME software)

Dell running XP (with drivers for Dell Hardware and Microsoft XP software).

My hunch it's that it's the Dell being different than Sony. Different
vendors sell different machine with different quality video hardware and
software.

 

[Danny Bleu]

Have you tried using 'Clear Type' in Desktop/Properties/Appearance and then
running Microsoft's Cleartype Tuner @
http://microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/customize/cleartype/tuner/default.asp


Hello, I was wondering if Windows XP is generally not as
sharp looking as Windows ME, maybe because it's more
graphic intensive or somthing. I just switched computers
from a Sony running ME and just bought a Dell with XP and
it doesn't look nearly as sharp as the sony. If I didn't
have the sony I wouldn't know the difference; it's not
that bad, and just may be what xp suppose to look like.
But the web pages and desktop look so much clearer and
sharper on the sony I was wondering if it had something to
do with the computers? Is that a sony thing? I tried
that "clear" whatever option on the microsoft site and
didn't help at all. And of course I triple checked all the
settings. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Alex Nichol]

Hello, I was wondering if Windows XP is generally not as
sharp looking as Windows ME, maybe because it's more
graphic intensive or somthing. I just switched computers
from a Sony running ME and just bought a Dell with XP and
it doesn't look nearly as sharp as the sony.

Check at Control Panel - Display - Appearance and click Effects. If
'Smooth edges of screen fonts' is checked, then you should only use the
'Clear type' if you have an LCD screen. ANd mostly it looks better on
LCD if you do.

Anything else is a matter of the graphics card and drivers. One
possibility is that you have things on too high a refresh rate (Display
- Setting, click Advanced, Adapter page). If you overdo things you can
be hitting the limits of the analog circuits in the cable and monitor -
and that can result in blurring. Any decent modern monitor should
handle 80Hz up to 1280x1024 at least, but if you try 100 plus at
1600x1200 it might blur