Desktop Monitor and Laptop Screen Sizes

Posted in Computing on 25. Mar, 2010

Have you ever looked at technical specifications for monitors or laptop screens and seen it mention an acronym instead of the actual resolution supported? Ever seen VGA, SXGA, WUXGA mentioned? If you have, and not been aware of what resolution these acronyms refer to, then the following sets of tables should help you to see what resolution each acronym refers to.

I was asked by one of my clients to explain the terms and so I decided to make it into a blog post which would serve as a useful reference.

There are three different sets of resolutions that currently apply to computer technology, although one of them has been borrowed from HD TVs. Normal monitors and computer screens have traditionally been manufactured with a 4:3 aspect ratio or increasingly in the last few years – a new 16:10 aspect ratio (also known as widescreen).

I’ve also got the idea to create some wallpapers to help illustrate the screen size. If like me you sell computer hardware (especially monitors and notebooks) then you might find them useful. I’ll post them separately.