96 vs 120 dpi

[charlieThomas]

The last few systems that I have build I have selected monitor size and graphics card resolutions so running Windows at the standard 96 dpi (dots per inch) produced reasonable sized fonts and ensured that all Windows software displayed properly.

But after running my laptop at 120 dpi for a while now, I'm thinking about taking a chance on my next desktop system and design it from the beginning to run at 120 dpi.

Any thoughts out there on 96 vs 120 dpi on a desktop Windows system?

thanks,
cT

 

[opt789]

I am not sure you can really talk about DPI without including resolution. I use the 120dpi on my 30” monitors at 2560x1600 resolution to make things easier to read, but I would never use 120 on a regular 19” at 1280x1024. The 120dpi works fine for me but not all applications and websites work as they should – not a big deal but something to note.

 

[charlieThomas]

Thanks opt789. So a 30" monitor running 2560x1600 looks good at 120 dpi. Thats what I was looking for. Supposedly Visa has something called 'bitmap scaling' that is supposed to help out with apps that dont display well at 120 dpi. I'm using XP now but this could be another reason to upgrade to Visa when the time comes for an new machine.